3 Common Retirement Myths
3 Myths About Retirement
Here are three myths about retirement. My name’s Aiden Boorstein. I’m a financial planner at RockCrest Financial, and I want to talk about three common myths that you hear all the time about retirement.
Myth #1 The goal of your portfolio is to get the highest returns possible.
This is simply not true. The goal should be to invest the correct amount of money so that you can have enough money to reach all your goals. By the time you retire. It means choosing a return that helps get you there without taking on too much risk that could hurt your chance of success. And in the process, it also means not incurring so much volatility, and market swings, that makes you lose sleep at night.
Myth #2 We’re facing a retirement crisis right now.
You hear this a lot of time on TV in the news on social media. Don’t let the talking heads on TV scare you. The truth is they need to get viewership in order to make money. So, they’re going to have the most extravagant, scary news headlines that they could possibly have in order to get you to watch and worry, and then watch them time and time again.
The fact is that most retirees are going to have enough money through Social Security, through investing and possibly having to work a little bit extra into their retirement years.
Having a comprehensive financial plan will hopefully let you reach your goals better, faster, and stronger so that you don’t have to worry about any retirement crisis.
Myth #3 Social Security won’t be available during your retirement.
Yes Americans want Social Security benefits. Most people don’t want to pay more taxes than they do already to get those benefits and at the same time, they don’t want to agree to receiving a reduced Social Security benefit.
But I truly believe that all Americans today are going to be able to receive Social Security benefits and that it’s a safe bet to bet that you will be getting at least some benefit during your retirement. I don’t believe that people who are close to retirement, or current retirees, are going to have major changes to their Social Security benefits. It is possible that younger workers and future generations may have a reduced benefit. It’s also possible to imagine that payroll taxes will be increased in the future to help fund Social Security. And there could possibly an increase in the retirement age for future generations, especially since we are living longer and healthier into retirement years. Realistically, it’s probably going to be a combination of all of these things.
But these are the types of concerns and scenarios that are covered with good financial planning and a solid financial plan. And whether you do that financial planning on your own or use a professional, a solid financial plan should allow you to make less mistakes in your financial journey, or at least identify and correct them more quickly if they do happen.