50 Things You Need to Know About Retirement

We don't often spend much time thinking about retirement, but it's likely to be a big chunk of our life. If we approach it without much information, and without having taken certain important steps, our future may be far less satisfactory than we'd expected.

Here are 50 things you need to know about and think about in regards to retirement. Many of these things might lead you to take some actions that can strengthen your financial position heading into your golden years -- or they may just help your retirement be happier and more comfortable. Read on.

For starters, know that you're never too young to be socking away some dollars for retirement. It's an extreme example, but imagine that your parents invested a $100 gift you received at birth. If it grew at the stock market's long-term average annual growth rate of roughly 10%, it would top $30,000 when you turned 60. That may not seem like a mint, but remember that it's from just a single $100 investment. A few years down the road, along with your Social Security income, it might support you for an entire year in retirement! Had it been a $1,000 investment, it would have ended up worth more than $300,000. Youth is a powerful advantage when saving for the future.

If you're not looking forward to retirement because that means you'll be old, consider that folks in their 60s often don't look or feel that old -- especially if they've been eating nutritiously and exercising. You can still be quite active throughout much of your retirement -- and you can enjoy senior discounts as well. For example, some airlines offer lower fares for those 65 and up, while many hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and other establishments also offer discounts.

Many retirees and people nearing retirement are spending a lot of money supporting their grown children. That's fine, if you're flush with cash, but less so if your retirement nest egg isn't as big as it ideally needs to be. In that case, you're short-changing your future by regularly giving your kids big checks. If your kids are still young, you may be able to help them to be more financially self-sufficient by teaching them some money management and investing skills. If they're already grown, you might help them learn to budget better or make do with less -- perhaps a smaller apartment or home, a less costly car, and so on.

It's a sad truth for about half of the population that saving for retirement can be harder for women, for several reasons. Women often end up spending a bunch of years out of the workforce, caring for their children, parents, or others, and that not only leaves them with smaller savings, but it also leads to smaller Social Security checks. Women tend to live longer, too, meaning that their retirements will be longer, on average, than men's.

Divorce is another issue, because it tends to leave women worse off financially than men. According to a 2012 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, "…women's household income, on average, fell by 41% with divorce, almost twice the size of the decline that men experienced. For widowhood, women's household income fell by 37% -- while men's declined by only 22%."

We tend to envision retirement with rose-colored glasses, but it's not all pleasure. If our coffers are not sufficiently stocked, we may spend our golden years stressed out about money. And regardless of the state of our coffers, we may end up depressed. Indeed, according to one study, retirees were about twice as likely as working folks to report feeling depressed. We may not realize it, but many of us need the structure in our lives that working gives us, and we all need some socializing, too, which can be harder to do when we're not surrounded by colleagues most days. Without all that, we can end up bored, restless, and/or depressed. To combat this, plan to be active with hobbies and pastimes, and perhaps start getting into them while you're still working. Join groups. Volunteer. Set up an exercise schedule. All these things can help keep your post-work spirits up.

You're probably hoping for a long retirement, but you need to be prepared for a very long one, because you might get one. "About one out of every three 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, and one out of seven will live past age 95," says the Social Security Administration. If you're hoping to retire at 62 and you end up living to age 95, that's a retirement that's 33 years long -- longer than many people's careers. You need to think about how your money can last that long.

If you're thinking that you can prevent your retirement from being too long by opting to retire later in life, think again. A lot of workers end up retiring earlier than they planned, either due to a health-related event, having to care for a loved one, or a job loss. "… more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before they choose to retire, suffering financial damage that is often irreversible," according to a report by Pro Publica and The Urban Institute.

You're probably realizing by now that it could be good to learn more about various retirement topics. That's very true. The more you know, the smarter decisions you can make, saving yourself a lot of money, time, and possibly headache and heartache, too. You can end up amassing a bigger war chest, spending less on healthcare, making savvy Medicare and Social Security decisions, retiring at a good time, and so on.

One of the most important things you need to do is to make a retirement plan, on your own or with help. You need to figure out how much money you need to retire with, and how you'll amass that sum. It's smart not only to be living (and saving) with the help of a budget, but also to create an estimated budget for your retirement, to help you see how much income you'll likely need. For example -- will you be spending a lot on travel, golfing, or any other activities? Will your taxes be higher or lower? Think about what expenses will go away (commuting costs? professional wardrobe?) and which new expenses will you have (gardening supplies? healthcare costs?).

