With the financial crunch in the US economy, for majority of retirees, saving enough funds to spend a lavish and debt-free retirement is one of the biggest concerns. Fortunately enough, being able to lead a fulfilling retirement doesn’t always require too much money as they say that the best things are free in life and for those that aren’t free, there are discounts.
Retirement is a dream for many baby boomers as this is the time when they can set themselves free from all their corporate bindings and engage in a life of leisure, traveling and spending quality time with their grandchildren. But what if you haven’t been able to save enough for retirement? How are you going to live on less? Here are few tips and advice.
- Abandon the cable TV connection: Do you think you will need to watch hundreds of channels during your retired years? If the answer to this question is ‘No’, you can decide to eliminate your cable TV connection. Instead of cable TV, choose an internet streaming service like Netflix. Hulu or Amazon Prime which can cost you way less than what you had to pay.
- Drift down to a low cost mobile phone plan: Though it is true that modern smartphones provide you different useful services like internet access, maps and texting, yet after you’re retired, you should check what you exactly need. If you think you won’t need your data plan for accessing all those fancy services, you may switch over to a simpler plan in order to save money.
- Curb the number of cars that you have: Once you’re done with your job life, you wouldn’t need multiple cars to travel around and therefore once you retire, you can just be fine with one car or may be no car at all. You may think that the costs of Uber, passes for bus and other might seem like money flowing from your pockets, but when you compare this amount with that which you’re not spending on maintenance costs, gas, license fees and insurance, it will be much less costly. So consider this as a change!
- Do more online shopping: If you’re comfortable with a computer, you should forget visiting physical stores and involve more in online shopping. You can compare prices when you shop online and this way you can grab better and cheaper deals. As there are coupons which can save you some big dollars, it is always better to shop online than visit physical stores. You will also save on your conveyance costs.
- Opt for loyalty programs in grocery stores: There are many stores which offer deals to all those customers who are a part of their loyalty programs. Keep on loading coupons in your account and then redeem them whenever you think it is perfect to do so.
Being a retiree doesn’t mean that you have to splurge. When you have not been able to accumulate a large fortune for you and your family, it is better to learn the art of living on less by following the above mentioned tips.