5 Tips to Help You Catch Up On Your Retirement Savings

retirement catch up

By John Rothe, CMT

John Rothe CMT is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Riverbend Investment Management

April 12, 2018

Do you fear you are saving for retirement too late?

Plan to address that anxiety with some positive financial moves. If you have little saved for retirement at age 50 (or thereabouts), there is still much you can do to generate a fund for your future and to sustain your retirement prospects.

 

Contribute and play catch-up.

This year’s standard contribution limit for an IRA (Roth or traditional) is $5,500; common employer-sponsored retirement plans have a 2018 contribution limit of $18,500. You should try, if at all possible, to meet those limits.

In fact, starting in the year you turn 50, you have a chance to contribute even more: for you, the ceiling for annual IRA contributions is $6,500; the limit on yearly contributions to workplace retirement plans, $24,500.1

 

Focus on determining the retirement income you will need.

If you are behind on saving, you may be tempted to place your money into extremely risky and speculative investments – anything to make up for lost time.

That may not work out well.

Rather than risk big losses you have little time to recover from, save reasonably and talk to a financial professional about income investing. What investments could potentially produce recurring income to supplement your Social Security payments?

 

Consider where you could retire cheaply.

When your retirement savings are less than you would prefer, this implies a compromise. Not necessarily a compromise of your dreams, but of your lifestyle. There are many areas of the country and the world that may allow you to retire with less financial pressure.

 

Think about retiring later.

Every additional year you work is one less year of retirement to fund. Each year you refrain from drawing down your retirement accounts, you give them another year of potential growth and compounding – and compounding becomes more significant as those accounts grow larger. Working longer also lets you claim Social Security later, and that means bigger monthly retirement benefits for you.

 

Let’s Talk!

If you need to catch up and are not sure what your best options are, let’s talk and figure out what the best strategy is for you.

Schedule a FREE strategy call with us here: https://riverbendinvestments.com/talk

 

 

 

 

 

This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate. Please note – investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment.
Citations.
1 – irs.gov/newsroom/irs-announces-2018-pension-plan-limitations-401k-contribution-limit-increases-to-18500-for-2018 [10/25/18]
2 – businessinsider.com/401k-fees-devastate-retirement-2017-5 [5/10/17]
3 – fool.com/retirement/2018/02/07/heres-what-gen-xers-have-saved-for-retirement.aspx [2/7/18]
4 – entrepreneur.com/article/309746 [3/2/18]

 

 

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John Rothe CMT

Riverbend Investment Management is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), established in 2006 with the primary goal to provide actively managed investment strategies to both individual and institutional clients.

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