Finances can be difficult to manage, especially when life today is so expensive. From mortgage payments to slowly paying off your student loans, life can be difficult to navigate from a financial standpoint, and it can be hard to find money to set aside, to learn how to budget, and to keep your head above water. But financial planning is important, and professional financial planners can help. The need for financial planners is growing, particularly in the difficult economic climate that many of us now coming into adulthood have faced in our short time supporting ourselves.
There are many areas of life for which saving money is important, and the vast majority (if not all) of financial planners believe that it is key to save for retirement. For many of us who are just starting our professional lives and who have just entered the adult world for the first time, retirement can feel very far off. After all, we are so focused in surviving in the here and the now that it is easy for fifty years down the line to not feel so important. In the grand scheme of things, however, it is, and financial planners will tell you that even setting aside a small amount of money now can greatly benefit you down the line. As much as twenty two percent of all older Americans feel that not saving for retirement was their greatest financial mistake when they were young, and many find that they must live off of social security payments (as much as sixty seven percent). While social security payments can be helpful, they typically do not even reach one thousand and five hundred dollars a month, which can be difficult for the average person to live on indefinitely.
When financial planners talk to you about planning for retirement, they are likely to discuss the medical aspects of being an older adult. Once you become an elderly person, your likelihood of developing a chronic condition – or even multiple chronic conditions – jumps up by quite a bit. In fact, as many as seventy percent of all older adults in the United States alone are living with more than one chronic condition. Medical expenses are likely to accrue in your old age, and it is important that you have money set aside to pay them off. Unfortunately, thirty percent of people in the United States currently do not feel that they have the right amount of money set aside to cover medical costs when they reach a retirement age, and this might even keep them working longer and harder, past the age that they would have liked to retire at. As one can assume, this extra stress and lack of ability to relax can make existing health problems worsen and can make new chronic conditions spring into existence.
It is also important, as any financial advisor can tell you, to have money set aside for any imminent emergency, from a natural disaster to a health emergency that comes up. After all, though we all hope that a disaster never befalls us, we cannot truly prevent one from occurring. For instance, car accidents happen with alarming frequency in the United States (as many as six million a year) and can lead to the need for a great deal of medical care and eventual rehabilitation. Unfortunately, more than fifteen percent of people feel that their biggest financial shortcoming is not having an emergency fund set aside, and more than half of all people (two thirds, to be more exact) would have a difficult time pulling together even a mere one thousand dollars in the event of an emergency, when the need for that money was instant.
Financial planners can help you to learn how to set aside some of your money and budget what you do have, even if money is currently tight. Financial distress is certainly not uncommon in the United States, but saving money in your youth can prevent you from finding yourself in a financially shaky situation later on, in your retirement years. Starting early is key, and financial planners can help.