Guide to Retirement Income

It is recommended that retirement income planning include a myriad of income opportunities, in case an investment should fail or in case circumstances should change. Retirement income planning is best accomplished with the advice of a professional.

Retirement income can include traditional forms of income, such as social security. Social security is funded through taxes collected through FICA. These taxes are collected throughout an individuals working life and their employer matches their contribution. When an individual retires, those contributions are calculated to allow for a monthly form of retirement income.

Retirement income may also include pension plans which were in place at the workers last employer. Pension plans may include contributions from the employer and the employee, to allow for an income after retirement.

401K plans are another possible form of retirement income. Each year, an employee is allowed to contribute a certain sum to their 401K plan. Those contributions are usually made pre tax, to allow the employee to get the maximum benefit from their contributions. Employers may match the contribution up to a certain amount.

Retirement income may also include investments, such as rental properties or stocks. However, some of the investments can be risky and for that reason, many individuals have more than one retirement plans in place to protect their financial interests. For example, stocks may lose a significant amount of value in just one day, causing a great financial loss to stock holders.

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