Baby Steps to Retirement

A great start for financial information is Vanguard. Start at www.Vanguard.com and follow the link for “Personal Investors” which will take you to https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/HomepageOverview

I do not understand why the Vanguard sites do not rank higher in Google searches. If you plan to live 10 years or so, take a look at the Vanguard 500 fund, ticker symbol VFINX. This fund has low overhead and diversity. You will be buying the leading companies. Put lots of your money into the Vanguard 500 fund.

For personal financial advice in general, the Motley Fool, www.Fool.com is highly recommended. The Fool.com has straightforward retirement advice in its Retirement Center: http://www.fool.com/Retirement.htm

The Motley fool will get you from zero to informed about 401(k) plans. It also has a Retirement Plan Primer for the basics. It has a calculator. The most fun is in the forums, where individual members (costs about $60 per year) give advice and feedback. Topics include retirement investing and other retirement topics.

For business commentary in general, including retirement savings advice, there is Forbes Magazine’s web site. www.forbes.com/finance/retirementcollege/

Although the Motley Fool is better, some simple retirement calculators are provided by CNN at cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/retirementplanner/retirementplanner.jsp

The US Government’s main page for Social Security is at

www.socialsecurity.gov

and if you wish to get an estimate of the payment you will receive, look at

www.socialsecurity.gov/planners/calculators.htm

One of the big problems is deciding on when to start payments. Sooner, with smaller payments, or later for bigger payments. Stay tuned for a Fearless Prediction on which is best for you.