Aug 4, 2023
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The 71.6 million men and women of the postwar baby-boom generation started hitting retirement age about a decade ago. But it’ll be another dozen years before the whole generation has reached its full retirement age.
So how exactly is retirement shaping up for the generation that went from Woodstock and Watergate to iPhones and Instagram?
A recent survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies estimates that the median retirement savings of boomers totals $202,000. That might sound like a respectable amount of cash, but that produces just $8,080 a year, or $673 a month.
In many cases, that money gets nibbled away by income tax, too. With that in mind, here are three strategies to bolster your retirement savings.
Work longer and delay Social Security
Working longer not only delays taking money out of your retirement investments, which allows them to continue compounding earnings growth, but it also pushes back the age at which you’ll need to start collecting Social Security payments.
Take that $202,000 investment portfolio. Invested in a conservative portfolio returning 5% annually — the historical average return on stocks is 11.9% — that money would grow to $233,840 in three years. Assuming you’re following the 4% rule for withdrawals, that would amount to $9,354 per year — an increase of $1,274 each year.
With Acorns — a saving and investing platform — you can turn spare change into savings, making it easy to grow your investment portfolio and save for retirement without thinking twice.
All you have to do is link your bank account and spend as you normally would and Acorns will round up your everyday purchases to the nearest dollar and then invest your spare change in diversified portfolios that are built by experts with ETFs, and are managed by top investing firms.
Signing up for Acorns takes less than five minutes, and you can start saving for your retirement just $3 a month.
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Cut your expenses
Finding ways to lower your expenses in retirement produces a big bang for each buck, because you’re saving after-tax money.
Try to look for recurring monthly expenses you can cut because that’ll mean you see those savings every month. Take your car insurance bills, for example.
With Pretected you can find the best auto insurance rates near you. All you have to do is answer a few questions about yourself and your car and you’ll get matched with insurance policies tailored to you.
With Pretected you can compare from multiple companies without having to do the virtual legwork yourself.
Diversify your portfolio
By mixing up your portfolio with a variety of assets, you have a better chance of balancing risk and reward.
An asset such as fine art is a great way to diversify your portfolio with a little bit of color. With Masterworks everyday investors have easy access to renowned works of art through fractional shares.
Masterworks’ online platform makes it easy to invest in art without the legwork of attending auctions or even being a connoisseur yourself.
Not keen on the arts? There are other diversifying assets easily available to you.
With First National Realty Partners — a private equity firm — you can gain access to commercial, grocery-anchored real estate. And you don’t have to worry about being a real-estate mogul, because FNRP’s team of pros take care of the investment through its entire lifecycle.
Because these investments are grocery-anchored, they never go out of style even when the economy is volatile. So you can save for your future without having to worry about the health of your investments.
Read More: Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
Get expert financial advice
Even after following all of the above advice, setting yourself up for a comfortable retirement is still nerve-wracking.
According to the Federal Reserve, only 36% of non-retirees thought their retirement savings were on track as of 2021. If you’re feeling behind, it’s never a bad idea to reach out to a financial adviser — someone who can help assess how you’re doing and make sure your assets are protected.
Researching and calling multiple financial planners can be time-consuming and awkward, but WiserAdvisor’s online platform streamlines your experience by connecting you to vetted financial advisors suited to your unique needs.
All you have to do is provide some information about yourself and your finances and they’ll set you up with a free, no-obligation call.
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