How to enjoy your retirement …

One day, you will look back on your decision to put away some money, and thank your old self for the foresight to save.

It is easy to forget that life continues beyond employment. Your ‘golden years’ should not be spent without enjoyment or satisfaction for having toiled at your job for so long.

You could view the situation from another angle: imagine yourself a few decades from now, looking back on the decisions you made. Which decisions would you thank yourself for making?

Marietta Du Preez, Ecsponent Financial Services General Manager, had the following 10 tips which will help you enjoy your retirement:

1. Take stock of where you are – Determine your real financial position, write down all your assets and liabilities. Analyse your excess income and how much you could reasonably put into a savings vehicle each year, while still retaining enough disposable income to enjoy entertainment time with your family.

2. Decide where you can cut and stick to it – You might decide you need additional sources of income. You can start a new business or turn your hobby into a paying enterprise. Diversifying your income is what most people are doing these days, so think not only where you can cut expenses, but where you can add revenue.

3. Make a plan to pay off your debt – Debt is probably the single biggest destroyer of future wealth and should be used wisely. Good debt helps you buy assets you can’t afford and pay them off over time, like a house. Bad debt takes away from your income each month and, over time, makes you pay more for an item than its cash price would have been.

4. Create goals – it is important to sit down and think about specific goals. Without goals, it is difficult to assess what your living expenses and required income will need to be. Goals can be updated over time, but having major goals in mind gives you something to work towards.

5. Do some research on the best places to invest your money – Start by talking to your financial advisor. What kind of returns can you expect from investments in various asset classes, how long is your investment horizon, how much is inflation expected to be and how much do you need to save to have the kind of retirement you want. Once you know the values of these variables, you will have a clearer picture of how much you need to set aside each month.

6. Start saving – You don’t have to set up a monthly debit order, but it helps to ensure discipline. Once you get used to saving and investing, it’s easy to forget you’re even doing it.

7. Get a regular wealth check-up – you need to adapt to stay on course for your retirement savings. Check in with your advisor at least once a year to make sure you’re still on track, or to modify your savings routine if you’re not.

8. Insure yourself (Wealth protection) – Having death and disability cover in place means those expenses will be covered and your loved ones will not be unnecessarily burdened by something terrible happening to you.

9. Keep worry at bay – Peace of mind is priceless.

10. Money does not define you – You are running your own race, you have your own personal retirement goals and need to plan accordingly. Ultimately, you need to ensure that future you will be content and provided for, not anyone else.