Retiring in Comfort

The time you've waited for is finally here--retirement! You're at the age where you should be enjoying more leisure time than stress time. This is when you may sell your home and downsize or move to a different locale altogether. Maybe your vacation getaway home will now become your year-round place. You may choose to continue working in some capacity if you have your own business or, if you can, do part-time consulting work. Perhaps you'll set your sights on a new line of work you always wanted to get into or volunteer your time for a cause you find especially meaningful. Whatever it is you do, the main point of investing for your retirement is that you have a choice. The worse-case scenario is to be forced to continue working during your retirement years simply to make ends meet and hating every minute of it.

Tip Whether your retirement planning has been close to perfect or dismal, there are some investments that are more appropriate for you at this stage of your life than others. It's critically important to your financial health at this stage that you don't unnecessarily jeopardize your lifestyle or security by making inappropriate investment choices. By studying the types of investment vehicles available, you'll be better able to make the right choice for you.

Hopefully, you've done your homework and planned for your retirement successfully. However, investing doesn't end simply because you've retired. In order to make your money work for you, you've got to keep a careful eye on what's going where. This is particularly true at this stage of your life when it's likely that you will be living off of your investments as opposed to earned income.

Financial Calculators Use this Asset Allocator Calculator to help create a balanced portfolio of investments. Your age, ability to tolerate risk, and several other factors are used to calculate a desirable mix of stocks, bonds and cash. The calculated asset allocation is a great place to start your analysis in building a balanced portfolio. Click on the "View Report" button for a detailed look at your results. Meeting your long-term investment goal is dependent on a number of factors. This not only includes your investment capital and rate of return, but inflation, taxes and your time horizon. Use this Investment Returns Calculator to help you sort through these factors and determine your bottom line. Click the "View Report" button for a detailed look at the results.

Investment vehicles that may be appropriate at this point of your life:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Mutual funds
• Real estate
• Insurance

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