Will You Have Enough to Retire

Will You Have Enough to Retire?

5 factors that may affect your retirement savings

 

(1) Inflation

  • Reduces how much you can buy today, compared to last year
  • Historically, inflation averages 3% annually
  • Your investments need to keep pace with or outpace inflation

(2) Investment Risk

  • Determine how much potential gain you are aiming to achieve with your investments, understanding that also means you may potentially lose a similar amount
  • More risk equals more volatility in returns and account values go up and down more
  • Diversify your portfolio by allocating money to multiple asset classes so you are not totally exposed if one asset type (such as stocks) drops dramatically

(3) Healthcare and Long-Term Care Expenses

  • A number of studies show that the average 65 year-old couple can expect to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on healthcare in retirement
  • The combination of increasing life expectancy and growing medical treatment costs can have a huge negative impact on savings
  • Consider obtaining Long Term Care insurance
  • The premiums can be significant, but having the coverage in place may help avoid disrupting your overall retirement planning strategy

(4) Taxes

  • Employer-sponsored and individual pre-tax accounts offer a variety of ways to receive tax breaks when making your retirement savings contributions
  • Pre-tax contributions provide a current reduction in taxable income, and therefore a reduction in the taxes you pay each year as you are adding to your accounts
  • Roth contributions are done on an after-tax basis, which does not provide a current year tax advantage, but does allow you to make withdrawals on a tax-free basis in retirement

(5) You

  • Set goals for what your financial needs will be in retirement
  • Evaluate your personal risk profile and asset allocation strategy
  • Take full advantage of any employer matching contributions you may be eligible for
  • Roll over assets from former employer plans rather than cashing out those accounts
  • Seek out trusted professional guidance or use available self-help tools

  


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