| December 06, 2015 Why do you invest? For the shorter term, there are nearly as many answers as there are investors. The financial freedom that investing can bring means sending a child to college ... not worrying about debt ... buying a cabin in the mountains ... having the ability to take a lower-paying job that you'd enjoy more ... installing that giant slide in your house ... or just the general idea of getting rich. Yet, for nearly every American, the end goal of investing is the same: to one day retire. And whether you're just starting your career or are on the verge of calling it quits, the goal is the same: to make sure your money lasts as long as you do. While the concept of retirement is supposed to be an exciting idea - spending your days doing whatever it is that makes you happy! - for too many Americans, it's one that causes stress and anxiety. It's an enormous topic - we at The Motley Fool have an entire monthly newsletter service devoted to getting members in a position to rule their retirement (not surprisingly, it's called Rule Your Retirement) - so I can't do it justice in a 1,000-word column. But I've received so many questions on the subject from both our younger and our more seasoned readers that I wanted to touch on retirement and share some of my favorite resources. Retirement by the numbers First, if you're concerned about retirement, you're not alone. The number of Americans reporting they were "very confident" about saving enough for retirement was just 22% this year. Although that's up from just 13% two years ago, that still leaves 78% of us with varying stages of retirement anxiety. Too often, it feels like we're playing catch-up. And that can feel overwhelming. Yet, no matter your progress toward saving for retirement, there are always steps you can take to feel more in control. Here's a quick quiz that everyone from 18 to 88 can learn from: How much of Warren Buffett's wealth would you guess came after his 50th birthday? 50%? 75%... More? The actual answer is more than 99%. You can get to your retirement destination even if you're nearing retirement age ... and it pays to start early. If you're nearing retirement age... The most important part of preparing for retirement is to make sure you have a plan. The Buffett statistic above might be inspiring to you if you already have a well-funded investment account but are still behind where you'd like to be. However, even if you have little savings to speak of, having a plan around other sources of income can dramatically boost your income over the course of several decades. For example, understanding different Social Security benefits can lead to tens of thousands of dollars in added income. Here are a couple (free!) resources I'd recommend from The Motley Fool that can be a huge help for anyone approaching retirement age. - The first is our Motley Fool Answers podcast. It's hosted by our Rule Your Retirement advisor, Robert Brokamp, and focuses on specific money tips that will help anyone with an eye on retirement.
- The second is our collection of free articles published on Fool.com each day. Specifically, I'd recommend going to our investing news page and finding articles from our featured columnist Dan Caplinger, who writes daily on personal finance, tax planning, and Social Security.
- And if you're nearing Social Security, here are three secrets few people are aware of.
It pays to start early... If you're newer to investing, that Buffett statistic above illustrates the power of compounding wealth over time. And you don't need to achieve the same returns as the world's greatest investor to grow wealth over long periods. Consider that over the past 25 years (1989-2014), even with the Dot-Com crash and the 2008-banking crisis, stocks returned a 9.47% annual return. Thanks to compounding, $100,000 would have grown to more than $960,000 if left alone to continue growing over that time! So even without Buffett-like returns, getting invested early - and holding over long time periods - can create remarkable levels of wealth. For some good reading on the subject, I'd recommend my colleague Morgan Housel's Seriously, You Should Save Money in Your 20s. Beyond that, I'd recommend investors take advantage of the following resources: And finally, for everyone who is thinking about retirement - either as an imminent event or a far-off dream - I've been able to set up a free trial to our Rule Your Retirement service for readers of this column. You'll need to enter credit card information so we know you are who you say you are, but you can then dig around the whole site for 7 days, gathering all the information you want to make better decisions for your golden years. If you want to stick with the service and receive ongoing analysis and advice, great. If not, cancel within 7 days and you won't be charged anything. It's a tremendous resource to dig into all elements of your retirement and give you the best chance to truly Rule Your Retirement. To your future,   Fool on,
Eric Bleeker, CFA P.S. If retirement is a far-distant consideration or circled on your calendar within the next couple years, you need a plan to make the most of your post-work days ... and to ensure your money will last. Let Rule Your Retirement help you make that plan and learn ways to design the life you want. Take a free, 7-day trial today.
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