Many people have a dream of retiring early so they can enjoy their time away from the grind. However, it is important to realize that there are some very real drawbacks to early retirement. The main issue is that you can’t begin taking distributions from your tax advantaged retirement account, penalty free, until you are 59 1/2. That means that early retirement can really puts your saving ability to the test. There are some strategies you can employ, though, to help you as you get ready for early retirement. Here are a few for those thinking about taking the leap one day.
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In the ten years since I graduated from college, I held no fewer than nine jobs. Now, to be fair, some of those positions were held concurrently when I was working multiple part time jobs and at least one of those jobs only lasted 2 days, as it became clear very quickly that I was in the wrong line of work. However, there’s no getting past the fact that the longest I have ever held a position is four years and that I generally get itchy for a job change after about a year.
Contrast my attitude to that to my husband, who worked for nearly a decade at the same company and only moved because our peanut was on the way and the new company offered more work-life balance.
It used to be much more common to see workers like my husband – find a good job and stay with it for a very long time. But the new generation of employees tends to have a shorter attention span and companies no longer reward loyalty in the same way that our parents’ employers once did. Though job-hopping has plenty of downsides, there are some definite advantages to being a career butterfly:
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When you already have an insurance policy, it’s easy to become complacent about what you have. You pay the premiums, you have coverage. But, if you don’t look around for better deals, you might find yourself paying more than you should for your policy. Whether it’s home, health or auto insurance, it’s a good idea to comparison shop every so often.
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Are you throwing money away by spending more on products that have little to no lasting effect on your life? If we examine the why behind a purchase decision closely, we might find that just because mother paid $4.99 for Mead writing tablets, it may not be the wisest shopping choice today. One of the quickest ways to run up a shopping bill is to splurge on name brand or specialty consumables, so let’s take a look today on the 5 worst products to spend more on and reduce that bill.
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Learning to repair cars yourself is perfectly doable. Maybe one of your parents taught you the basics as you were growing up, but even if that isn’t the case, there are plenty of books, websites and actual experts out there that can help you figure out the nuts and bolts.
But what about more extreme DIY projects? If you’d grown up two hundred years ago, you might have learned how to make cheese, build your own tools or all sorts of other skills that seem beyond most of us these days. There are situations when such skills can still come in handy, though, especially if you’re more interested in investing time rather than cash in the situation. Here are a few tips to acquire such skills
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One of the great truths about life is that we can deal with just about anything. The recession has led to a revival in the noble art of haggling, and it is possible to take advantage of this almost everywhere. The worst that can happen when you ask is that the other person will say no, and this applies even on health care costs.
Now we all know about the rising costs of health care, and many of us worry about being buried under a pile of bills. The good news, though, is that you can sometimes haggle your costs down. The October 2011 issue of Consumer Reports Magazine offers some insight into how you can negotiate on some of your health care bills, and save money. Some of the tips include:
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