4 Ways to Bolster Your Nest Egg | Richard Banks & Associates, P.C.

Are you a baby boomer who isn’t so comfortable with the size of the nest egg you’ve been working on? Don’t worry—you’re not alone.

According to the Insured Retirement Institute, fewer than one in four baby boomers believe they’ll have enough money to support them in retirement. Your retirement date may seem closer than you’d like, but our team at Richard Banks & Associates, P.C. is sure that with some of these tips, your nest egg can be bumped up to a level that is more to your liking!

How much should you have saved? That’s really up to you and depends on the life you want to maintain in retirement. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey, 80 percent of workers polled estimated they would need $250,000 or more in savings to live comfortably. Workers may feel they’ll need a quarter of a million dollars or more for retirement, yet a report from Vanguard found that the median 401(k) balance for 55- to 64-year-olds is less than $72,000.

You can go about bolstering that nest egg with these four steps:

1. Make saving money your priority. Even if you’re in the home stretch to retirement, you can still accrue a nice chunk of change. For example, say you’re 50 and haven’t saved anything. Putting away $500 a month (with a 6 percent annual return) would leave you with roughly $144,000 at the age of 65. If you bump that monthly savings to $1,000, you would have double the savings balance.

2. Maximize your contributions. Does your job come with a company retirement plan? If the answer is yes, you will want to make sure you’re getting the most in employer matches that you can. Besides, chipping in a bit more of your own money into that retirement plan will just leave you with that much larger of a nest egg.

3. Work longer. We know this isn’t the ideal option, but if you’re physically and mentally able to prolong your career, you will be able to save more money and stand to receive a larger social security check.

4. Consider downsizing. Could you get by in a smaller home and have a good amount in your current home? Why not sell and use that equity for retirement? You can also relocate to an area where the cost of living is lower.

Preparing for retirement can be both exciting and intimidating. If it’s more of the latter due to overwhelming debt don’t worry, Richard Banks & Associates is here to help! Contact us today and let’s get to work at bringing your financial situation back under control.