Look Carefully at Your Current Spending: When you have established what is important to you, assess your current budget. Take a detailed look at everything you spend money on – and cut out the little things that don’t really matter to save money.
Cut Costs: Figure out how to slash both the big and small costs. Look at
where you live, who you spend time with and what you do on a daily basis. If these aren’t in line with what is
important to you, then make changes that can save you money and help you live a
more meaningful life.
Retirement has three distinct stages; in the first phase, you might need
and want to spend more after you stop working to travel or engage in new
hobbies. But your spending will drop off as you get older.
Thinking through the details of how you see your retirement unfolding,
and the spending required at each stage of retirement will give you some leeway
to spend more (maybe just a little bit more) in certain years and less (perhaps
much less) at other times.
Your home is your single greatest expense. According to the Employee
Benefit Research Institute, the cost of a home and home-related expenses accounts
for about 43% of spending for those who are 65 to 74. Reducing this cost could
be one of the best ways to retire securely.
Furthermore, if you own your home, then it is also probably your most
valuable asset and one that could be used to help fund retirement expenses.
Rent Out Your Home or a Room in Your Home: House sharing is becoming increasingly
common. And, Airbnb has absolutely exploded in popularity. Renting out a room
in your existing home (or your whole home when travelling) – either on a
permanent or short-term basis – can be a great way to help fund retirement.
If reducing housing costs and releasing your home equity interests you,
downsizing may be a great option for you. When you downsize you sell your
existing home and buy or rent something less expensive. It can be a smaller
home or a residence in another community
