Many people aren’t financially prepared for retirement — and it stresses them out.
Regardless of how old you are, how much money you make or when you plan to retire, chances are you’re experiencing at least a little stress about saving for retirement. It’s a concern many young people avoid altogether, but as you grow older, it becomes harder to ignore.
Approximately one in three Americans have no retirement savings whatsoever, and 56 percent have $10,000 or less put away. Because most people need substantially more than that to retire comfortably, it’s understandable that many are feeling stressed.
Let’s take a look at the causes of those stressors and what you can do — right now — to alleviate your own burden.
Most people simply don’t know what to do to start saving for retirement … and that lack of knowledge leads to anxiety whenever the subject arises.
• Not knowing what to do. “Retirement saving” is an enormous category, with dozens, if not hundreds, of possible options. Tax strategies, retirement accounts, investment vehicles, and investment markets are all possibilities, and these aren’t topics that are usually covered in school.
• Lack of investment knowledge. Many people inherently know that long-term investments are the best way to build wealth and achieve financial stability, but they don’t feel comfortable making those investments because they don’t trust their knowledge. About 25 percent of people avoid the stock market entirely because they feel they don’t know enough about it.