One savvy retirement move that many people make is getting out of debt before retiring. You'll be on a relatively fixed income, after all, when you're retired, and it will be less stressful if you're not on the hook for significant credit card debt repayments. It's even good to be done paying your mortgage as well. If you have more years left on your home loan than years until you retire, consider making some extra payments against the principal. Doing so can lop years off the life of your mortgage, saving you in total interest paid at the same time.

You may have read a bunch of articles extolling the importance of an emergency fund. Don't forget about that in retirement, though -- because you'll still want to have one. Financial emergencies happen in all phases of our lives, and it's vital to be able to take care of them without raiding retirement coffers or other important accounts. Your car might suddenly need a $2,000 repair, for example, or your roof might develop a leak.

As you plan how you'll save enough for retirement, you may find the Rule of 72 useful. It offers an easy way to see how money doubles over various time periods and with various growth rates. If you have one of those numbers, it will give you the other. As an example, imagine that you want to know how long it will take to double your money if it grows at 10% annually. Take 72, divide it by 10, and you'll get 7.2, meaning that it will take around 7.2 years to double your money if it grows at 10%. Want to know what kind of growth rate you'll need to double your money in four years? Divide 72 by four and you'll get 18, meaning you'd need an annual growth rate of 18% (which isn't easy to find or achieve in most economic environments). The rule has its limits at extremes, though; For example, with a growth rate of 72%, you won't double your money in one year.

Another helpful tool as you create your retirement plan is the 4% rule, which suggests that if you withdraw 4% of your nest egg (which has 60% of its assets in stocks and 40% in bonds) in your first year of retirement and then adjust for inflation in subsequent years, you should be able to make your nest egg last for 30 years. That's clearly super-handy, but it's a bit flawed, because much depends on the economic environment around the time of your retirement, as well as how you've invested your money. Still, the rule is helpful for getting at least a rough idea of how much you might need to spend.

Here's one way to use it -- by inverting it: Imagine that you need to generate $30,000 annually in retirement. To invest the 4% rule, take 100 and divide it by four, getting 25. Now multiply that $30,000 by 25, getting $750,000. That's what you'd need to start with in order to get $30,000 as your first year's withdrawal.

It's also important to be saving aggressively for retirement -- unless you started doing so while you were young. If so, you can probably keep plugging away, perhaps socking away just 10% of your income each year. The rest of us might do much better by saving and investing 15% or even 20% or more of our income -- especially if retirement is not that far away. Don't think that plunking $5,000 into an IRA every year will be enough, because it probably won't be. Check out the table above, which shows how your money will grow at 8% per year, with annual investments of various sizes.

It's not only important to be saving aggressively, but you also need to be investing that money effectively. If you're socking away hefty sums regularly but are keeping them in a bank savings account, for example, that's only paying you, say, 2%, you're probably not even going to keep up with inflation, much less see your nest egg grow meaningfully over time.

So instead, consider keeping your long-term dollars in a low-fee, broad-market index fund (or several of them) that will roughly track the overall market's growth. (There are bond index funds, as well as stock index funds, by the way.) You might consider the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: SPY), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT: VTI), and Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (NYSEMKT: VT), which will, respectively, have you invested in about 80% of the U.S. market, the entire U.S. market, or just about all of the world's stock market. For bonds, perhaps look at the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEMKT: AGG) or the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (Nasdaq: BND).

One way to invest effectively is to make use of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, such as IRAs and 401(k)s. In a nutshell, the contribution limit for IRAs for 2019 is $6,000 for most of us, and it's a far bigger $19,000 for 401(k)s. (Older folks get even higher limits, which will be covered soon.) In an IRA at a good brokerage, you can invest in just about any stock and you can choose from among gobs of mutual funds. A 401(k) account is a bit different, as you're limited to what your employer offers, which is often a handful of mutual funds and perhaps some company stock.

