Time To Take Inventory

By Mark Mills, CFP

As you ponder how you’d like to spend your 60’s, 70’s, and beyond, will you have enough money to live the way you want to? Heck, will you have enough to avoid living in a cardboard box under the highway overpass?

One way to avoid that… is to take inventory, now. What have you got in the way of a pension, 401(k), IRA’s? How much will you get from social security? If you’re less than totally confident about the future of social security make an estimate. Older Boomers have a good shot at getting full benefits. Younger Boomers may get less, but should receive at least 75 per cent of what’s been projected.

Maybe you can sell a big house, buy something smaller and use those juicy real estate profits to live off of in later years. Reverse mortgages will allow some Boomers to stay in their homes and still draw upon their real estate equity.

Many Boomers tell pollsters they want to work past age 65, mostly on a part-time basis. Bringing in extra income means you won’t be tapping into your savings so much in the early years. That’s good.

When you get an idea how much income you’ll have… you’ll get a sense of whether your vision for those years is matched by your pocketbook.

If you’ve got big dreams but a thin wallet you’ll have to make some adjustments. Either scale back your lifestyle plans or suck it up and save more to build up your nest egg.

The key: don’t just go along blindly hoping your finances will work out. You’ve gotta take charge. And a good first step is to get a realistic picture of where you stand now, and where you want to go. The sooner you do it, the more control you'll have over the outcome.