How to make money after 50?

I don’t get asked this question as much as some others, but I suspect it is on a lot of people’s minds , or at least it should be, as we all know by now that NZ Super will only pay you enough to eat, keep warm and maybe run a car if you are lucky. If you have any ambitions to eat out regularly, buy nice things and travel overseas then you need to get your skates on and fast.

So if you haven’t started or haven’t got a lot in your KiwiSaver or Super or term deposits or whatever route you have decided to take and by “not a lot” I mean less than say $300,000 then action needs to be taken and fast. At age 50 you only have 180 months until 65, so even leaving it six months means 3% of your time has gone. Sounds harsh, but that is reality.

So what to do?

1. Get help from a financial adviser or at the very least go onto one of the free websites that can help you understand what amount of money you may need to have a life post 65. If you have a modest lifestyle then great, as it will take the pressure off your need to save and make your money work hard.
2. Understand your tolerance for risk. What I mean by this is, some people don’t feel comfortable taking on large amounts of debt to create wealth or investing in the stock market (I still hear references to 1987, which is now 32 years ago). Usually this is caused by lack of knowledge and not being able to understand the risks and what to do about them. So paying for education will help you here.
3. Make a plan otherwise you will jump from one fad to another. A plan can be made on one side of A4 and the minute you commit pen to paper it gets easier.Once a plan has been made, you can identify what needs to be done. It may shock you, but at least you can start to take action. If it means delaying retirement by 3 years then this is what you might have to do to get the outcome you are after. Your plan might tell you that you can’t get to the retirement number you need, in which case it is time to start getting someone else to help and taking on debt to make money. Many people are uncomfortable with this, but talking to someone about it does help.
4. Take action and don’t delay. Even if your plan has told you that you need to invest $2,000 per month and you can’t do this right now, then at least make a start.

If you have the time and the money go back to “University” and get a financial education. When I say University I don’t mean literally, but I do mean pay for further education around money and finances. This could be investing in property, the stock market or perhaps buying a business. A word of advice don’t go cheap as this never seems to have a good result.