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The path to maximizing your retirement income will depend upon your age at the start of your journey. It will be a different path for those starting when they are 18 years of age than it will be for someone just starting at 40 years of age. How about the sudden panic that comes over the 55 year old person when they see nothing, or very little, in their retirement plan? Yikes! Which one are you?

Young people hear it all the time, "time flies, and before you know it you're a senior."
Ah, that doesn't mean much to an 18 year old - look how long it took to become a senior in high school, and when will the weekend ever get here? How can we expect young people to get it? Please, emerging adult and carefree person, start your retirement saving plan today. You can be very modest with it, but if you're consistent you may have several million dollars to throw around the shuffle board when you're a young 55 year old. How would you like that?

Buy a home and get it paid in full as soon as possible - not much in this world will get you more peace of mind, financially speaking. It's the number one way to earn wealth, underline EARN. There are always exceptions, but we're speaking here in broad general terms and building equity in a home is by far the number one source of wealth. Don't leverage it, don't suck out the equity to take a well deserved vacation or buy a new car, or even to pay off bills. Don't use home equity for anything unless it will gain in value. Vital home improvements, maybe. As a Realtor, I love to see regular people buying $300,000 homes with cash. Usually that is only possible when you sell one home and use the net profits to buy another.

The traditional retirement accounts are also good for building your nest egg, especially if your employer has a plan to match your contributions to some degree. There are other plans that are not as traditional, however, that should be strongly considered, such as the Roth IRA. Be careful, but done correctly you can maximize retirement money beyond your most ambitious hopes.

You contribute money into a Roth IRA that has already been taxed, at the tax rate in effect when you make the contribution. Somehow, that has been twisted into such a knot that it sounds like a bad thing. It is not, it's a good thing. Would you rather wait and be taxed at the rate 15 or 25 years from now? The Roth IRA can also be self directed, allowing you pick your own investments - possibly the same ones you have now in a traditional retirement

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