The most pressing question regarding retirement is, “What amount should I have in savings?” This concern might cross your mind a lot. It could even be a source of significant stress for you. The idea of laboring well into your 70s or 80s is not appealing, so how can you make sure that your savings are enough?

Begin from this point: work with a professional to find out the yearly amount you anticipate will be necessary during your retirement. For the sake of this example, let’s assume that the figure is approximately $50,000 annually.

Then, examine your present investment portfolio and deliberate on the yearly returns you anticipate from them. It’s crucial to be realistic about what you expect to receive from your investments. It’s unlikely that you’ll witness a 20% annual return on your investments. It’s even dubious to anticipate an annual 10% return. A more plausible rate of return would be around 5% per year.^[1] Let’s say you expect an additional $25k from Social Security. With a 5% return rate, what would be the required investment to achieve your target? A 5% return on $500k equates to $25,000 per year, which would complete the $50k goal. And remember, the more you have, the lower the yield you’ll need to hit your income goal, thus the safer your investment can be. However, this is a simplistic way to think about your income needs.

What if there were ways to reduce or eliminate some of your predicted costs that are factored into that $50k? That’s where a retirement strategy can make a huge difference. There are financial products and strategies out there that can help your savings stretch further for you in retirement.

A proper withdrawal strategy can help you manage the timing of your distributions from retirement accounts so you don’t withdraw at an inopportune time with the markets. An insurance strategy can help you stay covered for expenses that could set you back financially or that you thought you had to factor into your budget without such coverage.

As you can see, retirement isn’t just a game of hitting a wealth or income number; it’s about intelligently positioning it so that it can provide you with what you need to live the stable retirement you worked hard to save for. However, it takes a lot of work and vigilance to create and maintain that kind of tailored strategy. If doing it all on your own seems overwhelming, remember that you’re not alone. Don’t hesitate to consult with our team of skilled professionals who are ready to assist you in developing a more complete understanding of your financial future.