Surveys that have been conducted over the last few years are consistently indicating that many members of the baby boomer generation are not financially confident as their preferred retirement dates approach.
A lot of people who are feeling as though they may not be able to retire soon as they would like to and cite the economic crisis that came to a head in 2008 as the primary reason why they have gotten off-track.
Others were never really on track in the first place. It takes careful advance planning to put together the resources that you need to accumulate a financial underpinning to fortify your position during your senior years.
Simply reaching the age of Social Security eligibility is not a flashing green light that welcomes you to retirement.
When you look at the numbers you see that Social Security alone is not going to be enough to live on comfortably if you have no other source of income and you are without any significant savings to draw from. As of December of 2012 the average monthly Social Security benefit was $1262 per month.
It would certainly be tough to try to get by on around 300 bucks a week. Plus, when you look at this you have to understand the fact that there are out-of-pocket costs for people who are enrolled in Medicare including monthly Medicare Part B premiums that are deducted from your Social Security payout.
Even the maximum monthly benefit of $2533 for someone who has reached the age of full benefit eligibility (this is the maximum in 2013) is far from a king’s ransom.
Depending on your age and your earning power you may be able to develop a financial plan that does in fact lead to a comfortable retirement. If you could use some input from a professional contact our firm to set up a retirement planning consultation.