With stories abounding about how Americans have inadequate resources for a comfortable retirement, many of us in our 40s, 50s and 60s are wondering how much coin we'll need to enjoy our golden years.
Paul Merriman, founder of Merriman Wealth Management, a Seattle-based investment advisory firm, offers several issues to consider on that count. Among the questions you must ask yourself, he writes in
a MarketWatch column:
- "If I could continue my current income for the rest of my life, adjusted for inflation, would that be enough to meet all my anticipated needs in retirement?
- "Is it ok with me to use up all my investments by the time of my death, or do I want to provide for others in my will?
- "Am I really able and willing to scale back my retirement lifestyle should my investment returns fall short of my expectations?
- How anxious will I be if I plan to have my retirement income vary from year to year depending on how well my investments perform?"
Elsewhere on the retirement front, the media is full of reports that given our woefully inadequate retirement savings, many of us will have to work past the age of 65.
So you may be quite surprised to learn that a recent Employee Benefit Research Institute survey shows that 50 percent of retirees have exited their jobs sooner than planned,
as The Washington Post reports.
The causes: half of these people were forced into early retirement by a health issue or because they had to act as a care giver for someone, and layoffs pushed out another 18 percent.
“We always try to tell people you should be prepared for that every day,” Nancy Coutu, co-founder of Money Managers Financial Group in Oak Brook, Ill., told The Post. “Even if the plan is to work forever, Mother Nature often does things out of control, and you are forced into retirement. Bad things happen to good people."