Stressing Over Your Retirement Plan? 5 Ways To Boost Savings, Reduce Anxiety

By Bob Kaye CFS®, CLU®

Many Americans have long stressed over their finances, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased that anxiety, a survey shows. Well over 80% said the crisis is causing them stress with their personal finances, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education.

One of the top stressors, many studies have shown, is having enough money saved for retirement. But people can lessen their worry by learning more of the basics – and it’s not as hard as some might think.

Knowing the basics of a field of endeavor can lessen one’s confusion and stress when attempting to make progress in that field. Unfortunately, in the field of finance there are a very high number of theories and methods that are purported to be “basics” but are not. They are in some cases true but not of high importance and in other cases outrightly false.

I have found in working with clients, families, business owners and professionals that there is likely to be a reluctance to advertise one’s lack of knowledge in some financial and investment areas. There is a reluctance to admit that one would prefer a grade school approach rather than a graduate degree approach, when in fact such an approach is exactly what is needed.

Here are my five tips for saving for retirement:

• Take advantage of your employer-sponsored plan.

  Use it to the fullest extent you can. Besides the automatic nature of the 401(k) plan and its pre-tax contribution, there is the bonus of many companies matching that employee contribution. Don’t miss out on such extra free money for your retirement.

• Differentiate “long-term” from “short-term.”

  Many people get these mixed up and sometimes put long-term savings into short-term investments. Long-term is most likely a stock market type of investment, which someone can afford to fluctuate over time but hopefully will have a higher return later. Short-term is a CD or bond fund; they have a lower earnings rate but there are fewer worries about losing original principal.

• Properly allocate long-term savings. Sometimes accounts are invested in only one category, such as ‘large growth. Leaving out proper allocation of funds can make for a bumpier ride in the future on account values. There can be on the order of about five different allocations likely, and being sure to choose accordingly can lead to better diversification, better efficiency in investing, and smoother growth of savings over the long term.

• Don’t get caught up with too much attention on fees.

  I suggest looking  for the overall net return, not the lowest fee or expense. With the same return expected, of course lower expense charges would be preferable to higher expense charges. It is very important to understand, however, that one would be better off with a fund with a 12% return and a 2% expense charge netting 10% return than one would with a fund with a 10% return and a 1% expense charge netting 9% return.

• Cover for inflation by putting your long-term investments into equities.

  Putting long-term investments into bonds or fixed types of investments may not keep up with inflation for the long-term, If there was no such thing as inflation, then retirement planning would be much simpler.

You have only to review the many conflicting opinions, statements, and advice to recognize that much must be false, simply because there are so many whose opinions conflict with so many others in this area. The idea of basics cannot be accented enough.

Bob Kaye CFS®, CLU® (www.bobkaye.net) is a personal wealth manager, owner of Retirement Planning Associates, and the author of How to Avoid Not Having Enough Money to Live On After Retirement: Making Smarter and Simpler Decisions for Stress-free Retirement. He has been a financial advisor for professionals for 25 years and is a fully-licensed investment advisor representative in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, insurance, and annuities. He is also qualified as a Certified Funds Specialist®, a designation held by only about 1% of those licensed to work with mutual funds. He is certified additionally as a Chartered Life Underwriter®. Kaye was the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award in a Capitol Hill ceremony in Washington, D.C., for his volunteer activities concerning human rights.