The common saying “live and learn” holds true in many domains of life, and that includes retirement planning. Unfortunately, if you don’t realize your mistakes until you’ve left the workforce, they can be difficult to correct.
You’ll have a much easier time if you make retirement savings a high priority right now. You can also benefit from listening to older generations’ advice, including what they wish they would’ve done differently. A recent Clever survey shed light on three common retiree regrets that don’t have to become yours.
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1. Not saving enough
The biggest regret, shared by about one-third of retirees, was that they didn’t save enough for retirement. You hear about nest eggs of $1 million or even $500,000 and it sounds like a lot of money — because it is. But you also have to remember that that money may have to last you 30 years or more, depending on your life expectancy and retirement age.
Plus, inflation isn’t going away, so your cost of living will increase over time. A $1 million nest egg won’t buy you anywhere close to the same lifestyle in 20 years as it can today. So it’s crucial to avoid overoptimism when estimating your retirement needs.
One popular strategy is to estimate your annual out-of-pocket retirement costs, excluding income from Social Security, a job, or other income sources, and multiply this by 25. This is supposed to help your savings last about 30 years. However, if you want a more personalized estimate, you may want to use a retirement calculator.
2. Waiting too long to begin saving
This is similar to the point above, but it’s worth calling out separately. When you begin saving for retirement early in your career, you actually have to save less money overall than you would if you waited a decade or even a few years to begin putting money away for the future.
If you wanted to save $1 million for retirement and estimated that you’d see an 8% average annual return on your investments, you’d only need to save $322 per month if you started at 25 and retired at 65. That adds up to $154,560 of your own money overall. But if you waited 10 years to begin saving, you’d now have to set aside $736 per month to reach your goal. That amounts to $264,960 over 30 years.
This is because saving earlier generally results in more investment earnings. When you start saving later, your investments will still grow but probably not as much. You’ll have to make up the difference with additional personal contributions.
Finding money to save for retirement isn’t always easy, but even if you’re only able to spare a few dollars per month right now, it’s worth doing. Every dollar you put away today will make your life a little easier in retirement.
3. Claiming Social Security too early
You become eligible to claim Social Security when you turn 62, and signing up then will get you the greatest number of benefit checks. But that doesn’t mean you’ll wind up with the most money overall.
The Social Security Administration reduces your benefit for every month you claim under your full retirement age (FRA) — 66 to 67 for today’s workers. Those who apply at 62 can shrink their checks by up to 30%. That would drop a $2,000 monthly benefit to $1,400 per month, and that change is usually permanent.
Most workers can maximize their lifetime benefit by delaying their Social Security application until their FRA or beyond. Your checks actually continue to grow until you turn 70, when you can receive as much as 132% of the benefit you’re entitled to at your FRA.
The right decision for you comes down to your life expectancy and your financial situation. Those with short life expectancies and those who don’t have a lot of personal savings may prefer to apply early.
These aren’t the only retirement planning decisions you may come to regret. But if you’re saving what you can regularly and you’ve chosen a Social Security claiming age that takes your life expectancy and finances into account, you’re off to a great start.
