Working equates to preparing for a comfortable life when you reach old age. While most of your earnings still go to your present needs, you must also allocate a portion to your life savings and retirement plans.
There are many ways to prepare and spend your retirement. For one, you can start preparing for it with a retirement checklist. However you want to do it, you must have a comprehensive plan to sustain it financially.
In this case, you have two primary options for securing your future: a retirement plan or life insurance. A retirement plan can either be a defined benefit or contribution plan.
Meanwhile, life insurance divides your contributions to the death benefit inclusion of your plan intended for your beneficiaries. A part of it goes to the savings component that accumulates and grows with annual returns on a tax-deferred basis.
Ultimately, these two types of plans ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement. Given that both procedures ensure a comfortable retirement, do you know what you’ll get? What are the differences between a retirement plan and life insurance? And which of the two best suits you?
Life Insurance: Types, Pros, And Cons!
Life insurance offers two advantages. It guarantees a fixed interest on your savings account, which will continuously grow while you keep it. You can also access your cash value at any time, unlike retirement plans intended for retirement use. You can periodically withdraw from life insurance plans as long you don’t take out all of it.
However, there are also downsides to employing life insurance plans.
First, once you take out all of your funds and surrender your policy, the benefits package for your beneficiaries gradually reduces and may even be voided altogether.
Second, insurance policies are usually costly. In addition, despite the fixed interest assurance, studies show that the growth of your money based on the interest rates is generally lower at 2-3% compared to retirement plans, such as the 401(k), which can grow to 13.9% annually.
You can see the significant difference between the two rates once you see the growth of money in years. Nevertheless, if you plan to use a life insurance policy for your retirement spending, here are five ways you can do so:
- Policies, such as universal life policies, can be withdrawn.
- You can avail of life insurance loans and use your account as collateral. Therefore, you can only loan an amount up to what your account holds.
- In some policies, you can use your cash value to pay your premiums. Thus, you can have an extra sum to deposit in another savings account.
- You can also use your cash value to purchase a smaller policy. Although this may reduce the insurance coverage, you are still protected.
- You can also surrender your policy for a lump sum amount.
Retirement Plan: Types, Pros, And Cons!
A defined benefit plan can either state to deliver an exact amount of monthly receivable or an amount determined by a formula based on your contribution amount and duration of contribution.
On the other hand, a defined contribution plan does not promise a fixed amount of receivable at the end of each month. Instead, the contributors invest their contributions. Due to its nature as an investment, the value may change due to economic factors, such as inflation.
Therefore, an employee is not guaranteed a certain amount during retirement, which can either increase or decrease over time. Some common examples of a defined contribution plan are 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, profit-sharing plans, and employee stock ownership plans
Retirement plans, such as the 401(k), are cheaper than life insurance plans and can grow in immense value over time.
An individual retirement account (IRA) is a kind of retirement plan that relies on interest rates to grow. The great thing about IRAs is that your employer may contribute as part of your salary deductibles.
So, it doesn’t feel like contributing. Instead, you accept it as a monthly occurrence. Once you reach your retirement age, you’ll be surprised at how much it has accumulated.
You can also open your own IRA, which you can personally grow on top of your employment-based IRA.
Several types of IRAs include traditional IRAs, Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs,Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs, and Roth IRAs. Each of these has its features and advantages.
However, since these are essentially investments made on your behalf to grow, their growth is also vulnerable to economic factors that can cause their value to go up or down – so you’ll want to make sure to research things like “Is Your IRA or 401(k) Recession Proof?” before going ahead and putting your money into one. There are also limitations to monthly contributions.
In addition, you can only withdraw from retirement plans once you reach retirement age. However, that should not discourage you from starting young. There are different retirement plans for any age. You can ask for professional advice on how to avail of one.
Which Is Better For You?
There will be a lot of debate when it comes to the right plan to get for your retirement, however the simplest and safest answer is to choose one that works well with you.
It eventually goes down to your capacity to pay in the present, your short-term and long-term goals, and the perks you prefer over time. Both plans offers various pros and cons, but the one most suited for you is the one that will match your lifestyle and the kind of life you wish to have after you retire.
A retirement plan is a better choice if you can sustain your working lifestyle without any expected need for a large sum of your savings soon. You can also consider this plan if you focus on securing a comfortable retirement.
Despite its cheaper cost, a retirement plan comes with restrictions. Otherwise, consider a life insurance policy.
A life insurance policy offers more flexibility if you are financially unstable and sees the need for periodic withdrawals for unforeseen circumstances. However, life insurance policies are more costly. Still, given that you can make cash-value withdrawals, it feels like building a personal savings account.
If you are still conflicted about choosing one, find a professional financial advisor to discuss your options based on your financial capacity, lifestyle, and retirement needs.
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