Until recently, I was a working class man without a plan. I thought I had my life sorted out. I had a steady job, and I was getting paid regularly. I had enough to live on, and more than enough to party on. I thought that was about it. Then the recession hit, and I found myself laid off like the thousands of other poor souls. It was at this point that I realised that I needed a plan to prevent this from ever happening again. I needed to know that when I was old and unable to work, I would still have something in the bank to spend and have something to show for my years of working. For those of you who have thought the same way, here’s how I solved my dilemma.
Figure Out What You Want
Different people want different things out of their retirement. Some people want to go parasailing in the Bahamas at 84. Others just want to kick their feet up and relax, sipping a cup of tea near a roaring fire. What I want is something closer to the first option. To be able to do this after retirement, I needed sufficient funds saved up. After checking out a plethora of different options on the Internet, I came across something called an IRA.
Open an IRA
An IRA, or Individual Retirement Account, is an account that can be opened at most financial institutions. It is a fund that is exempt from taxes, which can be deposited into regularly so that it grows until retirement. You don’t even have to deposit a large amount of money. The usual amount is 3% of your monthly income, every month. I used 5%, because I wanted to go bungee jumping off the Eiffel Tower. You can customise it how you want too.
Understand the Risks
There are certain risks to opening an IRA. They are directly affected by the economy, meaning that if there is turmoil in the market, it can lead to uncertainty with your IRA as well.
Make It Safe
What I did to make my fund safe against possible market crashes was to convert it into a gold IRA account. This means I converted part of my retirement fund into physical, shiny gold. Gold doesn’t lose value because money does, so it is far more secure than cash. This makes it an insanely safe option to go with. However, not all institutions that provide IRA services will offer the gold feature too.
Open an IRA with Gold
If you have an IRA somewhere that does not offer the gold feature, you can still save it. Simply find a company that does, and perform a gold IRA rollover. This is the process of moving the funds from your current account and depositing it into a new one. After this, you just have to convert some of the funds in the new account into actual gold.
If you follow these simple steps, do your research, and do a little planning, you should be able to have a secure retirement fund like I do now in no time at all!
The previous was a guest post.
