You will spend almost 1/3 of your life in retirement so you want to be sure that you have enough retirement income to support the lifestyle you want. Unfortunately, many people don’t start saving until much later in life and don’t end up with enough. If you find yourself in this situation, here are some things you can do to stretch your retirement budget.

1. Take a look at your retirement investments. There are many investments that can help with your retirement plans, think about stock market bonds, with profit bonds, distribution bonds, venture capital trusts and savings accounts.

2. Revise your budget. Think about where you spend your money and cut expenses that are not necessary. You still want to enjoy your golden years but maybe you can give up those weekly movies and rent DVD’s. Also take a look at what you simply won’t want to go without but you may have to sacrifice something else in order to still afford those luxuries.

3. Put some money away every week. You can still save a little bit for those rainy days and have the security of a bit in the bank even if you are retired. Eat out one less time during the week and save that money. You’d be surprised how fast it adds up.

4. Look for savings on your insurance. Take a look at your insurance policies and think about increasing the deductibles which can save you up to 20% on the premiums.

5. Think about where you take your distributions. You might think about using Social Security funds before your taxable investments. You want to do whatever you can to lessen your tax fees while still being able to cover your monthly expenses.

6. Get some help. You might seek the help of a tax advisor to make sure you are funding your retirement the best way tax-wise.

7. If you still work part time or even full time make full use of company retirement plans by contributing as much as you can. This money will be pre-tax dollars and also help minimize the amount of taxes you have to pay for each pay period.