Today's Boomers: Ready for Retirement?

The ‘Boomer Generation,’ those born between 1946 and 1964, have a great outlook for a long life since they will outlive previous generations by almost 40%, compared to their great-grandparent’s generation. However, this generation faces circumstances that many of them didn’t plan for:

• Not saving enough to offset the disappearance of pension payments for their entire life.
• They are living longer with increasing healthcare costs for supplemental insurance outside of Medicare.
• A rocky economy and the stock market as they entered retirement or while accumulating retirement assets.
• 42% with no retirement savings and 38% having less than $100,000 in retirement savings according to a 2018 study by the Insured Retirement Institute.

The generation that thought their retirement would be on the golf course and that they would never get old turned out to be ‘not so great’ at retirement planning. When 401(k) plans started in the early 1980s, many boomers chose not to participate, leaving them to make investment decisions about their retirement savings without professional guidance and often investing in products with poor returns. With an extreme retirement crisis unfolding, what can the financial industry do to help?

• Provide comprehensive, centralized services for financial planning that consolidates investment information in one place, regardless of the investment or where it’s held. Many in this generation have investments in 8-10 places, making obtaining current performance information difficult.
• Streamline rolling over employer retirement savings plans while still employed so they can be efficiently managed; many employer plans offer no financial advice leaving employees to try to maintain their accounts themselves.
• Ensure the right financial products are low cost and accessible to the retiree and meet their individual needs, not the needs of the fund or portfolio manager.

If you are part of this age group, you may have to work much longer than expected to save enough for your anticipated long life. It is essential that you seek out guidance and have a financial plan prepared. Additionally, take a realistic look to see if it will even be possible for you to retire at the age you intended. I am here to help you as you determine if you’re ready to retire or need a revision in your retirement plan and its investments.