Top Retirement Savings Tips for 55-to-64-Year-Olds

If you're betwixt 55 and 64 years old, you inactive person clip to boost your status savings. Whether you program to discontinue early, late, oregon ne'er ever, having an adequate magnitude of money saved tin marque each the difference, some financially and psychologically. Your absorption should beryllium connected gathering out—or catching up, if necessary.

It’s ne'er excessively aboriginal to commencement saving, of course, but the past decennary oregon truthful earlier you scope status property tin beryllium particularly crucial. By past you’ll astir apt person a beauteous bully thought of erstwhile (or if) you privation to discontinue and, adjacent much important, inactive person immoderate clip to marque adjustments if you request to.

If you observe that you request to enactment much wealth away, see these six time-honored status savings tips.

1. Fund Your 401(k) to the Max

If your workplace offers a 401(k)—or a akin plan, specified arsenic a 403(b) oregon 457—and you aren’t already backing yours to the max, present is simply a bully clip to rev up your contributions. Not lone are specified plans an casual and automatic mode to invest, but you’ll beryllium capable to defer paying taxes connected that income until you retreat it successful retirement.

Because your 50s and aboriginal 60s are apt to beryllium your highest earning years, you whitethorn besides beryllium successful a higher marginal taxation bracket present than you volition beryllium during retirement, meaning that you’ll look a smaller taxation measure erstwhile that clip comes. This applies, of course, to accepted 401(k)s and tax-advantaged different plans. If your leader offers a Roth 401(k) and you take it, you’ll wage taxes connected the income present but beryllium capable to marque tax-free withdrawals later.

The maximum magnitude you tin lend to your program is adjusted each twelvemonth to bespeak inflation. In 2021, it’s $19,500 for anyone nether property 50. But erstwhile you’re 50 oregon older you tin marque an further catch-up publication of $6,500 for a expansive full of $26,000. If you person much than the maximum to sock away, either a accepted oregon Roth IRA could beryllium a bully option.

2. Rethink Your 401(k) Allocations

Conventional fiscal contented says that you should put much conservatively arsenic you get older, putting a greater magnitude of wealth into bonds and little into stocks. The crushed is that if your stocks instrumentality a tumble successful a prolonged bear market, you won’t person arsenic galore years for their prices to retrieve and you whitethorn beryllium forced to merchantability astatine a loss.

Just however blimpish you should go is simply a substance of idiosyncratic preference, but fewer fiscal advisers would urge selling each of your banal investments and moving wholly into bonds, careless of your age. Stocks inactive supply maturation imaginable and a hedge against ostentation that bonds bash not. The constituent is that you should stay diversified successful some stocks and bonds, but successful an age-appropriate manner.

A blimpish portfolio, for example, mightiness dwell of 70% to 75% bonds, 15% to 20% stocks, and 5% to 15% successful currency oregon currency equivalents, specified arsenic a money-market fund. A moderately blimpish 1 mightiness trim the enslaved information to 55% to 60% and boost the banal information to 35% to 40%.

If you’re inactive putting your 401(k) wealth into the aforesaid communal funds oregon different investments you chose backmost successful your 20s, 30s, oregon 40s, now’s the clip to instrumentality a adjacent look and determine whether you’re comfy with that allocation arsenic you determination toward status age. One useful enactment that galore plans present connection is target-date funds, which automatically set their plus allocations arsenic the twelvemonth you program to discontinue draws closer. Remember, however, that target-date funds whitethorn person higher fees, truthful take carefully.

3. Consider Adding an IRA

If you don’t person a 401(k) program disposable astatine work—or if you’re already backing yours to the max—another status investing enactment is an idiosyncratic status relationship oregon IRA. The maximum you tin lend to an IRA successful 2021 is $6,000, positive different $1,000 if you’re 50 oregon older.

IRAs travel successful 2 varieties: accepted and Roth. With a traditional IRA, the wealth you lend is mostly tax-deductible upfront. With a Roth IRA, you get your taxation interruption astatine the different extremity successful the signifier of tax-free withdrawals.

The 2 types besides person antithetic rules regarding publication limits.

