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Planning for a Bright Future


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Planning for a Bright Future

When I graduated college, I landed a dream job teaching accounting at a university. For five years I enthusiastically taught my students important accounting principles. During this time, I put a significant portion of my paychecks into a retirement fund. Because I’ve always been extremely conservative with my finances, I invested all of my cash into money market funds. Unfortunately, this decision did not yield great results. Now that I’m older and wiser, I’d like to rectify the retirement mistake I made when I was younger. On this blog, I hope you will discover the best types of funds to include in your retirement portfolio. Enjoy!

3 Ways To Grow Your Wealth Outside Of Your 401(K) In Your 50S

In your 50s, you really need to start looking at ways to build your wealth that fall outside of your 401(k) and traditional retirement savings. Use this decade to diversify your investments and your wealth. Diversifying your investments and your wealth now will help you have a more enjoyable retirement.

#1 Consider An Investment Property

First, consider purchasing an investment property. There are a few different ways you can approach an investment property. You could purchase a single-family home and rent it out. Between making payments on the property yourself and from your renters, over a decade, you should be able to pay off the loan. Then, once you enter your retirement years in your 60s, you can then just enjoy the income that your rental investment property brings in.

If you don't want to deal with being a landlord, you can look into programs that allow you to invest in a collective in rental properties. There are now a handful of different investment companies that allow individuals to come together and purchase property, with the company managing the property, and the individuals who invested in the property seeing a return on their investment.

#2 Invest in the Stock Market

Second, invest in the stock market outside of your retirement accounts. You can hire someone to help you make your investments, or you can make them on your own. Try investing in a variety of different companies. Invest in some brands that have been around for a while. Invest in some emerging markets. Invest in companies whose products you like and value. With these investments, as they are not attached to a retirement account, you can pull and change these investments at any time.

#3 Invest in Bonds

Bonds are one of the lowest risk ways of making an investment, because you are guaranteed a return on your investment. This is a safe and smart way to invest some of your money during your 50s. Even investing a small amount can be beneficial. Bonds also take a certain number of years to mature, so you then guarantee yourself that you will have that amount of money in a set number of years. Your bond investments should equal a small amount of your overall investment strategy, such as ten to twenty percent.

In your 50s, start using your bonuses and tax returns as opportunities to build your wealth. Take that money and invest it into bonds and stocks. Purchase an investment property and become a landlord, or invest in real estate in a different way. Work on growing your wealth so you have multiple income streams outside of your retirement funds when you retire.

For more information, reach out to a wealth management advisor.