How to Plan for Retirement when You're Self-Employed

When you're employed by a major corporation, much of your retirement planning is done for you, but if you work for yourself, it's a different story. Your finances -- both for now and later -- are completely up to you. How you plan for your future will effect how well you can live past retirement age, and if you think you don't need to plan for it now, think again! The earlier you start planning for retirement, the better off you'll be. Following are several tips on how to plan for retirement when you're self employed.

Consider When You'll Retire
Many self-employed individuals dream of early retirement. You've worked your butt off for the last several years and you dream of the day when you can kick back and play a game of golf in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Others can't imagine themselves without a job in the works and plan to work at least on a part-time basis even after retirement age. Start thinking about the age at which you plan to retire because that is when you should have the maximum amount of retirement savings already in the bank. It helps to have goals, even if you over-shoot them by a couple of years.

Project Your Retirement Expenses
For many people, this is the most difficult part of planning for retirement when you're self-employed. How can you possibly know how much money you'll need each year, especially if retirement is a couple of decades down the road? You'll have to take into consideration medical expenses, inflation, taxes, any money you've already saved for retirement and a host of other factors that could raise or lower your projected expenses. For this part, you'd be better off seeking advice from a financial planner. This is a low-cost way to help accurately estimate the money you'll need for retirement