Is Your Money Safe?

Retirement Strategies

You May be Wondering:

"Do I Have Enough to Retire?"

The all-important question: “Do I have enough to retire?” Living expenses are up. Healthcare costs are rising. Even basic food and housing costs are increasing. How can you know if you’ll have enough? Although there are many pieces to the retirement “puzzle,” there is hope: We can walk you through how to answer the question of “Do I have enough to retire?” by taking a look at various factors that go into answering it. One key thing to think about? The rate of inflation.

senior friends having a dinner party outside do i have enough to retire
inflation concept
Addressing Inflation

Most professionals agree that the basic inflation rate is around 2% per year. So, take your typical yearly expenses, and add a compounding 2% to them each year. For example: Let’s say you need $40,000 per year to cover your expenses. At a 2% inflation rate, you’d actually need $40,800 the next year to maintain the same lifestyle. After 5 years, you’d need around $44,000, and after 10 years, that amount would jump to around $49,000. We can work with you, to help determine whether or not you have enough saved to compensate for this. Meet with us to learn more.

senior man reviewing budget at the kitchen table while his wife reads on the couch with their dog do i have enough to retire
Budgeting

Determining your budget is another important aspect of determining if you have enough to retire. You can create a budget via laying out how much money you’ll need each year. First, determine how much you have to spend on essentials like housing and food. Then, make sure to include “extras” that you may want to spend money on during retirement: Dining out, traveling, gift-giving, what have you. Lastly, include an emergency section of your budget, to protect you in the event of unexpected costs. Doing this can also give you a way of creating some savings each month. A little bit of wiggle room goes a long way in letting you answer “yes” to your question of “Do I have enough to retire?”

Ask Yourself:

Is Your Money Safe?

Many stable retirement options seem to be disappearing: Secure options like CDs and traditional savings accounts hardly seem sufficient at this point. Company-offered pensions are practically nonexistent today. Even government workers are finding that they have to contribute more to their retirement plans than they would have needed to in the past. Overall, many are discovering that the contributions from these types of plans have dropped dramatically recently.

And riskier options aren't ideal, either: Stock market investments put your hard-earned savings at risk.

In the case of a stock market dip, such as the ones in 2008 or 2020, you could lose your retirement nest egg. Even when the market recovers, many retirees’ income doesn’t. You don’t want to be left with far less money than you had originally saved.

This is why it’s so crucial to learn as much as you can about ways to protect your money: Preventing loss is key.

Preventing Loss is Key

With the right combination of products, you can keep your money guaranteed* safe, while earning reasonable rates of return.** American Principal can help you reach your goal of being able to confidently answer “yes” when you ask yourself “do I have enough to retire?”

Contact Us To Learn More

You can schedule a no-cost, no-obligation, one-on-one meeting to talk with us, or you can attend one of our informational dinner seminars where we’ll hold a presentation on relevant topics.

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