Will I Ever Be Able to Retire?
Many Baby Boomers are intimidated
about the prospect of ever being able to retire. Having lived through the Great
Recession, they have lost faith in the future.
They read about the large sums
of money required for decades of retirement and the prospect of accumulating
that seems daunting.
What they don't think to do is add up their assets and
look at how those match up against their retirement needs.
Many boomers own a
home. Most will qualify for Social Security, often with a spouse. Often they
have a pension, a 401-K, an IRA. Some have a small business, a valuable
collection, some investments. They also might plan to transition into retirement
with a part-time job.
Next they have to figure out where they will live in
retirement and what kind of lifestyle they'd like. Most people have reasonable
expectations and often these are achievable, perhaps with some modest
tradeoffs.
While many people are in bad shape, most Americans are better prepared for retirement than we
generally believe. Nothing pleases us more than showing people that their fears
are overdone and that they can look forward to a good retirement.