This comment on Steve Utkus’ recent post about retirement struck a major chord with me:
“Our children’s incomes are not increasing, and they have their own children to support, let alone saving for their own retirement. No one is to blame or is being stingy; we simply must plan for and take charge of our own later years.”
We were vacationing last month in Scotland. At a small country hotel—on a misty Western isle—I mentioned to a group of guests that I conduct research at Vanguard on retirement issues. You guessed it: Suddenly the conversation shifted from the weather (ever-changing in Scotland) to worries about finances and retirement security.
You were getting close to retirement, and you’d thought you’d saved enough.
And then the market tanked.
So, you decided to stick it out and try to regain what you’d lost. Other changes to your portfolio structure or your investing strategy could wait.
The headline from a recent survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) says it all: Only 13% of working Americans are “very confident” they’ll have enough money for retirement.
That’s the lowest level on record for the survey. It’s also none too surprising.
As Americans, we’re accustomed to having options. There’s always another answer, another solution, another way to lick a problem. (Sometimes, though, I think that’s how we got ourselves into the mess we’re in right now. Don’t have the money? Charge it. Can’t afford the bigger house? Leverage yourself beyond sanity.)
But what if you’re retired—not “almost retired” or “newly retired,” but actually well into retirement—and the market downturn has depleted your retirement savings? What are your options?
