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Imagine you’ve reached your retirement savings target, but you’re afraid to pull the trigger on ending your career. You’ve worked your whole life and saved up as much as you could, but you’re still feeling the compulsion to keep at it even though you’ve reached your financial goals.
If that’s the case, you may be suffering from “just one more year” syndrome.
After working a minimum of 40-hours a week for years, the thought of all that freedom is enticing, but also worrying. Just what exactly are you supposed to spend your time on? What’s more, the pressure-cooker at work is where many of your friends are, and a key part of your social network. Then there’s the financial piece of the puzzle.
So, what exactly is “just one more year” syndrome? And more importantly, what is the cure?
Let’s say a healthy 60-year-old woman has hit her $1.5 million retirement savings target — already well above the “magic number” of $1.26 million many Americans believe they’ll need to retire, according to Northwestern Mutual (1) — and she is ready to quit her high-paying and extremely stressful job.
But she’s still hesitating. After all, one more year of work means one more year of retirement savings. Plus, she can’t claim Medicare until 65, and if she takes her Social Security benefit at age 62, she’ll have to take a reduced benefit.
And so, although she already has enough money to retire, she decides to work just one more year, which quickly turns into another year, and then another.
Soon enough, she is suffering from “just one more year” syndrome.
Now that we know what it is, let’s look at the cure.
A good place to start is managing your expectations. According to Morgan Housel, the bestselling author of books like The Psychology of Money, “the hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.” In other words, financing a secure retirement is about recognizing when “enough is enough.”
But how do you actually know if it’s enough?
It may come down to taking your emotions out of the decision and doing some cold, hard math.
Let’s look at the facts. In general, using the 4% rule (2), that $1.5 million portfolio should yield about $60,000 a year for 30 years, before taxes — but even that will depend on investment returns.
And don’t forget she has other considerations. Will she be getting a pension? Does she have private health insurance or another option to bridge the gap until she can claim Medicare at 65?
Plus, she has to think about inflation and how it might eat away at her savings.
Just like that, the math becomes quite complicated — she needs to think about her lifestyle after retirement, and keep an emergency fund to cover any unforeseen expenses. She might also have some plans for her retirement, like taking a long, well-earned vacation across the world.
And all those extra costs can add up quickly.
Feeling overwhelmed yet? If you are, you’re not alone — there’s help.
A certified financial advisor can help you get a better understanding of your financial situation and how to improve it. One of the first ways they can help is by crunching the numbers to ensure you’re maximizing your retirement contributions within your means.
Research from Vanguard also shows that working with a financial advisor can add about 3% to your net returns over time (3). That difference can become substantial. It means that if you start with a $50,000 portfolio, professional guidance could mean more than $1.3 million in additional growth over 30 years, depending on market conditions and investment strategy.
But hiring an advisor can be a lifelong commitment, which might make or break your retirement. That’s why finding someone reliable is crucial.
And that’s where services like Advisor.com can come in. Their platform connects you with licensed financial professionals in your area who can provide personalized guidance on your finances, no matter where you are on your financial journey.
How it works is simple: Put in some basic information, like your ZIP code, and get matched with up to three professional advisors in your area. From here, they can help you determine how many years you have left to invest before retirement and assess your comfort level with market fluctuations — two key factors in building the right asset mix for your retirement portfolio.
Once you’ve got the right financial advisor in your corner, you can start thinking about your next steps.
As you approach your golden years, you might be stuck in a dilemma — whether to work some more to grow your nest egg, or to retire.
However, even if the math shows it might be beneficial for you to work another year, you also have to consider whether it’s actually worth it, especially if you dread going to work and it’s taking a mental and physical toll on your health.
Yet working 40+ hours a week isn’t the only way to build out your bank account.
Most people spend a little bit of money every day, but investing on a daily basis can be harder to get your head around. So, what if you could make a micro-investment with every purchase to grow your nest egg for retirement?
With Acorns, you can stop feeling guilty about making purchases and start spending your money in a way that can prepare you for a wealthier retirement.
Acorns is an investing and saving platform that automates the process of saving for retirement by automatically investing your spare change from your everyday purchases and putting it into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.
It works like this: Each time you make a purchase with a credit or debit card, Acorns rounds it up to the nearest dollar and puts the rest into a smart investment portfolio. That morning coffee for $3.15? It’s now an 85-cent investment in your future.
And the best part? Acorns can also help you supercharge your savings with recurring monthly deposits. If you set one up, Acorns can also give you a $20 bonus investment to get you started.
However, even while you’re building your retirement nest egg, remember — don’t put all your eggs in one basket. In other words, diversification is the name of the game.
For example, gold has historically been a key diversifier against inflation and economic risks. But it isn’t always easy to get your hands on that precious yellow metal. It’s also on a historic bull run, blowing past analyst expectations and striking a high of over $5,000 per ounce in late January (4).
Fortunately, you can now invest in gold by setting up a gold IRA with Thor Metals. Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account. This can combine the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold.
Thor Metals is an authorized retail dealer for the U.S. Mint and has partnered with IRS-approved depositories. This means you don’t have to worry about storing gold safely. Thor Metals will do it for you.
If that sounds intriguing, you can learn more by getting their free information guide, which also includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases.
