Retirement Planning Excel Sheet

I apologize for the small image and the late post but I have a small treat today.  I've uploaded a link in this post below if you are interested in downloading it and playing around with the spreadsheet. This is a simple little excel model I created to project one way of how to plan for retirement.  I'll quickly talk about how to think about this tool and how to use it.

What's Your Allocation?

Studies have shown that a very large driver of variation in returns for portfolios is derived from different asset allocations.  Focusing on having the right asset allocation can help improve your returns on investment over time and is a more reliable driver of returns than either stock picking or market timing.  There is often much debate over any "ideal" asset allocation as it differs among individuals.  I'll just go over some of the general themes and rules of thumb on how to think about asset allocation.

How to Effectively Save for Retirement

I've talked about the 401(k) and the IRA separately before, but I thought I'd do a more consolidated post comparing the two.  There are two main types of accounts that you can use to get tax advantages to save for retirement and they each come in two forms.  The two main types of accounts are 401(k)s and IRAs and the two forms are traditional and Roth.

Retirement Investment Strategies

Dreaming about vacation spots on beaches or taking a trip on a cruise ship?  Imagining the future when you aren't working and don't have a care in the world with all the money you need already saved up from years of work?  If you answered yes then you are probably thinking about an ideal retirement scenario.  Aside from my initial post introducing The Smart Nickel, it seems like my retirement post has been one of the most viewed.  In order to make some of those dreams more realistically achievable, I thought I'd write another post looking at my idea of an ideal retirement strategy.  I will talk about the basic strategies that go into investment planning and how that will apply to planning for retirement.

Retirement

I thought I'd spend a post talking about retirement in general, before moving on to specific ways to help save money for retirement.  I also have posts on retirement saving strategies and retirement investment strategies.

The Individual Retirement Account

The Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a general term for retirement plans that give tax advantages for retirement savings.  I posted a very funny and educational video about it in September but I haven't really said much about ways to save for retirement other than the 401k.  So here I will talk about the two most common IRAs: traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs.

Annuities

Most people have heard of life insurance.  However, not everyone knows about the other side of the coin, annuities.  While life insurance protects against an early death, annuities protect against living too long.  So why am I blogging about annuities on a young adult centered site?  It's because annuities can be a very important consideration for your retirement nest egg in the future and generally too few people pay attention to them.

IRA Music Video

Here's another amusing video about IRAs, or individual retirement accounts.  You might have seen it if you clicked on similar videos for the previous post.

The 411 on the 401k

What's a blog post about retirement doing in the middle of the stock series?  I thought it would be good to take a break from brokers and stocks and some internships students get during the summer offer a 401k enrollment.  Although many college students probably think they are too young to think about retirement, some of these decisions should be looked into early on, especially since most of the benefits of retirement plans come from untaxed or deferred tax on growth of your earnings.  This means that the earlier you get a retirement plan and invest, the more money you will earn and the more you'll save in taxes over your lifetime.  I'll just be introducing the 401k and talk about other retirement plans such as IRAs later on.