When considering IRAs and 401(k)s, know that there are two kinds of each -- traditional and Roth -- and that for many people, the Roth is an appealing choice. Here's the difference: A traditional account receives your contributions on a pre-tax basis. That is, they take money that has not been taxed. Then they let it grow and you're taxed on withdrawals later. The benefit is that you can reduce your taxable income with that contribution -- it's like you didn't receive it in the year you contributed it. Overall income of $65,000 and a contribution of $5,000? It's like your income is now $60,000, meaning that you'll pay less in taxes.

A Roth account, on the other hand, accepts post-tax contributions -- you fund it with taxed money. An overall income of $65,000 stays $65,000 if you make a $5,000 contribution to a Roth account. The advantage happens when you ultimately withdraw your money, most likely in retirement, when, if you followed the rules, it's tax-free.

Both IRAs and 401(k)s allow those who are 50 or older to contribute more each year than their younger counterparts. Specifically, folks 50 and up can send $1,000 more to their IRA(s), for a total of $7,000, and they can plump up their 401(k) contributions by as much as $6,000, for a total of $25,000 for 2019. Every little bit helps, so aim to contribute as much as you can, and take advantage of these "catch-up" limits, if you can. These seemingly small sums can make a big difference: If you're able to sock away, say, $3,000 extra each year for 15 years, and it grows at an average annual rate of 8%, you'll end up with close to $90,000 more.

Next up: Don't ignore any matching funds offered by your employer in your 401(k) plan. That's free money, after all. It's very common for companies to offer matching funds to workers, and the most common matching formula, according to Vanguard's 2019 How America Saves report, is 50% of every dollar contributed by an employee, on the first 6% of pay. The next most common formula is a dollar-for-dollar match on up to the first 3% of pay, and 50% of employee contributions on the next 2% of pay. The first formula offers up to 3% of pay as a company match, and the second one offers up to 4%. If you're earning, say, $60,000, these amount to sums of $1,800 to $2,400, respectively, from your employer. Aim to contribute enough to your account to max out any available match.

Many people are occasionally tempted to borrow money from their 401(k) accounts. It's not a good idea, though, because any money you remove from your retirement account will lose time in which it could have been growing for you. That could be several lost years -- or, if you end up never paying back the money, you'll just lose the benefit of all of the money. You may also be socked with a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you borrow from your 401(k).

Don't look at your 401(k) as an emergency fund; it's a retirement savings fund, and an important one.

Another common blunder is cashing out your 401(k), which many people do when they change jobs. It can seem like it's not a big deal if you only have, say, $20,000 saved in it. But even a seemingly modest sum like that could have amounted to a lot in retirement, if it had been left to grow. Growing at an average annual rate of 8%, it could total more than $93,000 in 20 years. If you cash out several 401(k) accounts over your career, you'll be giving up a lot of potentially critical retirement income.

It's important to know that in the world of retirement, reaching certain ages will trigger certain events or conditions. For example, hitting the age of 59 1/2 means that you'll no longer be hit with the 10% early withdrawal penalty if you take funds out of an IRA or 401(k). Meanwhile, 59 1/2 is still too young to apply for Social Security or Medicare -- for most folks, the earliest age for claiming Social Security benefits is 62, and the age at which most people qualify for Medicare is 65.

If you're self-employed, you won't benefit from an employer-sponsored 401(k) account with matching funds chipped in by your company. But you're not out of luck. Self-employed people can still contribute to regular traditional and/or Roth IRAs, and they can also use some other retirement accounts for the self-employed, such as SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, or Solo 401(k)s. A SEP-IRA is a powerful retirement savings account, letting you sock away as much as 25% of your income, up to $56,000 (for the 2019 tax year). A SIMPLE IRA, meanwhile, lets you save and invest up to 10% of your income, up to $13,000, for 2019. (Those 50 and older get to contribute up to $16,000.) If you're self-employed, learn more about these options to see which might serve you well.

It's a good idea to automate some or much of your finances, and you can do so in a variety of ways. Just as you probably have the depositing of your paychecks automated via direct deposit, you can have various investments automated. It's a given with 401(k)s -- you just decide what portion of your income you want to contribute to your 401(k) account, and your company takes care of the rest. (You will need to decide how to best invest that money in the account, too, of course.) Outside of your 401(k), there's a good chance that your employer's human resource department can route a specified portion of each paycheck into an account you designate, such as a different retirement account or bank account. You can probably automate mortgage and insurance payments as well.

