Have you ever heard the phrase, “The only check I want to bounce is the one I write to the undertaker”?
That sentiment is true for a lot of retirees.
Retirement planning is a careful balance: your goal might not be to leave a large inheritance to your family, but you still want to make sure that you have enough for a rainy day – and in most cases that means a long-term care facility.
The pandemic, of course, has added to many retirees’ concerns about the future. According to the February 2021 National Institute on Retirement Security study, “Retirement Insecurity 2021: Americans’ Views of Retirement,” “More than half of Americans (51 percent) say that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased concerns about their ability to achieve financial security in retirement.”
The pandemic aside, making mistakes in retirement planning is all too common – and something that can often be avoided.
Here are the top five mistakes we’ve seen:
- Not saving enough after-tax money for retirement either in a Roth or after-tax accounts.
- Not increasing your 401(k) contribution percentage each year.
- Not discussing with your partner your retirement hopes and dreams.
- Not figuring out what you are going to do with your time once you retire.
- Not taking care of your health throughout your pre-retirement years thus developing health problems that must be dealt with during retirement.
How Working with a Financial Planner Can Help
We’ve identified some of the problems. Now, let’s talk about the solutions.
Through the Validus Retirement Roadmap we can help you determine if you are on track, ahead of schedule or behind schedule with your retirement plans. Many times we find that people just need to see it on paper and hear from an impartial third-party professional that they are able to retire. We even find that sometimes people are saving more than they need to meet their goals thus unnecessarily affecting their quality of life during pre-retirement.
Beyond that, we talk to our clients not just about their finances, but also about their life after retirement. At VFA we know that the next stage isn’t just about the money – it’s also about your quality of life. We encourage you to take a look at our blog How Will You Spend Your Time in Retirement? Consider These 9 Questions (link to blog).
When it comes to planning for the future, fear often lies in the unknown. Let’s discuss where you are, where you’re going, and get answers to the questions that might be keeping you up at night.
CRN-3985730-121521