A new year, and a new you. Common resolutions to exercise or lose weight might come to mind first.
But your health and wealth go hand in hand, now and when you retire.
To make sure you are doing everything you can today to plan for a better tomorrow, consider these tips for making yourself healthy, wealthy and wise.
• Save as much as you can, as soon as you can. No matter how old you are, you should be saving for your future. Start young, and you can put the power of compounding on your side. Your money will grow faster over time as your earnings produce their own earnings.
Also, with the price of oil dropping, put the money you save on gas into a retirement account.
• Prepare and prevent. Preparation means saving for retirement and making sure you have appropriate insurance. Prevention means having routine tests, screenings and health exams to catch problems before they become serious — and expensive — health conditions.
• Understand your retirement benefits. Learn as much as you can about your retirement savings plan. Don’t miss out on a company 401(k) match, if your employer offers one, and avoid taking loans and withdrawals that can reduce the money you’ll have available in retirement.
If you have a pension plan, find out about projected benefit levels at different retirement ages and under different distribution plans. Also, be sure to review your personal Social Security statement, available at socialsecurity.gov/myaccount. The statement is an easy-to-read record of your earnings and a summary of the estimated Social Security benefits you may receive as a result.
Another helpful tool is the Social Security Claiming Guide from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. The guide can help you understand your options and when the best time might be to start collecting your Social Security benefit.
• Ensure you have a better future. Make sure you have the insurance you need to protect your health and financial future before and after you retire. As you approach retirement, learn everything you can about Medicare, supplemental health policies and long-term care insurance.
While you don’t want to waste money by having too much insurance, you also need to be careful you don’t leave yourself exposed to financial catastrophes.
• All things in moderation. Moderation — and diversification — is good advice for many aspects of life. Money should be diversified appropriately so it is invested in areas that are not too risky, not too conservative and typically not all in one basket.