Planning For Your Future

Posted on: 22 March 2021

Are you simultaneously helping out your adult children or grandchildren while planning for retirement? These competing priorities are hard for many Americans in your position to balance. To help you find your particular balance, here are five tips anyone on any budget can put into practice. 

1. Work With a Planner. 

A financial planner is a great ally for anyone with multiple priorities. In addition to maximizing the earning power of what you can save, they will help you form reachable goals on all fronts. They also serve as an impartial source of advice if you face inner conflicts, and they will keep your confidential matters confidential. 

2. Talk to Your Kids.

Even though you want to help out others, it's important to prioritize yourself at this stage of life. Be honest and clear with your kids or grandkids about the need for you to continue saving for retirement and your plans. While money talk is taboo in many families, it gets everyone on the same page. Help them to see that your stable retirement benefits them in the long run too. 

3. Use Employer Benefits. 

Make sure you contribute enough to your employer's retirement plan to get the full match, which is essentially free money. In addition, make sure you participate to take advantage of subsidized insurance and any contributions to your health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts. Benefits can help fill gaps in your ability to save. 

4. Stay Insured.

Insurance protects you against financial loss both now and later. If you don't have health insurance through work, look for ways to get subsidized coverage through your state's marketplace or other options. Consider purchasing long-term care insurance early so as to pay lower premiums. And never neglect your homeowners, vehicle, and life insurance. You may even need to ensure your adult children are insured. 

5. Earmark Windfalls for Retirement.

Any extra money you get — particularly unexpected money — should go toward retirement first. This could be anything from a tax refund to a holiday bonus or commissions. It could be occasional (or regular) contributions from your adult children, gift money, or even rebates and returns. It all adds up. 

Need more help figuring out how to marry the needs of your family today with your retirement needs in the future? Start by meeting with a retirement financial planner in your state today. Together, you can beat this challenge and look forward to enjoying your family during retirement for many years.