Retirement Tool

For most people, retirement seems so far ahead. Every few women start thinking about their retirement planning until children are out of the house. Mostly in their late 40s and 50s. But keep one thing in mind, the earlier you start, the easier it is. It’s a simple number game. The longer you save and invest, the less you have save every month. Because you have all the years for growth and compounding.

Retirement planning should start early and continue throughout your lifetime. Here are four reasons why saving matters to women – and especially to you!

• Women are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don’t qualify for a retirement plan. And working women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to take care of family members. Therefore, they work fewer years and contribute less toward their retirement, resulting in lower lifetime savings.
• Of the 62 million wage and salaried women (age 21 to 64) working in the United States, just 45 percent participated in a retirement plan. Remember, even small amounts can earn interest and add up over time.
• On average, a female retiring at age 65 can expect to live another 19 years, 3 years longer than a man retiring at the same age. Savings can increase a woman’s chances of having enough money to last during her retirement.
• By and large, women invest more conservatively than men. Choose carefully where you put your money and learn how to make your investments grow.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Every women should always have an IRA or Roth IRA, even if they are a stay-at-home mom. If a divorce was to happen to a women, her separate retirement fund would still be intact and will come in handy when she reaches the age of 65.

She should invest in mostly stocks when she is younger and slowly put it in more conservative things as she grows older such as bonds. If a women has children she should put more money in a retirement fund such as an IRA than a college savings account until the IRA is fully funded. College can be funded with things like scholarships and student loans, but retirement must come from a woman’s own pocket.

If the workplace has a retirement fund that can be matched, this is not to be passed up. The match is essentially free money that the company is giving her. Fund the retirement fund up until the match, then place the rest of money that is going towards retirement into an after-tax fund.

By Ricky Devel

by: Michelle L. Marrs

A frustrating situation that bankruptcy attorneys are often faced with is meeting clients who have drained their retirements in an effort to avoid bankruptcy, only to end up filing anyway. In a bankruptcy situation, funds in a qualified retirement account are exempt to over $1 million dollars – a limit not generally approached by most debtors.

People sometimes use loans and disbursements as a band-aid for their financial troubles. If this approach is not going to “cure” the problem, then you should avoid these false “solutions”. The best decision you could make in considering resolution of your financial difficulties is to seek the advice of an experienced bankruptcy attorney.

There is extensive planning that can be done to seek to maximize the amount of assets you keep while minimizing the repayment to creditors. Your number one goal should be to seek a fresh start with as many assets as possible.

Speaking to a bankruptcy attorney doesn’t mean that you will need to or should file a bankruptcy. A good bankruptcy attorney is experienced in many different areas of financial distress and can offer a comprehensive and creative approach to solving the problem. They deal with these issues on a daily basis and will have a broader range of experience and insight than the average person.

There may also be additional relief available to you in stripping mortgages, adjusting interest rates, IRS issues and so on that can be explained by a bankruptcy attorney. People often are misled by false information on the Internet or from well intentioned friends with only partially true information.

In short, meet with someone experienced in financial issues before raiding your retirement, you may be surprised at the options available to you.

About The Author

Ms. Marrs is a 1992 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Economics. She received her law degree from Thomas M Cooley in 1998. Ms. Marrs practices in the areas of bankruptcy including adversary proceedings. http://www.marrsterry.net