While there are many well-known reasons why you should worry about saving for retirement, such as living stress-free in your golden years, there are other reasons that are sometimes overlooked. One would be the benefit retirement has for your children as well as yourself.
Parents who keep pushing off retirement saving in the belief their income is better spent on ensuring their children have good lives ought to recognize how the two are connected. Whether participating in an employer-matched 401(k) or maneuvering a backdoor Roth IRA, retirement savings are a way to ensure your children don’t have to worry about you once they’ve grown up to start their own families.
Here is how planning for retirement is good for your children as well as yourself:
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Maintaining Your Own Home
One of the most important reasons you want to plan your retirement is to ensure you can maintain your home without your children’s help. You are not going to earn the same amount of money as you did before, which could put your house in jeopardy and force your kids to consider a senior facility. This is your home and you have worked hard for it. There are memories in your home, creating a familiar feeling that you can protect if you plan well.
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Avoid Financial Strain
There are a lot of things to look forward to about retirement, but the new financial strain it may place on you is certainly not one of those things. To avoid that strain, consider accessing your home equity with a reverse mortgage. Unlike a traditional mortgage, it can provide you with money every month. You can also keep your home. In fact, in most cases the loan is not called in until you stop living in the home. That means you might go several years without owing the money back. Therefore, you can comfortably pay for desired or essential items throughout your retirement. However, to qualify for a reverse loan assistance you must own your home, use it as your main residence and be at least 62 years old.
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Burden Be Gone
You took care of your kids, and now they are all grown up. Your kids know that you are getting older and may need help at some point, which is going to burden their hearts. Life is not easy, and there is no telling what the future holds, which means taking care of you may not be easy for your children. Making sure you have retirement savings should lift the burden for your children since they know you have enough to pay your own living expenses, no matter what is happening in their lives.
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Passing Down
Another reason you may want to plan your retirement is so you can leave your home to your children. You know how hard it is to buy a house and, as a parent, you probably are okay with making things a little easier for your kids. You do not know when your children are going to start their own families, and a good starter home should definitely come in handy. This house can actually be passed down in the family, which will be a great gift to leave behind. Having savings should prevent you from selling your house to cover some of your expenses.
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Good Grandparents
Grandparents may want to have a healthy retirement account so that they have the time and means to maintain a healthy relationship with grandchildren as they grow up. All you have is time, so you’ll probably visit or have your grandkids visit you as often as possible with phone calls and web chats in between. These visits can get overwhelming, especially if you do not have a good nest to dig into when you want to pamper them. Of course, no one is saying you should pamper them so much that they become spoiled, but a little pampering never hurt anyone.
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Left Behind
The final moment is approaching everyone, no matter how much we try to lead healthy lifestyles. You want to make sure that you are able to leave a little behind for your children, and substantial cash savings should make it easier to take care of your kids. Savings could also make it easier for your children to take care of any final expenses, unless you took care of that on your own, too.
Hopefully, some of these points make it clear that planning for your retirement as early as possible is wise. This preparation should make your life and the lives of those you love easier. Talk to a financial advisor as soon as you can so you can start budgeting now.
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