When to Retire

04/15/21 • 24 min

According to a recent MetLife survey, 19% of full-time Baby Boomers said they would need to delay retiring because of COVID-19-related financial challenges. However, in the same survey, 12% said that the pandemic had convinced them to retire earlier, citing reasons such as dissatisfaction with their job or “life is too short.”

There’s also a growing movement known as Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE). These workers, mostly highly paid Millennials and Generation Zers, are committed to saving and investing as much as possible and paring non-essential spending to the bone so they can retire in their mid-50s or earlier.

Whether you’re hoping to retire in your 50s or plan on working into your 70s, it’s important to evaluate whether you’ll have enough income to last potentially thirty years or more. Start by estimating your life expectancy, which is based on your family history as well as your current physical health and lifestyle habits. Next, consider whether you can delay taking Social Security until age 70, when you’ll earn the maximum benefits. Then calculate how much your 401(k) plan and IRA accounts will be worth at your desired retirement age and estimate how much of an income hit you might take if a bear market drives down the value of your retirement assets by 25% or more when you first start making withdrawals.

If there’s a strong possibility that you won’t have enough income from Social Security and your savings, consider whether it makes sense to invest some of your nest egg in an annuity that will provide guaranteed income for life or if you may need to delay retiring or take on a part-time job after you’ve stop working full-time.

These are complex issues and the cost of making the wrong choices today could threaten your future financial security. To give you greater peace of mind, consider seeking the advice of a fee-only fiduciary financial planner. These professionals can objectively analyze your current and future spending and income sources, your outstanding debts, and the size and holdings in your retirement accounts to provide a realistic assessment of how likely you are to achieve your retirement goals and what you can do to improve your chances.

Previous Episode

The hidden Risk of Rising Interest Rates

Many retirees allocate 60% or more of their portfolios to bonds, having followed the traditional mantra that fixed income securities are less risky investments than stocks. But what many are finding out is that with interest rates at historically low levels, the bonds they own may not be generating significant income and, in fact, may be hindering, rather than boosting, their portfolio’s total returns.

With money market instruments earning less than 0.5% and most long-term CDs earning less than 2%, the reputation of fixed-income investments as safe and reliable income generators has taken a beating in recent years.

Investors looking for a mix of credit quality and higher yields are having to seek out U.S. government and corporate bonds with maturities of ten years or more. But these long-term bonds carry risks as well. Should economic growth, rising inflation and reduced global demand for U.S. government bonds compel the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in coming years, this will result in higher interest rates for new bonds and falling prices for existing bonds to make their relative yields more attractive. Long-term bondholders may end up losing money if circumstances require them to sell their bonds.

In this environment, investors may want to play it safer and look for CDs or bonds with maturities of six months to a year. While yields for these short-term securities will be lower compared to those of longer-term bonds, investors won’t have to wait as long (or potentially sell a bond at a loss) to reinvest their principal in higher-yielding bonds that may be available down the road.

If you don’t have the time or desire to buy individual bonds you may be better off investing in short to intermediate-term actively managed bond funds. Their portfolio managers are experts in buying and selling bonds to take advantage of different interest rate environments. But when comparing bond funds with similar characteristics and track records, you should closely scrutinize expenses and management fees. A fund with an annual return of 3% per year and 1.5% in annual fund expenses will deliver a net return for investors that is much lower than a similar fund or EFT that charges 0.75%. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this research on their own, you may wish to work with a fee-only fiduciary investment adviser. These professionals can objectively review your entire portfolio and recommend cost-efficient changes that will make all of your stock and bond investments work harder for your retirement.

Clarification: When Terry mentions that during times of rising interest rates when an investor with a long-term bond "is stuck earning a slightly lower yield for the remaining 10 or 15 years or the life of the bond," she means that that this bond's yield will be lower relative to higher yields that may be available from newly issued bonds or existing bonds that are now priced lower. When an investor buys a bond, its yield is locked in and will never rise or fall for as long as they own it.

Next Episode

Growing older: staying independent with the right support

Most retirees want to live independently as long as possible. But it’s important to have realistic expectations of what you’ll be able to do on your own as you grow older. According to a University of Michigan survey of 8,000 seniors, 31% of respondents between the ages of 80-89 said they could live independently. That number dropped to just 4% for those over 90. If you’re hoping to live independently by staying in your home—or moving to a condo or townhouse in a retirement community—you’ll need to think about how you may eventually need to adapt your dwelling to accommodate physical limitations that naturally occur as you age. Fortunately, there are plenty of companies that specialize in installing stairlifts and making bedrooms and bathrooms wheelchair accessible. Mobile devices and smart-home technologies make it easier to get immediate help if an emergency occurs. If you’re living on your own, it’s also important to develop and maintain a multi-tiered social network of people who can help you—and whom you can help in return. Family, friends, neighbors and members of your house of worship can all play different roles in this network. Try also to build strong, mutually beneficial relationships with one or two younger people who are willing to help you during emergency situations. And make sure to formally designate people you trust to serve as your financial and healthcare proxies if and when you’re no longer able to make these critical decisions on your own.