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Successful Career and Retirement Plan Assignment Miranda Sue Davis College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University PSY-358: Adult Development and Aging Professor Dane Nielsen November 26, 2023

Key Career Factors Forensic psychology is a dynamic field that offers a wide breadth of career opportunities (Pinto, 2018). Per the American Psychological Association, forensic psychology is the application of clinical specialties to the legal arena (Ward, 2023). However, no matter how dynamic or how many varieties of careers are in the forensic psychology field, they all have five common personality and mental traits and skills. Those five common traits and skills are strong communication skills, the ability to maintain objectivity, critical thinking skills, attention to detail, and compassion (Pinto, 2018). A forensic psychologist should also have solid legal knowledge, an understanding of how psychology and the law intersect and interact, have specialized training in clinical forensic psychology, and have a background in ethical issues with forensic psychology (Cherry, 2022). Cherry also says that some of the duties as a forensic psychologist include custody disputes, evaluating insurance claims, offering testimony in civil lawsuits, providing psychotherapy services in family courts, performing child custody evaluations, investigating reports of child abuse, and conducting visitation risk assessments (2022). There are pros and cons of being a forensic psychologist just as there are pros and cons to any chosen career. The pros of a forensic psychologist consist of several different career paths to choose from, an undergraduate is not required in psychology, opportunities for growth, exciting work, challenging, do not have to worry about insurance, decent job outlook, and potentially good income. The cons of a forensic psychologist are high educational threshold, development of supplementary skills take time, high potential of stress, some details of cases may haunt you, scarce jobs in some locations, long workdays may be necessary, loads of paperwork, and higher paying jobs may take time to pursue (Psychology School Guide, 2023).

As for the salary of a forensic psychologist, Cherry says that at an entry-level job it can range from $60,000 to $70,000 a year, with a median of $69,500 annually. At the low end a forensic psychologist could make from $39,000 up to the high end being $102,000 annually (2022). In Tennessee, as a forensic psychologist your salary is at an average of $62,281, but as of October 25, 2023, the range falls between $56,792 to $70,297 (Salary.com, 2023). Description of Retirement What is retirement? Per Cavanaugh, retirement means different things to men and women, and to people in different racial and ethnic groups and careers (2024). However, per Kagan, retirement means the time of life when one chooses to permanently leave the workforce behind (2021). When it comes to retirement the most appealing thing to me is also the most appalling thing, that is that when one retires, they do not receive the amount they were being paid when they were working as a tax paying citizen. They only receive a portion or a percentage of what they were making. Another thing is that even though they are retired they may have to get a part-time job to make ends meet, to put food on the table, even to pay rent (Cavanaugh, 2024). I personally would like to retire at the age of sixty-five to sixty-seven. I think that this would be the ideal age for me to retire, because I predict that I will have my PhD in Forensic Psychology by the year 2028. In the year 2028 I will be thirty-nine years old. If I work from the age of thirty-nine to age of sixty-seven, that will give me a total of twenty-eight years in the forensic psychology field and put me at the full age of retirement per the Social Security Administration (2023). At the age of sixty-seven I feel like I would have learned a great deal

being in the forensic psychology field and that it would be the ideal time to travel to Ireland to learn about my ancestors and heritage. Per Financial Mentor, if I plan to retire at the age of sixty-seven and perhaps live to be one-hundred years old with $150,000, then I will need to have $3,775,573 saved by the age of sixty-seven to fund my retirement plan. Since I do not currently have a savings account, when I start to save towards my retirement plan, I will have at least put the sum of $3,298 a month in my savings account. However, I do not have a retirement plan set in stone if I start investing into a savings account at the age of forty, I should have $798,345 saved up and I believe that would be settle me just fine (2023). In clinical and counseling psychology, a forensic psychologist the median annual amount is $90,130 and as for a government forensic psychologist, their annual median is $106,690 (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). When it comes to retirement my biggest concern is that I will not have enough money saved up to happily retire. Lloyd tells us that there are sixteen different risks when it comes to retirement and each risk has its own challenges. Those risks are longevity, lack of available facilities and caregivers, inflation, loss of ability to live independently, interest rates, change in housing needs, stock market, death of a spouse, business continuity, other changes in martial status, employment, unforeseen health of family members, public policy, bad advice, fraud, and theft, unexpected healthcare needs and costs, and related planning issues (2018). Of these sixteen challenges and risks that Lloyd mentioned, the ones that I foresee will be challenging for me are interest rates, inflation of the cost of living, death of a spouse, and an unforeseen need of a family member. For one to have a successful retirement, there are several steps that they should take. I think the three most important steps to ensure that they have an adequate and successful retirement are to start your saving early in life, putting money in an Individual Retirement

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