Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short

Hoping and praying may not be the best way to plan for retirement.  Chances are you need a plan.  This article points out that the hope and pray strategy may not have worked well.  Read this for some good data and some good ideas.  Even if it looks like you are in trouble, there are things you can do.  And – if you are a younger person, learn from the mistakes of those who have gone ahead.

Steve

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The 401(k) generation is beginning to retire, and it isn’t a pretty sight.

“Inevitably, we find that, for the average person, there is not enough there,” says financial adviser Paul Merritt of NTrust Wealth Management in Virginia Beach, Va., who has found himself advising many retirement-age people with too little savings. “The discussion turns out to be: What kind of part-time work do you want to do after you retire?”

He has clients contemplating part-time work into their 70s, he says.

In general, people facing problems today got too little advice, or bad advice. They didn’t realize that a 6% annual contribution, with a 3% company match, might not be enough.

Some started saving too late or suspended contributions when they or their spouses lost jobs. Others borrowed against 401(k) accounts for medical emergencies or ran up debts too close to their planned retirement dates.

In the stock-market collapses of 2000-2002 and 2007-2009, many people were over-invested in stocks.  …. read the complete article here:   Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short – WSJ.com.