Buy Retirement Planning Software-How To Reach Your Goals
Not so long ago, not many people were talking about retirement planning. After all, it was a pipe dream. But then the federal government passed the "Gains Tax" in 2003 and things started to change. Suddenly people realized that they had to plan and prepare for retirement before they reached their golden years because life expectancy wasn't getting any younger. It is true that since 2003 life expectancy has increased by over 6 years and continues to grow each year as our world becomes more peaceful and prosperous. But the fact remains that no one is invincible and we should all prepare and plan early, especially if you have a family to support.
What is retirement planning?
According to Investopedia the term "retirement planning" is defined as: "The process of creating a plan for your retirement and how it will look when you retire." This definition covers most of the basic essentials of retirement planning such as saving for retirement, setting up an investment program, saving money into personal retirement accounts, getting an employer sponsored group plan or through your own company's pension plan, etc. It is important to know that you can't just set up a plan and forget about it, you need to monitor your investments, find the best companies to invest in with the highest return on investment and protect your assets.
How does software help?
There are many reasons why using retirement planning software is advantageous including:
Saving time - are you tired of running from company to company, investment broker to investment broker, trying to get the best deal? With today's retirement planning software you can do most of your business online. It will ask for some personal information such as age, income, family size, etc. and then give you a list of stocks that have a good record with high yield rates. Other companies will simply show you the stock trading data and allow you to research the information on your own. With this type of software, you let the program do all the hard work for you.
Working from home - how many times have you had a bad day at work and wished that you could just go home? It can be frustrating having to work around other people's schedules when your personal life has been disrupted. With retirement planning software, you don't have to worry about that because it is available online 24 hours a day seven days a week. You simply log in at any time and see what is going on with your investment portfolio either by doing a full system scan or by checking on one specific stock.
The information is current - a lot of people are still using decades old retirement planning software or they have a book laying around with quotes and charts that are at least three years old. Because there is a time delay in between the articles being published and the book being printed, it can give you false information. The stock market is volatile and you need to know what is going on as soon as possible. With this type of software, you will have up-to-date charts every day.
Success - most people are looking for successful companies to invest in but they don't know where to look. With retirement planning software, you will have all of the information you need at your fingertips. So you may be looking for the best company to invest in that has a history of paying high dividend yield and great financial stability or one that has grown substantially in the past year. Your investment software can give you this information right on top of the screen along with other company information like name, stock symbol, price, and dividends paid. That way you will know exactly what is happening as soon as it happens.
Establish trust - most people believe in the stock market and think that it will continue to rise, but why? Because we have been told so many times. What does the stock market tell you? It may be completely wrong or it may be completely right. How can you know for sure which way is right? With retirement planning software, you don't have to figure it all out by yourself. Let the program do all of the work for you.
The markets - with today's technology, there are no more excuses when it comes to investing what little money that you do have. You can use the internet and find out exactly where your investments are among thousands of websites all over the world within seconds. The possibilities are endless and right at your fingertips.
Safety - when you use retirement planning software, your personal information is protected. No one can access your personal information without the correct password. So you don't have to worry about identity theft or someone stealing your financial information and using it to their advantage.
With all of the positives that come with using retirement planning software, there really is no reason not to get started today. It will save you time, it will keep you informed with up-to-date information and data, and it will give you peace of mind knowing that if something does happen in the stock market, you'll be able to handle it quickly and effectively.
Investor's Concerns
The Stock Markets Stabilized – Myths and Truths
This post originally appeared on CDR Financial and is republished with their permission. The author of this article is Ingrid Edlund – CDR Financial's Tax & Retirement Partner. She has over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry and specializes in the areas of planning for retirement, estate planning, and investing. She is a Certified Public Accountant who has been a member of the IRS Tax Progam Advisory Council since 2008.
Although many thought that the stock market was done recovering after its historic collapse in October 2008, today we have some new good news to look forward to. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 have continued to rise in 2010 and this week, we saw some pretty remarkable numbers. On April 23rd, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 11,003.96 for a gain of 7.9% for the year. The S&P 500 is up 5% so far this year. Both of these indexes have risen by more than 30% from their lows of last November. It's been a great recovery but we all know that there is more work to be done and still many concerns among investors who have seen their retirement accounts wiped out by last year's meltdown.
In today's post, I will examine the main stock market myths that are currently out there and how these factors have actually made the markets more stable than ever.
Myth # 1: Less Money is Going Into the Stock Market
Over the last few years, money has been pulled out of the stock market as people moved their investments into cash. The reality is that more cash has been invested in the stock market during this time than ever before. A recent report from a leading accounting firm shows that U.S. investors increased their cash holdings in U.S.
Conclusion: In this day and age, investors are smarter than ever before and they have learned that they need to keep their funds in cash when the market is volatile. This has actually increased the amount of money going into stocks because more investors are putting more money in play when it turns around.
Myth # 2: The Stock Market Is Too Volatile for Younger People
This may be true for some people but don't overlook the fact that many young people who have been investing from a young age have also seen some serious growth over the years in their retirement accounts. If you look at how much younger people were earning back in 1980 compared to how much we earn today, there has been some significant improvement.