Retirement concerns for most people tend to center on health and money, which are in many ways intertwined. For example, your health plays into how long you can work, how much you'll need to spend on insurance and medical care, where you can live, and your quality of life in retirement.
1) Not Changing Lifestyle After Retirement
Among the biggest mistakes retirees make is not adjusting their expenses to their new budget in retirement.
Reorientation: Often considered the hardest stage, this is when you're most likely to start re-evaluating your retirement lifestyle. It involves asking the hard questions and relearning what does and doesn't work for you, so you can get the most out of your retirement.
More than two-thirds of retirees wish they would have saved more and on a consistent basis — and half wish they hadn't waited so long “to concern themselves with saving and investing for retirement,” according to the researchers.
The safe withdrawal rule is a classic in retirement planning. It maintains that you can live comfortably on your retirement savings if you withdraw 3% to 4% of the balance you had at retirement each year, adjusted for inflation.
Retiree Regrets
Meanwhile, nearly 7 in 10 retirees (69%) say they did as much as they could to prepare for retirement, according to the findings. That said, they also indicated there were some things they wished they had done differently. 76% agree they wish they would have saved more and on a consistent basis.
1. Saving Enough Money: Perhaps the top retirement concern is the idea that without steady employment, it might be difficult to have enough resources to maintain your preferred lifestyle.
Senior Citizens' Saving Scheme
SCSS is arguably the first choice for most retirees.
Among current retirees, 31% say declining health or illness is their biggest worry, according to CNBC's August 2024 Your Money retirement survey conducted with SurveyMonkey — the most common response.
Retirement accounts, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s are not really liquid until you've reached age 59 ½. Withdraw funds from your account before then, and you may face taxes and a 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Often, inaction is the biggest risk of all.” We experience this moment of decision-making in our lives over and over again. It happens when we attempt something new, follow a dream everyone else deems “outrageous,” or reach out to make a connection with a new individual.
On average, 63 is the ideal age for retirement according to both retirees and pre-retirees. While current retirees are hitting close to that mark with an average actual retirement age of 62, there are signs that future retirees could have more difficulty retiring at their ideal age.
According to their table, for instance, the average remaining lifespan for a 65-year-old woman is 19.66 years, reaching 84.66 years old in total. The remaining lifespan for a 65-year-old man is 16.94 years, reaching 81.94 years in total.
Nearly half (46 percent) of all aged persons and couples receive only Social Security, and their median annual incomes of $6,270 are comparatively low. Only the very small group (4 percent of aged units) with neither work, pensions, nor Social Security have an even smaller median in- come.
The $1,000 per month rule is designed to help you estimate the amount of savings required to generate a steady monthly income during retirement. According to this rule, for every $240,000 you save, you can withdraw $1,000 per month if you stick to a 5% annual withdrawal rate.
Financial Planning
Review your retirement accounts, social security, pension, etc. and get the most up-to-date projections. Test your plan! Create a retirement budget and, for a couple of months, practice living within this budget.
By age 35, aim to save one to one-and-a-half times your current salary for retirement. By age 50, that goal is three-and-a-half to six times your salary. By age 60, your retirement savings goal may be six to 11-times your salary. Ranges increase with age to account for a wide variety of incomes and situations.
The ideal monthly retirement income for a couple differs for everyone. It depends on your personal preferences, past accomplishments, and retirement plans. Some valuable perspective can be found in the 2022 US Census Bureau's median income for couples 65 and over: $76,490 annually or about $6,374 monthly.
Using our portfolio of $400,000 and the 4% withdrawal rate, you could withdraw $16,000 annually from your retirement accounts and expect your money to last for at least 30 years. If, say, your Social Security checks are $2,000 monthly, you'd have a combined annual income in retirement of $40,000.
As a general rule, if you withdraw funds before age 59 ½, you'll trigger an IRS tax penalty of 10%. The good news is that there's a way to take your distributions a few years early without incurring this penalty. This is known as the rule of 55.