on 漫游的小鱼
One day,
we all want
to retire.
After working for most of our lives, we imagine a time when we can stop working, and have
choices in
how we spend our time. Because we’re all living longer than ever before, it’s going
to take even more money to support our retirement. The secret to a financially secure
retirement is to start saving now. This is Saving for Retirement in Plain English.
Let’s
meet two retirees
make our
first point. This is Simon. He and his wife worked hard to support their family and now they’re
retired. They
are happy, but feel
insecure
about money. An
unexpected expense could put them in debt. To help, Simon has a part-time job at a hardware store. He’d prefer to
be fishing or
playing with his grandkids, but he doesn’t have a choice.
Next, let’s
meet Caroline. Like Simon, she and her husband worked to support their family and now
they’re retired. They live a relatively carefree life. They travel, spend a lot of time
with family, and don't worry too much about money.
Both Simon and Caroline have a long life ahead of them,
but Caroline and her husband learned early in life that saving a little bit of / money over a long time can make
sure that they
retire comfortably. This wasn’t the case for Simon and his wife. They started
saving too late.
To retire
like Caroline, the first step is understanding how to save for retirement. The
basic idea is to
start saving now and save as much as possible over a long term. To start, you’ll need a place to save it. It’s usually called a
retirement account and two examples are 401-Ks and IRAs. Many employers offer a
401-K
program, or you can open an IRA yourself. Once you have an account, you add a little bit
of your
income to it on
a regular basis, so the money you contribute over the years plus what it earns
creates a fund,
that’s ready to support your retirement. These accounts are meant for
a lifetime of savings, so don't plan on touching it until retirement.
To get
an account started,
you’ll work with
a representative
to decide on an amount that you can contribute to the account with
each paycheck.
This way you don't have to think about it. Your retirement account grows
automatically as long as you have income. And some employers even offer to
contribute to your account too. That's free retirement money that will buy
a lot of maitais.
And remember, you have to pay tax on your income. By contributing part of your income
to a
retirement account, there’s / less income that’s taxable with each paycheck.
The
money in these
accounts is usually invested in the stock market like a normal investment, but
retirement accounts are different. Here’s why. When you invest in stocks
normally, they hopefully
grow in
value. Each year, you have to pay taxes on the money as it grows. That’s tax money that
could be making you more money. Retirement accounts are designed to protect you
from having to
pay taxes
on your money as it grows year after year. This way, your money can grow faster
over the
long term. Of
course, you’ll
still have to pay taxes, but most retirement accounts make it possible to delay
paying taxes until you withdraw the money. But even considering these
taxes, you’ve been able to build a fund that will support a long and comfortable retirement.
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