Tips for Retirement Planning

What's the best advice you can give on preparing for, or making the most of, retirement?

• Always have hobbies. Perhaps one you can turn into a business.
• Live fast, die young, leave a good-looking corpse.
• Save as much as you can, in multiple programs.
• Save early and get an idea of what you'll need (even a ball park figure) so that you have a baseline idea as to how to meet that goal.
• Save! Find a doctor who will take Medicare! (Not many will.) Also have a good Medical Supplement.
• Plan on working. Something has to get you up, get you out and get you aggravated each day. Make it something that pays you, too.
• Don't live in New Jersey.
• Prepare for the final outcome being less than you expected AND think deeply about what your values are and what you need to maintain those values. Go with simplicity and reduce the clutter — physical, mental and psychological.
• Life is short. Enjoy it now. Stay close to family and friends.
• It's all a crap shoot.
• Think about how you see handling the extra time you will now have ... prepare, prepare ... watching TV is not fun.
• Take time to smell the roses.
• Make lots of cash, don't pay taxes, move.
• 1) Make max 401(k)/IRA investments, 2) Take lower returns (zero risk) with retirement money, 3) Don't forego enjoying the first 80 percent of your years to save for your last 20 percent.
• Win the lottery.
• Try to do the things you never had time for when you were working. If it doesn't work, give it up and try something else. Don't try to do too many new things at once. Keep your body and your brain active.
• Work for the state or federal government so that tax dollars pay for your retirement. Otherwise, nothing is guaranteed.
• Live below your means in your earning years. Have a retirement plan (how much to save) and stick to it.
• Focus on your health and happiness, not material items.
• Move to Mexico or India. That is where the jobs are.
• Aim high on your estimated needs.
• Marry into money.
• Calculate what you'll need to retire on, then quadruple it. Also, plan to live at a lower lifestyle level than you are used to.
• Do not expect help from anyone but yourself.
• Let your husband retire at least six months before you do. You can adjust better to his new schedule better than he would be able to adjust to yours!
• Save until it hurts.
• Save 50 percent of earnings while living at home. After getting married, live on one salary and save the other. Keep emergency funds available, while also making long-term investments, such as 401(k)s, IRAs, etc.
• Be flexible, ready to change long-held dreams to a lesser reality. A good attitude is everything. Good health trumps most everything else.
• Save. Exercise. Participate. Help.

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