Cheap Retirement Living and living cheap so you can retire are related goals. If you are in or near retirement, this section is designed to help you.
If you feel forced into a poor retirement, can you look beyond this? Can you imagine a more comfortable retirement that includes income from a business that you start at home? Instead of life in a rocking chair, for many seniors, retirement leads to a transition to business and other opportunities.
Can you consider moving to a low cost part of your country or to a lower cost country? For great reviews and information on the best countries to retire to, subscribe to International Living “postcards” .
Should you keep working, or go back to work after retirement age? For most people the answer to those questions mostly depends on finances. But give yourself a chance to consider changing directions. Look at Life Reimagined to help consider new possibilities.
As a retired person you may feel free to work part time, or as a contractor or freelancer. But if your goal is starting a home-based business, try to spend time working on that.
Budgeting for retirement will help you gain control of expenses. When you begin looking at eventual retirement, or if you are near retirement or already retired, you will probably find budgeting to be an organizing process. It can help you think about how you now run your financial life and how you may want to change it. The most popular theories about how much to budget for retirement tell us to aim for an income similar to what we have grown used to, instead of less income.
You ought to consider what sources of income you have or will have in retirement. In the US you will probably be eligible for Social Security retirement income, this comes at age 66 for the boomer generation. This may provide you with 30 to 40%, or more, of your retirement income. Other sources of income that retired people turn to are pensions, income from savings, and withdrawals from IRAs and other plans. You can also start a business at home to add to your income.
Check our Guide to Cheap Living in this section for info about determining your income and expenses. Then you can work to reduce expenses and hopefully increase income.
Get help. The following organizations will help you with cheap retirement living: AARP and MyMoney.
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