Ep 319: Mind the Gap in Retirement Planning

My Smart Retirement

It’s easy to become overly confident with your retirement plan. You've been working on it for many years! But there are gaps in nearly every financial plan that can blindside us if we’re not careful.

On today's episode, Nancy goes in-depth on some of the common gaps she sees in planning for retirement and how we can address them now. We know that gaps are going to happen, but if we mind them now and plan accordingly, we will be able to have a better financial future.

After we retire, we will have a lot more responsibility when it comes to our income and insurance. We need to know how we are going to compensate for the paycheck we are no longer receiving. This can mean having savings we dip into until we are ready to pull from Social Security or simply starting Social Security payments right away.

In addition, we have to account for adjustments we may see between our employer's healthcare and Medicare. Insurance is one of the biggest factors in deciding a retirement age. By calculating these differences, we can adjust our plans to create a financial safety net for retirement.

Another factor we need to talk about is inflation. Inflation has been at the forefront of many financial conversations over the past few months and it is something you will need to mind as you plan for retirement. Your plan has to outpace inflation or you will see your buying power diminish. What you pay as a consumer today will be very different in ten or twenty years. It will cost you more money to live the same lifestyle and you will need to prepare whether that is by saving more money now or adjusting how you live after retirement.

These are just some of the financial gaps you may face once you are retired. Without acknowledging gaps, you can find yourself in a situation that is cumbersome to the health of your retirement plan. If you are not saving early on for a big financial event when that financial decision has to be made, it becomes a lot more difficult. A good financial plan anticipates and incorporates these gaps in life.

What we discuss on this episode:

1:25 – Plans change

3:42 – The paycheck gap

5:35 – Insurance gap

7: 27 – Inflation gap

12:47 – ‘If You Can Dream It’ segment

15:19 – The long term care gap

For more, visit us online at http://flemingfinancialservices.com