Get Your Retirement Back on Course

Even the most diligent savers can encounter obstacles on the road to retirement, but the past few months have delivered unprecedented hazards. We’ll help you come up with a recovery plan.

- SANDRA BLOCK and LISA GERSTNER

Saving for retirement can be a challenge in the best of times. After a year like 2020, the task may seem almost insurmountable. Millions of people—including many older workers—were furloughed or downsized. Many families had to raid their savings to pay for health care. And even near-retirees who managed to avoid those hazards face years of record low interest rates, which threaten to lower returns on the money they’ve worked so hard to save. On the following pages, we help you get your retirement plan out of the rough and onto the fairway.

PROBLEM

You lost your job, or your income was cut.

SOLUTION Consider starting a business or finding part-time work or a gig-economy job.

One of the most effective ways to shore up your retirement security is to work as long as you can, but sometimes life intervenes. Even before the pandemic, many older workers were forced to leave their jobs earlier than expected, due to downsizing, health problems or family circumstances. The Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual retirement confidence survey has consistently found that about half of the respondents retired earlier than they had planned. The pandemic will likely lead to an even higher number of early retirees, as older workers are pushed out and are unable to find new employment.

Faced with a sudden loss of income, you may be tempted to file for Social Security. Many took that route in 2008 and 2009, during the Great Recession, when the percentage of workers who claimed benefits at age 62 rose following several years of declines. Although claiming early could enable you to postpone tapping your retirement savings, it will permanently reduce your benefits by up to 30% (see page 56).