Professional Help for Your Personal Islamic Retirement Planning

People know better, but many still don't give much thought to their retirement plans. This is because the young are often busy advancing their careers, raising children, and living in the moment that they see retirement as a too distant scenario to be worrying about. Saving some money in a retirement plan and setting some real estate or a small pension aside are only a small part of retirement planning, and contrary to what you may believe, retirement does not simply work itself out once you get there.

Personal retirement planning is something that requires careful thought and consideration of your current financial situation and the future that you want to have for yourself as well as your family. To seek professional help is the best approach to retirement planning, especially when you don't have a clue where to start. Here are some of the most important trends that you should know about to help you assess your own situation and formulate your retirement strategy:

• Nowadays, it is no longer realistic to think you can simply stop working and live on your savings once you reach the age of 65. Retirement is very long and while it would be ideal to picture a simple life of sitting at home or a grander escape of taking vacations non-stop, a lot of retirees report feeling unproductive and being bored only years into their retirement. What you want to do is scale back on work as you get older. Not only will this give you more financial cushion when you decide to go idle, it will also help you taper work to avoid early withdrawal. Many people in their retiring age even opt for second careers. This said, financial considerations should also be kept in mind, especially when you are not that high an earner. Only when you save diligently can you afford to be idle during retirement.
• Long-term health care is also one of the most important things to plan for the future. One of the biggest threats to financial security during retirement is high health care costs associated with long-term illness. This is why it is important to invest in long-term health care that is substantial enough to cover whatever illness you may develop.
• Retirement assets should also be planned carefully regardless whether you want to continue or stop working. This includes your IRAs and 401Ks, social security benefit, pension, private savings, business, real estate, and other investments that you have acquired throughout your employment.

This article is written by Brian Adams, who is the director at Islamic Wealth Management.