A Message For The Good Savers

December 19, 2019 / Eric Peterson /

Today’s Prep:

Maybe you are great at saving and putting away money toward retirement. Is that enough? Find out three areas where a bit more strategy and behavior modification may come into play with your savings and investments as you enter into retirement.

Equipping Points:

Let’s say you’ve done a good job saving, kept out of debt, and your investments have done decently. Your retirement should be good, right? Even if you’ve done well by saving, there may still be some pitfalls that can trip up even the best savers. On today’s episode of the Retirement Ready podcast, we talk through three primary areas you’ll want to make sure to keep in mind when it comes to how you save.

The closer you get to retirement, your need for money in savings diminishes. Why? Your accounts all end up being relatively liquid in retirement since you can now access your 401(k) and IRAs without penalty. After years of wanting to have money in your savings account, you may want to reassess where your money can best serve you.

Are you taking too much risk in the market? The closer you get to retirement, the more you may want to consider what kind of risk you can handle. One way Eric helps his clients keep this in check is by reviewing three things: capacity, attitude, and need (CAN).

Taxes might be a headache now, but in retirement they will actually have a bigger impact than when you are working. There are a few options on how to pay them (since they won’t be automatically coming out of your paycheck), and it’s important to make a plan on how you want to address taxes strategically.

Is your saving strategy serving you well in retirement? Make sure you go over your plan with an advisor to address your needs and direction, because those may change as you enter into retirement.

Listen to the full episode to hear more or click on the timestamps below for a specific concept.

1:26 – Be careful about keeping too much cash in savings.

2:52 – Why you need to implement behavior modification when it comes to a rainy day fund in retirement.

5:24 – Don’t overlook the risk of your investments.

6:38 – The math behind how much risk you’re willing to take.

8:21 – Taxes are going to impact you more in retirement than when you are working.

Related Resources:

7 Deadly Sins of Financial Planning

Can Financial Planning Be A DIY Job?

Today’s Takeaway:

[spp-tweet tweet=”Markets will correct, they always do. Why are you risking it if you don’t have to in retirement? How much risk or what return do you need to make your plan work? –Eric Peterson“]