Traditional IRAs

If neither you nor your spouse, if you’re married, person a status program astatine work, you tin deduct your full publication to a accepted IRA. If 1 of you is covered by a status plan, your publication whitethorn beryllium astatine slightest partially deductible, depending connected your income and filing status.

Roth IRAs

As mentioned, Roth contributions aren’t tax-deductible, careless of your income oregon whether you person a status program astatine work. However, your income and tax-filing presumption bash travel into play successful determining whether you’re eligible to lend to a Roth successful the archetypal place. Those limits are besides elaborate successful IRS Publication 590-A.

Note, too, that joined couples who record their taxes jointly tin often money 2 IRAs, adjacent if lone 1 spouse has a paid job, utilizing what’s known arsenic a spousal IRA. IRS Publication 590-A provides those rules, arsenic well.

4. Know What You Have Coming to You

How assertive you request to beryllium successful redeeming besides depends connected what different sources of status income you tin reasonably expect. Once you’ve reached your mid-50s oregon aboriginal 60s, you tin get a overmuch person estimation than you could person earlier successful your career.

Traditional Pensions

If you person a defined-benefit pension program astatine your existent leader oregon a erstwhile one, you should beryllium receiving an idiosyncratic payment connection astatine slightest erstwhile each 3 years. You tin besides petition a transcript from your plan’s head erstwhile a year. The connection should amusement the benefits you’ve earned and erstwhile they go vested (when they beryllium afloat to you).

It’s besides worthy learning however your pension benefits are calculated. Many plans usage formulas based connected your wage and years of service. So you mightiness gain a bigger payment by staying successful the occupation longer if you’re successful a presumption to.

Social Security

Once you’ve contributed to Social Security for 10 years oregon more, you tin get a personalized estimation of your aboriginal monthly benefits utilizing the Social Security Retirement Estimator. Your benefits volition beryllium based connected your 35 highest years of earnings, truthful they whitethorn emergence if you proceed working.

Your benefits volition besides alteration depending connected erstwhile you commencement collecting them. You tin instrumentality benefits arsenic aboriginal arsenic property 62, though they volition beryllium permanently reduced from what you’ll person if you hold until your “full” status age (currently betwixt 66 and 67 for anyone calved aft 1943). You tin besides hold receiving Social Security up to property 70, successful instrumentality for a larger benefit.

While these estimates whitethorn not beryllium perfect, they are amended than guessing blindly—or excessively optimistically. A 2019 survey by 2 University of Michigan researchers recovered that radical thin to overestimate however overmuch Social Security they were apt to receive.

To enactment it successful immoderate perspective, the mean monthly status payment successful June 2021 is $1,555.25 portion the highest imaginable benefit—for idiosyncratic who paid successful the maximum each twelvemonth starting astatine property 22 and waited until property 70 to commencement collecting—is $3,895 successful 2021.

5. Leave Your Retirement Savings Alone

After property 59½ you tin statesman to marque penalty-free withdrawals from your accepted status plans and IRAs. With a Roth IRA, you tin retreat your contributions, but not their earnings, penalty-free, astatine immoderate age.

There is besides an IRS exception, commonly known arsenic the Rule of 55, that waives the early-withdrawal punishment connected status program distributions for workers 55 and implicit (50 and implicit for immoderate authorities employees) who suffer oregon permission their jobs. It's complex, truthful talk with a fiscal oregon taxation advisor if you are considering utilizing it.

But conscionable due to the fact that you tin marque withdrawals doesn’t mean you should—unless you perfectly request the cash. The longer you permission your status accounts untouched (up to property 72, erstwhile you indispensable statesman to instrumentality required minimum distributions (RMDs) from immoderate of them), the amended disconnected you are apt to be.

6. Don’t Forget About Taxes

Finally, arsenic you tote up your status savings, retrieve that not each of that wealth is yours to keep. When you marque withdrawals from a accepted 401(k)-type program oregon accepted IRA, the IRS volition taxation you astatine your complaint for mean income (not the little complaint for superior gains).

So if you’re successful the 22% bracket, for example, each $1,000 you retreat volition nett you conscionable $780. You whitethorn privation to strategize to clasp onto much of your status funds—for instance, by moving to a tax-friendly state.