Less than half of pre-retirees expect to live their desired lifestyle in retirement!
That’s the shocking result from a recent study conducted in the U.S. byLIMRA. Before I go into the details of that study, I have to say I found this particular study to be a very clear reflection of what I have been saying for years.
If you’ve seen any of my CHEX TV segments on retirement planning, read my book Fearless Retirement or attended one of my live seminars, you’ve probably heard me say that having a written plan is the key to eliminating the anxiety and fear often associated with retirement. Even my tag line for the show (“Without a Plan, It’s Only Money” ) was a reflection of that thinking.
In order to have a “fearless retirement” you need to know a few things. First you need to know what it is that you want to do in retirement – what’s your vision and what’s it likely to cost? Once you know that, you can put pen to paper and figure out where your income is going to come from. What are your guaranteed sources of income and will that be enough? If not you’ll have to fill the gap with income generated from you investments. This is what my Retirement Spending Funnel is all about.
Now on to the LIMRA study
According to their recent study “only 48% of U.S. pre-retirees (those between 55 and 70) believe they will be able to live the lifestyle they wish in retirement”. It goes on to state that “pre-retirees are feeling insecure about their retirement future, in part because they have not yet taken the steps to plan for retirement.” Furthermore, their “research indicates that retirement preparedness is strongly linked to the completion of key retirement planning activities like determining your income and expenses, calculating your assets and how long they will last, and identifying the things you want to do in retirement and how much they will cost.”
The study also found that “three in ten pre-retirees have not started any basic retirement planning. Looking at five retirement planning activities identified as critical for retirement, no single activity has been accomplished by the majority of pre-retirees surveyed”.
The other key thing the LIMRA study revealed was “that working with an adviser can help organize retirement planning efforts”. In fact their study shows that “pre-retirees working with advisers are over twice as likely as those without advisers to have accomplished at least some planning activities”.
Bottom Line:
If you are within 5-10 years of retirement you need to start planning for this next part of your life. It could be as long as 30 years and for some this is as long as when they were working. While doing some of these activities can be difficult, don’t let that stand in your way. If your working with a qualified financial planner call them and get the conversation started. If not, check out my book Fearless Retirement to learn the basics yourself. Either way, you owe it to yourself to get started today!