Five Investments to Consider at 50

Age 50 is great time to a take a look at your retirement trajectory, and re-evaluate your financial circumstances:

1. Invest in Your Career

At 50, you have probably gotten close to your lifetime peak earnings level – it’s a good time to objectively evaluate your position, and decide how to approach the next decade or two of working years.  Have you been itching for a career change?  Are you being paid what you’re worth?  If you are eligible for a traditional pension plan, look into how your benefit is calculated – to best take advantage given your circumstances and goals.

2. Invest in Retirement

With less time to save, you may have to double down on your retirement plan contributions to stop working when you want to.  Remember, you can add thousands of dollars in “catch up” contributions to your IRA and 401K accounts after you turn 50.   If significantly adding to your savings is hard to pull off, or you’ve maxed out your retirement plan contributions, consider prepaying your mortgage in small amounts.

3. Invest in Security

Consider whether you or your dependents would have the resources in the event of an unexpected death or disability.  Buying life insurance and/or long-term care insurance could mitigate future financial burdens.  Do you need life insurance going into your retirement years?  If you don’t have the social or financial resources to cover a prolonged disability during retirement, long-term care insurance should be considered many years before you retire.

4. Invest in a Properly Balanced Portfolio

Your willingness to take financial risk has probably decreased over the years.  It’s a good time to evaluate your portfolio and possibly ratchet back the risk.  You were in your 40s during the 2008 financial crisis, and you may not be able to stomach that much volatility when the next crisis hits.

5. Invest in Your Health

All of this investing in the future only makes sense if you are able to enjoy it when you “get there”.  Consider whether changing your habits or lifestyle can help you can make the most of yourself.  As an added benefit, the costs of any new life or long-term care insurance policies are lower for those that are healthy!