If you’re a boomer male facing retirement, the last thing you want is to go bust. But many could be due to unfortunate circumstances including health issues, economic hurdles and marital challenges. The good news is that our friends at U.S. News & World Report say you could still get your act together by heeding some proven advice.
10 Nuggets of Wisdom To Avoid Going Bust in Retirement
“A newly released HSBC global retirement survey of 1,001 people age 25 and older shows that about 1 in 4 working Americans feel it’s better to spend all their cash during the course of a lifetime and let children create their own wealth.”
– U.S. News & World Report
Here are 10 nuggets of wisdom from investment pros – meant to help you get grow your retirement nest egg in a rational and proven matter.
1. Don’t throw the “Hail Mary” pass. “As you get closer to retirement, the risk of loss in the stock market looms larger since there will not be much time to recover after a crash,” says Kendrick Wakeman, CEO of FinMason, a financial education company. 
2. Consider overlooked financial resources. “Understand your options with respect to Social Security and any pensions you might be entitled to from current or previous employers,” says Jennifer Acuff, wealth advisor with TrueWealth in Atlanta.
3. Sacrifice. Numbers don’t lie, but the bright side is that decreasing your expenses will help smaller retirement pools shrink slower, says John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets at Hartford Funds. “There is hope that some of these folks can make up cash shortfalls, but it may require sacrifices, which some people refuse to make,” he says.
4. Define “comfortable retirement.” Especially if you’ve gone into your hand-wringing with a preset number or a vague image of cruise line frolic, it’s time to get down to brass tacks. “Many boomers haven’t really thought this through, while others are in full-stage denial,” says Bellaria Jimenez, managing director with MetLife Premier Client Group, based in Cranford, New Jersey.
5. Play the Social Security card. You won’t survive solely on the money in your retirement fund, but from Social Security as well, says George Fraser, managing director of Retirement Benefits Group in Phoenix. Talk to your financial advisor about the pros and cons in your own case.
6. Create a detailed budget. Accounting for the money coming in and going out will give you some peace of mind in catching up by way of a road map. But make sure it is complete and accurate, not something you just scribbled down on a piece of scratch paper. Peace of mind is a good thing.
7. Free up money by lowering fees. “If you can reduce your fees from 1.75 percent down to 0.25 percent, this is equivalent to an additional 1.5 percent per year of return that will compound to help top off your account,” says Erik Laurence, vice president of marketing and business development at FeeX, a free service that finds and reduces hidden fees within investment accounts.
8. Work a little longer. If you’re looking forward to hanging up your hat now, this prospect may not appeal to you – but it can provide extra padding for when it really counts. “The good news is this type of approach can work,” especially when coupled with smart budgeting, says David Twibell, president and founder of Custom Portfolio Group, LLC in Englewood, Colorado.
9. Work the “three levers.” A secure retirement, no matter your current situation, balances out your savings level, time until retirement and spending level in retirement. “That’s often the secret – looking for ways to make incremental changes across multiple fronts, which together can provide much more leverage than any one strategy alone,” says Dave Yeske, managing director at the wealth management firm Yeske Buie and director of the financial planning program at Golden Gate University’s Ageno School of Business.
10. Keep calm and (don’t) tarry on. “Avoid panicking or standing out on a ledge,” says Catherine Collinson, president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. “It’s totally counterproductive and a waste of precious time and energy that could be put to better use in terms of taking steps forward to improve your financial situation.”
Smart and prudent advice for we boomer males facing retirement challenges. Read the entire post here. As always, let us know your thoughts below and your own advice you might share with us.
Do well.