Don't forget to rebalance your portfolio every few years, if it needs it. What's rebalancing? Well, imagine that you've distributed your investment portfolio's assets across 10 stocks, in relatively equal proportion. If, after a year or several years, one of those stocks has grown in value so much that it now makes up 30% of your portfolio's value, your portfolio is out of balance. There is an argument to let your winners keep running, but it's also a risky scenario. If that stock implodes, it will deliver a sharp blow to your portfolio. You might want to sell part of that position, and move the proceeds into some of your other best investment ideas.

If you've got money saved and invested in a traditional IRA or a traditional or Roth 401(k), you need to know about "required minimum distributions" (RMDs), and you need to take them on time. They're to be taken according to a formula that determines their amount -- beginning in the year that you turn 70 1/2 and every year after that. (Note that they don't apply to Roth IRAs.) According to the IRS's rules, you have to start taking RMDs on "April 1 following the later of the calendar year in which you reach age 70 1/2 or retire," and if you are late, you'll forfeit half of the amount you failed to withdraw on time. Yikes!

If you're married, don't think that you can take care of planning and saving for retirement all on your own. The two of you should be discussing how you want to live in retirement, how much you want to save for the future, and how you will save and invest your money, among other things. You need to be on the same page, so that one of you isn't working against the other -- such as if one is racking up debt or secretly spending money that should be saved.

There are some joint decisions to be made about Social Security, too, because you may be able to get more out of the program overall if you strategically time when you each start collecting benefits.

You may know that healthcare is costly, but you probably have no idea just how costly it can be for retirees. One estimate, from Fidelity, is that a 65-year-old couple retiring today will spend an average of $285,000 out of pocket on healthcare. That's for costs beyond what's covered by Medicare, and it doesn't include long-term care. (Those costs could be reduced by buying a supplemental Medicare plan.) That's not the only estimate, either. Another one, from the folks at HealthView Services, is even scarier, estimating that "The average healthy 65-year-old couple retiring this year can expect to pay $363,9461 ($537,334 future value) in lifetime Medicare and supplemental insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs." (And that's for a healthy couple!)

Clearly it will be very helpful to be covered by Medicare in retirement. So be sure to learn about Medicare so that you make savvy decisions regarding it and avoid costly errors. A common error is being late to sign up for Medicare, which can result in your paying a penalty of 10% of the premium for Medicare Part B every year -- for every year by which you were late enrolling. The time to enroll in Medicare is sometime within the three months before the month in which you turn 65, that month itself, and the three months following it -- it's a seven-month window. A saving grace for many is that if you're collecting Social Security when you need to apply for Medicare, there's a good chance you'll be automatically enrolled. But don't just count on that -- mark your calendar now!

Learn about Medicare Advantage plans, because you might be better served by one than by traditional "original Medicare." Various Medicare Advantage plans are offered by insurance companies, and they are required to offer at least as much coverage as original Medicare. Most of them go beyond that, though, such as by offering prescription drug coverage and coverage for vision, hearing, and/or dental. Some of these plans cost the subscriber nothing, because they're supported by funds received from the government in exchange for covering the subscribers.

Here's another plus for Medicare Advantage plans: While original Medicare has you paying only 20% of various charges, that can still add up to a lot. Medicare Advantage plans cap your out-of-pocket expenses.

Despite the benefits of Medicare Advantage plans, original Medicare may still be your best bet. For one thing, most Medicare Advantage plans are restricted geographically and are often restricted to a certain network of doctors, too (though those networks can be quite large). Original Medicare, on the other hand, is accepted by most doctors all over the country. If you're a very mobile retiree, that might be important to you. Original Medicare members, meanwhile, typically don't need referrals to see specialists, and Medicare Advantage plan members often do.

If you've heard that long-term care insurance is expensive, you've heard right. But it's expensive because there's a decent chance you'll need it. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services and supports in their remaining years." And that care won't necessarily be in a healthcare facility, either -- on average, about 65% of people need some at-home long-term care, while 37% need some away-from-home long-term care. They need an average of two years of such care at home, and an average of one year of it in facilities, and women tend to need care for longer periods than men -- 3.7 years, overall, compared with 2.2 years.

