In each new installment of the Sum180 Webcast, we discuss issues around your money and share tips to help you reach your goals.
We’re talking about the retirement crisis.
The issue: Retirement crisis – How much is enough?
Our issue is the retirement crisis, which has many dimensions, as you’ll see: 1) Many of us do not have enough in retirement. 2) Those who are truly worried about whether they will have enough; and 3) the majority of us who also don’t know what to do to be sure that we do have enough to retire. It’s a national crisis but like so many money issues, it’s also a personal crisis for many of us.
A great example of this is a woman named Deborah who reached out to us at Sum180 a couple of months ago.
She is 63 years old and had recently had to stop working as a teacher because of a medical issue. During this period, her expenses exceeded her income, and she was afraid that that was a harbringer of what was to come in her retirement years. She just felt very uncomfortable that she would have enough for retirement.
With the national trends, Deborah has every reason to be concerned. First of all, the majority of women over 70 have only Social Security to rely on which is on average about $1300 a month. Do the math: that’s about $15,000 a year, well below the poverty level. There’s also a huge savings issue for the country overall. Women on average have $25,000 in investments for their retirement, while men have $37,000 on average for retirement. That differential has to do with the historical wage disparity, and that’s an important issue, but to me, far more important is the fact that neither of those numbers is enough to comfortably supplement people’s retirement.
The good news is, for most people, there’s a way to make it work, with the right amount of planning.
Please play the video to hear my advice for Deborah.
The question: After supporting three kids through college, will I still have enough for retirement?
The question is from Sam, a 51 year old dad with three kids about to go to college. Sam says, “We were doing great on savings before the kids became teenagers. And now I wonder, after these next seven years of tuition, are we still going to have enough?”
Please play the video to hear my advice for Sam.
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Love the idea of being excited to keep working because you know, exactly, how that’s going to pay off for your retirement down the line!