You Don't Want to Work After Retirement, Right?

Do you really want to work after retirement?

If you're like many people facing retirement it's something you've looked forward to for many years for a variety of reasons.

You'll no longer have to get up every morning and go to work unless it's your choice.

You have more time to spend with your family and you have many opportunities to do the many fun things you've been putting off due to a lack of time.

However, you may also be joining the many that are forced to keep on working long after their so-called "retirement".

Many people are forced to continue chasing after that weekly paycheck.

Even though Social Security is available to most individuals upon retirement many people today have a difficult time making a comfortable living off just Social Security benefits alone. This is especially true if they don't have an adequate retirement or pension plan waiting for them.

Individuals that do have pension or retirement plans often reinvest their money into more lucrative means like government or corporate bonds, equities, stocks or other annuities. They plan to work after retirement as long as they can to allow their income to grow.

Surveys show that almost two-thirds of Americans that are still working plan to work after retirement. Their reasons are either to keep busy, for a paycheck or because they can't afford to not work.

There are certain considerations you need to take before you decide to work long into retirement such as if your income will affect your Social Security benefits. If you don't consider all the factors and plan accordingly, you could lose all or some of the retirement benefits you've earned and waited so long for.

When you reach full retirement age, you'll receive your allotted Social Security benefit whether you're working or not. The catch is what your retirement age is for you. At one time retirement age was 65. Then 62 was added as the "early retirement" age.

Your full retirement age is determined by your date of birth. For most people born after 1960, the full benefit retirement age is 67. Consider this when deciding if you want to continue to work after your "retirement".

If you've reached full retirement age, you'll continue to receive your full benefit from Social Security. If you begin working before you have reached "full retirement age", you will lose $1 of benefits for every $2 you earn on your job over the annual limit.

For instance, if your full benefit age is 66 and you're only 65 and earn $300 per month, you'll lose $150 in Social Security benefits. If you begin working in the year you'll reach your full retirement age, you'll lose $1 of benefits for every $3 you earn on the job over a different limit.

Consider all these things carefully before you choose to work after retirement. Any Social Security benefits you lose from working will lessen the amount of money you're bringing in each month, unless you're only working for something to keep yourself busy.

Working may also put you in a higher tax bracket so when you do withdraw any pension plans you may have, you'll be paying a higher amount of taxes. Before you decide to definitely work after retirement, check into all these important details so you don't wind up working for nothing!

Remember the survey I referenced above? The one where people keep on working because they want to keep busy, they need a paycheck or because they can't afford to not work?

Let's tell it like it like it is and say that people do it because they need the money. If I want to keep busy I can think of a million things I'd rather do than greet you at my local Walmart.

The truth of all this retirement stuff is that if you can't get excited about setting goals for yourself you're destined to struggle after age 60-65 or so. The government isn't going to help you as its version of "change" is more debt, more taxes, more regulation, more corruption, etc.

Therefore, you need to think long and hard about funding your retirement all on your own. The only way that is going to happen is if you begin to think like a business owner, not a broke and helpless employee. I suggest you start learning about things such as real estate and website building.

Real estate can provide you solid income during retirement that is much higher than working at the local Walmart. You could buy investment properties now while working, pay them off and then use the rent for income after "retiring". You could also sell some of them for big windfalls later in life. You could invest in tax liens. Real estate offers multiple ways to bring in income.

You could learn to build websites around your personal interests/hobbies. Each small website could bring you $250, $500, $1000 or more per month in income. How many such websites would you need to realize your dream monthly income? Figure it out now.

If this line of thinking is new to you I suggest you read something like "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", by Robert Kiyosaki. If you'd rather avoid all this work after retirement stuff, you need to change what you've been doing all your life. You need to start taking personal growth seriously and learn how to take care of yourself.