{"id":9269,"date":"2021-01-29T16:20:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T16:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zackspcg.com\/blog\/?p=9269"},"modified":"2022-02-26T13:05:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T13:05:56","slug":"half-of-the-u-s-is-unprepared-for-retirement-how-about-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/half-of-the-u-s-is-unprepared-for-retirement-how-about-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Half of the U.S. is Unprepared for Retirement. How About You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kelly\nS. from Sioux Falls, SD asks: <\/em>Hello Mitch! I see an awful\nlot of articles about Americans being very underprepared for retirement. I\u2019m in\nmy 40s and have always been a good saver, but now I\u2019m concerned I\u2019m not ready\neither. Any tips or insights you can offer to give me some assurance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mitch\u2019s\nResponse:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for emailing, Kelly. It\u2019s good to hear\nyou consider yourself a good saver, and being in your 40s means you have a good\nchunk of time ahead of you to make improvements if need be. The fact that you\nemailed me a question about retirement shows you are being thoughtful about your\nfinancial future, which is a step too few Americans take seriously, in my view.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re right \u2013 there is a slew of research\nstudies and data points available showing that Americans are under-prepared for\nretirement. I saw one recently where according to a new Boston College study,\n51% of U.S. households are at risk of not being able to meet their standard of\nliving in retirement.1<\/sup> In other words, half of the population is set\nto have to make sacrifices in their retirement years — the opposite of which\nshould be true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Start Planning Your Retirement Today \u2013 It\u2019s Easy! <\/a><\/strong>
<\/a>  
It\u2019s common for people to feel that they have a lot of time before they need to start seriously thinking about retirement planning. Here\u2019s the truth \u2013 the sooner you plan, the better advantage you will have for your financial future. No matter what state the market is in, building an effective strategy will keep you on track for the long term.
 
If you want help creating a long-term financial plan and investment discipline, I recommend reading our Retirement Guide. This guide will give you a step-by-step outline of how you can plan for your financial future.
 
If you have $500,000 or more to invest and want to learn more about retirement planning, click on the link below to get your free guide today!
 
Download Your Copy of \u201cRetirement Made Easy\u201d Today!<\/a>2<\/a><\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The figures have continued to get worse. In\n2007 – which of course was before the Global Financial Crisis – only about 40%\nof U.S. households were at risk of being unable to reach their retirement\ngoals. This percentage was too high then, and I think it is certainly too high\nnow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve written before about simple steps a\nperson can take to boost retirement savings and become better savers in\ngeneral. For complete and total simplicity, I will break it down into two steps\nfor you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Save 20% of every cent you make. If your\nsalary is $1,000 a week, then save $200 a week in a retirement plan or an\nIRA\/Roth IRA. Period, no exceptions!<\/li>
  2. If you still have at least a decade until\nretirement \u2013 which you likely do \u2013 it is my strong opinion you should own close\nto 100% equities. To be sure, equities are not <\/em><\/strong>for everyone, and your risk\ntolerance and investment preferences may not allow you to be that far out on\nthe risk curve. But I find that for most investors with long time horizons and\ngoals of long-term growth, equities are a suitable option. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Taking just these two steps, in my view, will\nput you in a better position than a majority of Americans. The key is\ncommitting to taking steps and being disciplined about your approach to saving\nand investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To me, questions and concerns like yours come back to a\nconcept of “financial wellness,” which is not nearly as popular as other\nwellness movements sweeping the nation, like keto diets, going vegan,\nmeditation practices, or cutting sugar from a diet. I would argue that\nfinancial wellness is just as important as physical and spiritual wellness,\nhowever. Being financially secure can reduce stress and give a person peace of\nmind. Taking my two steps above is a good place to start, in my view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to those two\nsteps, the best advice that I can give you is to create a long-term financial\nplan that meets your needs, goals and risk tolerance. If you start preparing for\nyour retirement now, you will have a better advantage when making future\nfinancial decisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To help you do this, I\nrecommend reading our Retirement Guide.3<\/sup> This guide will give\nyou a step-by-step outline of how you can plan for a successful financial\nfuture, and it provides our answers to critical questions like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • What is the best long-term approach?<\/li>
    • How do you manage your retirement income for taxes?<\/li>
    • How much should you be saving?<\/li>
    • And more\u2026<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      If you have $500,000 or\nmore to invest and want to learn more about retirement planning, click on the\nlink below to get your free guide today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      51% of households will have lower living standards when they retire. Here are simple steps to avoid that fate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mitchs-mailbox","category-private-client-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10465,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9269\/revisions\/10465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacksim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}