Introduction to Investing for Your Retirement

Most people will not want to retire on welfare. They will want the kind of retirement lifestyle that a little planning and investing can provide. The impending Social Security insufficiency and the major pension losses after the Enron stock collapse started many of us re-thinking our retirement plans. An investment is a place to put money with the expectation that it will generate more money or that at least the value of the money will be preserved or will increase. Actually if you have money in a savings account, then you are investing. What you want to see from that money is those little increments of additional money that is added at regular intervals. That is the reward, or return on your investment. The money you have in your checking account does not count as an investment because it does not get those regular periodic interest payments. When you start looking at investing to provide money for your retirement you will want to invest in something more than a savings account because you will want a higher return than those little increments you see in your savings account statements. Financial Planning now is absolutely essential to your financial health in the retirement years.