Retirement planning: 2 proven ways to make sure you have enough money in retirement

These days, many investors who are approaching retirement worry that their retirement planning won’t generate the income stream they were banking on once they’ve left the workforce.

Some investors in this situation look for what brokers sometimes refer to as a “rescue stock” — a can’t miss trading idea that can make up for the shortfall in their retirement planning. This, of course, is unrealistic. If such a low-risk, high-potential stock existed, why would you buy anything else?

In fact, if you’re heading into retirement and are short of money, you should move your retirement planning in the opposite direction: aim for safer investments, rather than one last gamble.

(Our Successful Investor Wealth Management clients’ retirement planning goals are always one of our top considerations when we manage their portfolios. Click here to learn more about how you can profit from our portfolio management services.)

Here are two practical solutions to a pre-retirement money shortage. In addition to improving your finances, both can improve your quality of life in retirement:

1. Work longer: Put off retiring from your current position, or continue to work part-time. Or, find full- or part-time work in another field. To start, this can solve a common problem that many retirees fail to foresee: how hard it can be, and how much it can cost, to fill up all the free time that comes with retirement.

Many retirees admit that they fill this time by giving free rein to Parkinson’s Law (“work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.”) Some find that minor tasks take over their lives, so they never get to tackle the more fulfilling projects that they’ve put off till retirement, such as learning another language, taking courses, organizing a stamp collection or whatever. A part-time job, paid or volunteer, gets you out of the house and provides contact with other people. Many studies suggest these two fringe benefits can prolong your life and keep you healthy.

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2. Analyze your spending: Start by doing a detailed study of how you spend your money now. Then, you analyze your findings to see what expenses you can cut or eliminate. This too can have fringe benefits, especially if it helps you break unhealthy habits.

For instance, cutting out fast food can save the average Canadian anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars a year. In retirement, you’ll have time for a cooking class or two, and soon you’ll be able to cook better-tasting and healthier food than you can buy at any fast-food chain. The cost difference between home cooking and fast food can be substantial, and it’s like tax-free income.

Smart retirement planning starts with a healthy attitude

These two retirement planning tactics may come hard or easy to you, depending, in part, on your upbringing. People who come from humble circumstances often develop a degree of both frugality and industriousness early in life. Finding part-time work while in school, and making every penny count, becomes a game for them.

It’s easy to let frugality evaporate in mid-life, when money becomes more plentiful. But some find that if they return to frugality later in life, it’s more fun than ever. It’s a little like taking pleasure from a game that you haven’t played since you were young.

Your enjoyment of, or distaste for, frugality is partly a matter of attitude. But that’s under your control. Don’t think of it as penny-pinching. Think of it as taking charge of a part of your life, so that more of your money goes to things you choose.

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