Know that this costly insurance is a lot less costly, if you buy it while you're still relatively young, such as in your 50s.

Getting healthy and staying healthy may not be high on your retirement agenda, but they should be. The healthier you are, the less you'll likely have to spend on healthcare, which can help your nest egg support you for longer. Healthier retirees can also enjoy retirement more, as they're more able to be active, travel, and socialize.

Fortunately, you'll have more time in retirement to tend to your health. You might learn to prepare more healthful meals and you might take up an enjoyable physical activity, such as swimming or tennis.

Health savings accounts (HSAs) let you contribute pre-tax money to an account from which you can pay for qualifying healthcare expenses. That gives you an upfront tax-break by reducing your taxable income -- and the account can help you in retirement, too. Why? Well, the money in the account isn't there on a use-it-or-lose-it basis, as are funds in a flexible spending account. They remain in the account from year to year, and once you turn 65, you can spend that money on anything, health-related or not. Thus, an HSA can also be a retirement saving account.

That income will be taxable income, though -- and in order to fund an HSA, you'll need to have a qualifying high-deductible health insurance plan. For 2019, the HSA contribution limit is $3,500 for individuals and $7,000 for families, with those 55 or older able to chip in an additional $1,000.

Don't think that taxes go away in retirement just because you're no longer working. You'll still face sales taxes on things you buy and, very likely, property taxes on property you own. If you're receiving dividend or interest income, that's also generally taxable, as are capital gains from stocks and other appreciated investments that you sell. Many retirees even face taxes on their Social Security benefits if their income exceeds a certain amount.

Few of us have pensions to look forward to in retirement these days, but you can still set up rather reliable pension-like income for yourself in retirement -- via fixed annuities. With an immediate fixed annuity, you pay an insurance company a certain sum, and you can start receiving checks every month -- for a certain period or for the rest of your life. You can even have the checks continue to go to your spouse when you die, and you can arrange for inflation adjustments, as well. To give you an idea of what to expect, in the recent interest-rate environment, one online quote estimator suggests that a 65-year-old man could get around $540 per month (equal to $6,480 per year) for $100,000, while a 65-year-old couple could spend $200,000 for $923 per month (equal to 11,076 per month). Learn more about annuities and consider using fixed annuities as part of your retirement plan.

Fixed annuities can help you not run out of money as your retirement progresses, and deferred fixed annuities can be particularly helpful for that. Instead of starting to pay you immediately, they start paying you at some predetermined point in the future. Since the insurer gets to keep your money (and use it) for a while before starting to pay you, insurers offer you bigger checks than they would for immediate annuities. As an example, you might deploy $50,000 or $100,000 into a deferred annuity at the age of 65, and have it start paying you beginning at age 75. Then you'll have more peace of mind that your income will get a boost at 75.

Another smart retirement move is parking a bunch of strong and growing dividend-paying stocks in your portfolio. Annuities can be wonderful income generators, but what you spend on them is gone, leaving you with little flexibility, and, generally, less money to leave to heirs. With a dividend-stock-rich portfolio, though, you'll collect income every quarter or so from your holdings, and dividends from healthy companies tend to be increased over time, too, which should help you keep up with inflation. On top of that, the value of the underlying companies will also, ideally, grow. If you can live solely off the dividend income, you can leave the portfolio to your heirs. If you need more income, you can sell off some of the stocks over time. As an example, if you have $400,000 invested in stocks that average a 3% dividend yield, you'll get $12,000 per year (equal to $1,000 per month).

Many retirees struggle financially, and one way to minimize that struggle is to move to a less expensive location. That might be by staying in your town but switching to a smaller, less costly home -- with lower taxes, smaller maintenance expenses, less expensive insurance, etc. -- or by moving to a different region where the cost of living is lower. The folks at Move.org recently ranked many American cities by their average monthly cost of living, and the list makes it easy to see that your income will go much further in Toledo or Tucson than in Boston, San Diego, or Miami.

One way to help prevent yourself from running out of money in retirement is to work some in retirement, at least while you can. That might be some kind of part-time job, such as being a cashier in a store, or it might be a little business you run, such as making and selling things online, tutoring kids, teaching music or a language, pet-sitting, or doing freelance writing or editing. You may even be able to just keep working for your current employer, but on a part-time basis.

