The Cold, Hard Facts About Planning for Retirement
According to Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, 75 percent of Americans come into retirement age with less than $30,000 in retirement savings. In addition, 49 percent of the middle class will rely on a food budget of about $5 a day in retirement.
Although most Americans have retirement accounts, very few know about the financial realities of retirement. Few realize that, if you were to enter retirement making around $250,000, you’d need $3 million in savings beyond what you’ll receive from Social Security- a cold, hard realization if you’re one of the Americans with about $30,000 put away for retirement.
Most people have easy excuses for this problem. They say they’ll continue to work past traditional retirement age. Maybe they say they’ll never retire- they don’t want to be bored. The problem is that they don’t want to think about factors that force people into retirement every day, such as sick spouses, or the loss of a job and inability to find another. The fact is, even if those laid off over 50 can find a new job, which is becoming more and more difficult, it is often at a significant pay cut.
So what to do?
Even if you didn’t start saving early, there are ways to catch up. Self-directed investing empowers investors to prepare for retirement on their terms. Use your knowledge and expertise to invest in what you know and understand with a self-directed IRA that can increase your savings and get you financially ready for retirement. Visit us at www.iplangroup.com or give us a call at 1-855-60-iPLAN (1-855-604-7526) to learn more about how we can help.