Retirement

Many people are so busy taking care of the demands of life today that they don't have time to think about retirement. But take a few moments now to figure out if you will have enough money when you retire. Are you saving enough? Here are some strategies to keep in mind regarding your retirement planning.

Use Tax-Saving Opportunities

The fewer dollars you can give to the government during your career, the more you'll have to work with during retirement. So, as much as possible, fully fund the tax-qualified retirement plans -- such as a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, an individual retirement account, or a Keogh plan for the self-employed -- that are available to you. The tax-deferred growth featured in these plans is hard to beat.

Another investment option to consider for retirement planning is annuities. Annuities are especially popular because their earnings accumulate on a tax-deferred basis and because they are so flexible. Typically, you can structure an annuity to fit just about any situation. For instance, you can regularly invest in a deferred annuity during your career to provide you with a retirement income. Or you can use a lump-sum payment from a retirement plan to purchase an annuity to provide you with a guaranteed income stream for life. Or you can use some other variation or combination that fits your particular needs.

Use a Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan

A nonqualified retirement plan typically forfeits one of the two main tax benefits present in a qualified plan. Either the employer cannot immediately deduct its contributions to the plan or the employee has to pay an immediate tax on those contributions. A major advantage of this type of plan, however, is that it does not have the contribution limits and other restrictive requirements found in qualified plans. So, as you prepare for retirement, you don't necessarily have to feel confined by the limits imposed by qualified plans.

Invest Aggressively

Some people who invest regularly and use the tax-saving methods mentioned earlier may still come up short during retirement because they fail to invest their assets properly. These people invest their money in extremely conservative investments that barely outpace the annual rate of inflation, and they see very little growth from year to year. When you're investing for a long- term goal like retirement, you may want to consider more aggressive investments such as stock or stock funds. That's because, even if your investments perform poorly in one or more years, you should still have plenty of time for them to recover before you retire. And, even in retirement, you may want to keep some of your assets in stock or stock funds for continued growth.

ENB Associates Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Evans National Bank. Securities are offered by O'Keefe Shaw & Co., Inc. Member NASD, and SIPC. Products purchased through O'Keefe Shaw may lose value, are not deposits with obligations of, or guaranteed by Evans National Bank or affiliates and are not insured by the FDIC.