Bob’s Pick: “Scaling the Retirement-Savings Peak Is Tough; The Descent Is Tougher”

Article originally published by Kiplinger.com.

Written by David Domenick Jr.

“It is sometimes said that planning and saving for retirement is much like mountain climbing. As you scale your way to the peak, you hope to see a glorious view of retirement on the other side.

But, just as with actual mountain climbing, you don’t get to revel in that view for long. It’s time to start your descent — actual retirement. And that’s when many people run into trouble.

The reason? They don’t have a good plan in place to make sure that the retirement savings they accumulated is able to support their retirement lifestyle — and will last the rest of their lives.

Without a comprehensive plan, that descent can get mighty treacherous. So, what do you need to take into account as you create such a plan? Let’s take a look:

You Need an Income Plan

For most of our lives, we depend on that regular paycheck, so we can pay our bills on time. When you retire, the paycheck stops, but the bills continue. That’s why it’s important to have a written income plan so you can replace that paycheck with another regular income stream. After all, Social Security typically will cover only about 40% of pre-retirement income. As you create your retirement income plan, you need to answer these five questions…”

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