Forced Early Retirement Causes Changes in Habits

There are many challenges that early retirees face in these times of uncertainty in our government and economy. The possibility that you might have to retire and start spending some of your retirement money has been on the increase. Employers will more than likely choose younger workers to fill their positions. If lucky, an early retiree might be able to land a part time job to help to keep from dipping into savings too much.

Part time jobs help, but there are other belt tightening techniques that can be used. Studying your spending habits and finding places to cut expenses are what a lot of Americans are doing. Shopping at Wal-Mart and the Dollar Tree and doing comparison shopping is a growing trend. When you're retired you definitely have time to comparison shop. Take advantage of coupons and sales. Buy store brand items. Most grocery stores now have their own brand of products and a lot of those products are very good and cheaper than their name brand counterparts.

This doesn't mean that you have to give up everything that you enjoy, but it does mean that you will need to be a little creative in finding ways to enjoy the things that you were able to do before. You can purchase good tires from Sam's Club at discount prices and receive lifetime balancing and tire rotation. Be sure to shop for your auto insurance. It's a bit puzzling that if you've been loyal to your auto insurance company that they reward their customers with ever increasing rates. That's why you need to shop for your auto insurance each time it comes up for renewal. There are plenty of good companies ready to give you a reasonable rate.

More than likely you will need to develop those handy skills that you may have hired out to someone else. Doing your own lawn work, auto repairs, and home repairs may now be a necessity to do on your own.

Shop online more. Believe it or not but this can save you a ton of money. You can purchase anything from ink cartridges to prescriptions and not only save money on the items themselves, but also on gasoline. Always look for companies that offer free shipping. Before purchasing you should look for discount codes online. Do a search on Google for a discount code for the store or item you are getting ready to purchase. If shopping for grandchildren, you can find big discounts at Babies R Us at certain times of the year with coupons. Shop the clearance items and use those coupons for the biggest savings.

See where you might be able to trim your utility bills. If you don't already have an energy saving thermostat, install one. They can save you a lot of money on your monthly power or gas bill. Keep an eye on the thermostat. Set the thermostat a few degrees below what you normally keep it and you will save money. You'll need to dress in layers for the winter and during the summer use fans.

If you have a cell phone that you use and a landline, get rid of the land line. People are a lot more mobile than they used to be and home phones are being shut off every day because they are so expensive. Not only are young people doing this, but also older Americans are saying goodbye to the once indispensable home phone.

You'll need to take a look at your investments and savings to make sure that your money is accessible to you when you need it. If you have certificates of deposit, look at maturity dates and possibly stagger the CDs to mature at different times. Banks charge penalties if you need to cash a CD in before they mature. Look for ways to make your money work for you.

Many of the problems that people are facing present everyday challenges to meet financial obligations. Our government also needs to be serious about trimming wasteful spending. Not by cutting Social Security and Medicare, but by finding the fraud and wasteful spending that is going on every day. In an individual's life if someone was trying to cheat and steal that person wouldn't just sit back and let it happen. Our government leaders need to wake up and get realistic.

In these difficult economic times it's not easy to stay ahead of the game. We have to be flexible and willing to make changes. It certainly isn't what we want to do, but it's something that we have to do.