Retirement is seen by many to be a perfect, idyllic state. After all those decades of hard work, you’re finally being given leave to sit at home. No more job. No more stress. Just the freedom to sit at home and finally read all those books that you never found the time to read, or maybe travel the world and visit all those places you have seen on postcards but had never been to yourself. The sweet life has finally arrived! Right?
You’ve probably guessed by now that retirement isn’t quite so idyllic for everyone. In fact, retirement can become a time of increased stress and financial worry when it finally comes. The leading reason for this is that the retiree doesn’t feel that they are prepared enough to stop working. This usually boils down to financial matters – the worry that you don’t have as much retirement money as you thought you did.
Here are a couple of ways you can help raise some more funds for your retirement.
Investing
Investing has always been a famed way of earning cash. That is, of course, if you can find the right return on investment. This requires a bit of market know-how, but it could pay off in pretty big ways if you play your cards right. Investing before retirement is the best way to go about it. This is so you can get used to the world of investing, as well as build up a portfolio and possibly some profit for when the time comes. However, if you’re already retired, is it too to start investing? Not at all. The world of investing can seem pretty daunting, but you need to be smart about it.
So what will you invest in? Most will simply go with stocks. However, you may want to diversify your portfolio with other investments, such as probate investments. There’s also wine to consider or even art. Gold is another popular one, though many will warn against it. Whatever you choose, make sure to begin small. Only use money you can consider superfluous, and make sure you read up on investing techniques as much as you can!
Downsizing
This is less a way to get cash and more a way to save cash. Still, many would call that the same thing! The fact is that that you could be sitting on several things, costing you more money than you need to be spending. Make a thorough list of the things you own, starting, of course, with your house. Find out how much you’re paying every month and to what institutions.
Once you have all this information, start making decisions. Could you do with a smaller property? If you don’t need all that space, then you could save a bunch of money by moving into a smaller place. If you find that you need all that space to hold your belongings, then ask yourself how many of those belongings you really need. It’s all a case of being honest with yourself about what can be considered a luxury. You could surprise yourself with how much money comes from selling things you don’t need!