When it comes time to plan for your retirement, many people feel that they have to employ professional Retirement Planners to manage their assets and help them ensure a well-funded retirement. The problem is, these planners often charge large fees in exchange for their advice on how to properly prepare. As a result, in lieu of spending thousands of dollars for a professional planner, it can often be possible to save a large amount of money by simply familiarizing yourself with many of the sites and organizations listed here. That way, even if you do choose to get a Financial Planner, you will know enough to evaluate his or her performance in managing your money.
Retirement Portals:
The Motley Fool:
Forbes.com: Retirement and College Savings and Financial Advice – Forbes’ articles and tools to assist people looking to plan out savings for Retirement or any other need.
Smart Money’s Retirement – Videos, articles, worksheets, and investment strategies for prospective and current retirees.
Senior Journal – A retirement news site with financial and health information by and for seniors.
New York Times: Retirement Section – A key source of news and analysis articles for issues affecting your retirement.
Investopedia: Retirement – Forbes.com’s knowledge database for all things involving investments and their relationship to retirement.
AOL: Money and Finance - America Online’s digest of the latest financial news, products, and articles to aid you in making decisions for your retirement.
Retirement Tools & Calculators:
Bloomberg.com: Retirement – Bloomberg’s repository of retirement-related financial caluclators, designed to allow retirees to plan ahead and determine if they have enough money to retire.
Moneycentral Retirement Planner – MSN’s retirement planner, helpful for determining the life expectancy of your assets, versus your own.
Yahoo: Finance – Pre-retirement calculator that allows for extra variables such as the expected rate of inflation and marital status
Retirement Calculator Incorporated – A more advanced series of calculators that cover more cases to better assess your readiness for retirement.
Financial Calculators at Dinkytown.net – A long series of calculators that provide all manner of statistics about current and future investments, 401ks, and IRAs
360 Degrees of Financial Literacy – Financial articles, FAQs, and calculators that cover every period of life, including those before and during retirement.
Firecalc – A retirement calculator that analyzes your retirement situation in relation to historical data going back to 1871 to see if your plan would survive some of the hardest financial times in this country’s history.
Retirement Focused Blogs:
My Retirement Blog – A blog for general information and opinion pieces on all matters concerning retirement.
Retiring Early – A monthly report of one person’s quest to retire early through proper investment. Worthwhile for all those considering early retirement.
Contemporary Retirement Coaching – Ann Harrison’s blog dedicated to educating seniors about how to transition to retirement.
What Retirement? – A Baby Boomers’ look at retirement, at preparing for retirement, and at caring for parents as well as children simultaneously.
Get Rich Slowly – Educated opinions regarding long-term investment strategies for retirement.
Personal Finance Advice – Investment strategies and advice for reducing debt and increasing your net worth.
The Simple Dollar – Investment advice and opinion articles digested for easier understanding.
Your Way Ahead – A now-defunct, but still valuable source of information regarding Retirement News, Information, and Resources.
The Boulevard to Retirement - Another valuable blog aimed at helping people confront the problem of saving enough for their retirement.
Retiring with a Plan – Paul Petillo editor of a leading financial education site, offers his advice and opinion on matters relating to retirement financial products
Retirement Think – Advice for those investing during their retirement.
Boomers’ Retirement – A blog dedicated to lifestyle and other decisions faced by baby boomers as they near retirement age.
My Retirement Project - A personal blog tracking one man’s aggressive investment’s strategy and its results.
Bill Retires – Bill Boushka’s take on the state of Retirement for seniors, as well as on the products and services offered to them.
The Boomer Blog – Retirement blog aimed at changing how Baby Boomers think about retirement.
My Money Blog – A blog aimed at those concerned with looking for more detailed control over their investments.
All Financial Matters - A personal finance blog dedicated to discussing such topics as budgeting, asset allocation, 401K, IRA, cash flow, insurance, financial planning, portfolio management, and other areas in personal finance.
Personal Finance Blogs:
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity – Another personal finance blog discussing matters of shopping, insurance, investing, retirement, loans, credit cards, mortgages, bargain hunting and other issues related to personal finance.
Wise Bread – Frugal tips to assist those trying to live on a small budget.
American Consumer News – Consumer advocacy blog concentrating on matters of financial import.
Cash, Money, Life – A personal blog discussing various issues in personal finance and self-improvement, with a specific concentration on serving and ex-military consumers.
Generation X Finance – Financial advice aimed at younger workers, investors, and consumers.
Moolanomy – A blog aimed at the science of generating personal wealth, with tips on purchases, saving, investment, and other matters.
Advanced Personal Finance – A blog dedicated to an assortment of advanced financial topics.
The Finance Buff - A finance buff in the
A Moment on Money – Art Dinken, a financial planner, offers his thoughts and advice on planning for the future.
The Money Alert – Robert Valentine’s blog on current financial trends and predictions.
My Wealth Builder - Wealth, Riches, Prosperity, and Affluence. Knowing what wealth is (and isn’t), getting wealth, and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement.
Free Money Finance – An overview of tips and tricks in the financial services sector to help people save money and avoid un-necessary payments.
Retirement Real Estate and Retirement Living:
Retirenet – A massive and detailed directory for seniors deciding where to live out their retirement.
Retirement Homes – A comprehensive directory of retirement homes, retirement communities, senior housing, long term care and elder care facilities.
Organizations and Governments:
AARP – American Association of Retired Persons
SSA –
Retirement Questions at the Social Security Administration – A list of frequently asked questions and their answers from the SSA
MyMoney.gov – A list of financial education resources for all Americans.
Retire on your terms – A retirement education program sponsored by the National Retirement Planning Coalition.
Other Retirement Planning Resources:
Amazon.com – Amazon’s listing of books related to retirement.
Senior Resource - The “E-cyclopedia” of housing options and information for retirement, finance, insurance and care.
Third age – A resource center for all issues affecting seniors.
Senior.com – An internet community for seniors to gather, meet, and share information about many different subjects. Site still under construction.