Think about a reverse mortgage, too, where you essentially take out a loan from a bank with your home as the collateral. They definitely have drawbacks, such as typically leaving you with no home that your kids can inherit, and they often won't provide as much income as you might hope, but they can still serve some people in some situations well. Just learn a lot more about them before getting one.

If you can delay your retirement by just a few years, you may be able to significantly strengthen your financial condition in retirement. For starters, you can sock away money for retirement for a few more years, which can be very helpful. Working longer also means your retirement will be a few years shorter, and your nest egg will have to support you for fewer years. You may also get to remain on your employer's health insurance plan, saving more dollars, and you may be able to delay starting to collect Social Security, too, which can make your benefit checks bigger. It's win-win-win-win.

The purchasing power of every dollar tends to shrink over time due to inflation, and if you don't keep that in mind as you plan and save for retirement, you may regret it. For example, imagine that you're 35 today and you estimate that if you amass $1 million by retirement at age 65, you'll be in good shape. Well, inflation has averaged about 3% annually over long periods. If it continues at that rate, $1 million 30 years from now will have the purchasing power of only about $400,000!

Many of us underestimate how vital Social Security income will be to us in retirement. The Social Security Administration has spelled it out, though, noting that "Among elderly Social Security beneficiaries, 50% of married couples and 70% of unmarried persons receive 50% or more of their income from Social Security. Among elderly Social Security beneficiaries, 21% of married couples and about 45% of unmarried persons rely on Social Security for 90% or more of their income." Overall, Social Security benefits make up about a third of total retirement income for retirees.

Social Security income will be very welcome in retirement, but don't assume that it will have you living comfortably all on its own. The average monthly benefit check for retirees was recently $1,473, which amounts to about $17,680 per year. It's very helpful, but hardly enough for most of us to live off of. You'll collect more than that, of course, if you've earned more than an average wage over your working life. Still, the maximum Social Security benefit for someone retiring in 2019 at age 70 is about $3,770, which is roughly equal to $45,000 over a year. That's more like it, but it requires earning a lot every year while you work, and then waiting as long as possible to start receiving benefits.

Many of us are going about our lives, unaware that we have a "full retirement age." But we do. It's the age at which you're eligible to start collecting your full Social Security benefits (as opposed to reduced or increased benefits). The full retirement age used to be 65 for everyone, but it has been increased for many of us. For those born in 1937 or earlier, it remains 65; for those born in 1960 or later, it's 67; and for those born between 1937 and 1960, it's somewhere in between.

Once you know your full retirement age, you can figure out how much more (or less) you can collect each month in benefits, by starting to collect benefits later (or earlier) than that age. You can claim your benefits as early as age 62 and as late as 70. For every year beyond your full retirement age that you delay starting to collect, your benefit check will swell by about 8%. So delay from 67 to 70, and that's a hefty 24% bump. It works in reverse, too -- with early collectors seeing their benefits shrink by up to 30%. That's not necessarily so bad, though, because while your checks will be smaller, you'll collect a lot more of them.

There are other ways to increase your Social Security benefits, too. Try earning more, for one thing. That might involve learning more and switching careers, or it might just mean asking for a raise more often. (Surprisingly few people ask for raises, and most who ask get them!) You can also be sure to work for at least 35 years, because the formula that determines your benefits inputs 35 years of earnings.

There are various topics that we rarely or never discuss with others, such as politics, religion, and money. That's not ideal, at least regarding money, because there's a lot we can learn by sharing our financial challenges, successes, strategies, questions, experiences, and discoveries with our friends and family. If you don't walk away from such a talk with some helpful ideas or thoughts, then your loved one might, having learned something from you. Specifically, you might discuss when you're thinking of retiring, what you learned when an investment went south, or how much money you saved when you comparison-shopped for a TV. You might ask others about their retirement plans or any financial regrets they have.

Finally, since retirement planning is so vital to just about all of us, don't think you have to go about it on your own. It's smart to consult a good financial advisor, since he or she has spent years studying the topic and knows much more than you -- most likely including some savvy, money-saving strategies. Ask around for recommendations of great advisors, or look for a local fee-only one (as opposed to one who collects commissions from selling you on various investments) at NAPFA.org.

Selena Maranjian has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.