Smart Senior

Thousands of books have been
written about finances and retirement.  Unfortunately most of them don’t look far enough
into the future.   If you are
entertaining the idea of living well into your 90s or beyond, you are going to
give financial planning closer
scrutiny.  We aren’t just talking about
what you will leave your heirs, but about how you are going to be able to
continue living life as you know it today.

People get into the habit of
living from pay check to pay check during their affluent years, but what
happens after retirement?  If you haven’t been paying attention to your
finances, expenses, investments, debt, taxes, and any other assets you may
have, you may be in for a rude awakening. 
If you don’t have money to cover basic
needs your lifestyle is going to
be seriously limited.   Even people with
retirement savings may find that they don’t have enough money coming in to pay
the bills, much less handle a serious illness.

So, how long do you have to
work until you can afford not to work for the rest of your life?  In this economy it may be longer than you
think.  Where will your income be coming
from?  Will your income be able to handle
unexpected emergencies?

Guard your money.  Get rich schemes should never be
considered.  Older people are easy
targets for scam artists so hold your money near and dear.  It has become common practice for young wage
earners to live beyond their means.  This
has to stop.  When you get older you no
longer have the time to catch up or make up the difference between what comes
in and what goes out.  The time has come
when you absolutely must learn how to live
below your means.

Managing
your money is a full time job.  Who will
manage your money as an adviser or representative if you can no longer manage?  If you are managing your money and your
investments now, could your spouse take over that responsibility if something
happened to you?  Financial experts often
recommend setting up a trust with several individuals working together to
protect your interests.

Longevity as
well as the shifting economy may mean that leaving a sizeable estate for
children and grandchildren is no longer a given.  At this point meeting your own basic needs it
a priority; as well as making sure that your family doesn’t go into debt caring
for you. Your future has to have a
place for you in it.