Presented on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 at 02:30P

As a police officer, you spend a ton of time training to ensure your safety on the job. But what about your financial safety? All too often police officers put themselves in unnecessary financial strain, causing them to have to work a ton of overtime or even get a side job.

All too often police officers—particularly young officers just coming on the job—tend to get a little loose with their money, putting themselves in debt. The temptation to buy a new ATV, fishing boat, motorcycle, or other extravagance can be all-but unbearable when a rookie officer—whose only other job experience might be working at a retail store during college—sees those first few paychecks roll in. Officers often find themselves working second jobs out of necessity, or snapping up every available overtime shift just so they can pay the bills. Still others find that they've arrived at the moment when they can pull the pin and enter "retirement" only to find that retirement only means working a second career.

Retirement planning is the process of deciding what your retirement goals are and the actions and decisions you need to undertake to bring these goals to fruition. It involves estimating expenses and saving and identifying other sources of potential retirement income. Your future finances will determine your retirement goal for instance in the event of a promotion.