When you start thinking seriously about retirement,
you have to figure out where the money you’ll be living on
will come from. And you’ll want to be sure you’ll have
enough to live comfortably.
Because many people spend 20 or 30 years
in retirement, you’ll also want to continue to invest even
as you begin spending the assets you’ve accumulated. One
approach is to deposit earnings from certain investments into
an account earmarked to make new ones. Another is to time the
maturity
dates
of bonds or other fixed income assets, like
certificates
of deposit,
so that you have capital to reinvest if a
good opportunity comes along.
The right moves
Some of the other financial decisions you’ll
be facing may be dictated by government rules about when and what
you must withdraw from your tax-deferred retirement accounts.
Others may be driven by your concerns about healthcare or your
desire to leave money to your heirs. At the least, you’ll
have to consider:
Shifting some investments
from stocks to bonds or insured accounts to produce
more income with fewer risks, in case of a sudden
downturn in the financial markets
