The changing world of retirement

Retirement is changing, and it's an essential part of good human resource planning to get ready for it by explaining the available options to those approaching the age when they can stop working full time. For many people, the idea of retirement doesn't come up until middle age when it may be too late to invest properly and have enough money for the future. Getting even the youngest members of the staff involved with planning for their retirement is a good idea.

Begin investing early
The best way to have a good retirement fund is to get started early in someone's career and continue to receive deposits. Many companies will match some of the money going into a retirement fund. HR Morning reported that businesses have begun to change their matching strategies so that employees have to save more money to earn the full benefits. The example cited was companies beginning to match 25 percent of employee contributions up to 12, versus matching 50 percent of contributions up to 6 percent of pay.

The U.S. government is also making it easier to create Roth 401(k)s, which means that employers have begun offering more of these.

Consider a period of semi-retirement
Many workers who don't have enough in savings to retire fully from work have begun working part time on top of living off of their saved earnings. According to a study by the University of Michigan cited by U.S. News and World Report, about 20 percent of 65 to 67 year olds have extra jobs they use to earn money for paying bills. People who leave work early also have a greater incentive to continue working somewhere else because they often earned less money compared with people who retire later. People who work longer tend to earn higher wages. If someone is already earning a high salary, they will likely keep working past the usual retirement age, while people who earn less cash will work in part-time jobs sometimes through the age of 70 in order to earn enough to live.

Educating workers
It is important to make use of early investments, and many who don't do this need to take part-time jobs when they retire. As such, workers ought to receive advice and explanations from people who have experience when it comes to explaining the different retirement options available to those who have worked sufficient hours. Even people just beginning their career often have possibilities they don't know about, and HR needs to inform employees about available investments.

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