Retirement should not scare you, as long as you have saved for it. But, that\u2019s where many people seem to be lagging behind. Studies show that Americans are not saving enough, while traditional sources of retirement income (from employers and government) are facing challenges.<\/p>\n
Defined benefit plans from employers have almost become obsolete in the U.S. And, less than 21% of workers are expecting a steady stream of pension from their former employer in retirement, according to a 2014 Gallup poll. On the other hand, Social Security is rife with potential shortfalls. The latest projections from Social Security Administration show that there is a possibility that funds will be depleted by 2034. That means, the responsibility of accumulating and preserving wealth is falling more and more onto the individual.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, not everyone is acting fast enough. A study by GoBankingRates reveals that 69% of American adults have less than $1,000 in their savings account, and that includes 34% who have no savings at all!<\/p>\n
Putting away an adequate portion of income goes a long way in building a strong nest egg. By putting money regularly into your savings\/investment pot, you won\u2019t be pressured into making major compromises in your living standards when you approach retirement or after. The earlier you start to save, the less you need to save each month to meet your financial goals. While many of you probably know that already, according to a recently published study by Bankrate, \u201cnot saving for retirement early enough\u201d topped as the biggest financial mistake among 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed in early May.<\/p>\n
To take the leap from knowing what is needed to actually implementing it, one requires an effective savings\/investment plan and the discipline to follow through.\u00a0 But, what exactly qualifies as \u2018effective\u2019 for your<\/em> plan? And, what are the best ways to materialize your savings goals without hurting your current financial situation? If these questions are standing in your way of planning for retirement, you should consider seeking professional help to make your retirement planning simple.<\/p>\n At Zacks Investment Management, we recommend you try to save 20% of your earnings each year. There are various ways you can achieve that target, such as contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement plan (e.g. IRA, 401(k) etc.) and\/or setting monthly withdrawal limits to your savings or investment accounts. But, first make sure you have all the relevant information on each of these different account types.<\/p>\n When it comes to planning for your retirement, the devil is in the details \u2013 something that we at Zacks Investment Management swear by. Our Investment Advisor Representatives guide each client towards a plan (or, a combination of plans) that best suits their individual financial goals<\/em>. This includes helping a client strategize on and clean up inefficiencies in their income-and-savings structure \u2013 steps that can go a long way in boosting long-term potential of their nest egg.<\/p>\n At the same time, we emphasize diversification. <\/em>That\u2019s because, putting all your eggs into one basket would deprive an individual of long-term returns from a well-diversified portfolio and could even threaten their wealth preservation goals.<\/p>\n No matter how much savings you accumulate over your lifetime, if it is not adequately cushioned against inflation and other risks, you could see your nest egg\u2019s value getting eroded by the time you reach retirement or after.\u00a0 While bonds and other steady streams of income are important for offering potential down-side protection, exposure to riskier assets such as equity can mitigate inflation risks. In addition, some cash\/cash equivalents are necessary to meet urgent withdrawal needs especially in times of the market\u2019s downside volatility or shrinking liquidity in a recession. At Zacks Investment Management, we create allocations based on a client\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n Even within a broad asset class, there are different sub-categories whose performances may change from time to time. For instance, one year you may see small-caps outperforming, but the next year, large-caps may be ruling and so on. In some difficult years, a more defensive strategy may be needed to limit downside volatility. So, instead of pigeonholing a client\u2019s nest egg under a single strategy forever, we position different styles and strategies in a portfolio so as to leverage evolving market\/economic dynamics. And, we take into consideration our clients\u2019 individual financial goals and risk tolerance along the way.<\/p>\n Bottom Line for Investors<\/strong><\/p>\n With an alarming proportion of U.S. citizens not savings enough, we sense a serious gap in retirement planning. In an environment which is continually undergoing economic, financial and policy uncertainties, planning for retirement could be a challenge, but nonetheless absolutely necessary. At Zacks Investment Management, we can make the task easier for you. Just give us a call at 1-888-600-2783. <\/em><\/strong>We would be happy to answer your questions on retirement planning, savings and investment, and discuss our services with you.<\/p>\n In the meantime, check out our retirement guide, \u201c4 Steps to Managing Your Retirement Assets.\u201d This step-by-step comprehensive guide outlines how to plan for retirement, and contains tips related to withdrawals, spending and tax strategies. To get your free copy, click on the link below:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Retirement should not scare you, as long as you have saved for it. But, that\u2019s where many people seem to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-private-client-group","category-steady-investor-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11003,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6520\/revisions\/11003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}