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4 Valuable Tips to Retire with Little or No Money

Posted at 1:42 PM, Jul 19, 2017
and last updated 2018-02-06 13:24:09-05

Retirement is the dream for most of us, but it can also be scary because many of us have underfunded our work escape plan. That doesn't mean we have to drop dead on the job. Kristina Guerrero and Heartland Financial’s Nancy Tengler have four valuable tips to retire with little or no money.

1. Adjust Your Retirement Age

Retirements can be overrated. It's basically 20 years of unemployment, right? The longer you can work, the better it is for you emotionally, physically and financially. That difference between filing at 62 and filing at 70 can be a difference of 75 percent in terms of monthly income.

2. Don’t Leave Money on the Table

With a 40lk employers commonly match. If you put in 6 percent of your pay, your employer would match that by putting in 3 percent of your pay. It's free money and you're silly not to take full advantage of that.

3. Open an I.R.A.

With a traditional individual retirement account you're getting the tax benefit on the front end by being able to deduct your contributions from your taxes today. When you take the money out in retirement, that's when you pay the taxes. The Roth individual retirement account is the opposite. The money you're putting in today is after taxes.

4. Play Catch-Up with Stocks

You can allocate more of your funds to stocks and bonds. Stocks are the top performing assets class even above real estate over the long term. Look for companies that pay a dividend because they give you income and appreciation. Reinvesting the income is the single most powerful way of growing your assets.

Do you have a solid plan for retirement? Join the conversation on our Facebook page, @TheListShowTV.