Running out of money has long been a major fear among retirees. And the sad reality is that it doesn't matter if you're closing out your career with $400,000 in savings or $4 million.
No matter how much money you have, you may find yourself overcome with panic every time you take a withdrawal from your IRA or 401(k) plan. But if you make these important moves, you might lower the likelihood of completely depleting your savings in your lifetime.
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1. Establish a safe withdrawal rate
Tapping your IRA or 401(k) whenever you want money could put you at risk of depleting those funds sooner than expected. So rather than take your withdrawals at random, have a plan.
Sit down with a financial advisor and figure out a safe withdrawal rate based on factors that include your savings balance, your investment mix, and your life expectancy. Obviously, you can't predict how long you'll live with complete accuracy. But you can make educated assumptions based on the state of your health, as well as your family history.
From there, figure out a withdrawal rate that makes sense and set a schedule so you know exactly when you're supposed to tap your nest egg. Granted, you could work with an advisor to take withdrawals at a time when it makes sense from a market perspective, but that could get a bit complicated. So you may be better off setting a schedule from the start.
2. Delay your Social Security filing
You're entitled to your complete Social Security benefit, based on your personal wage history, once you reach full retirement age (FRA), an age that hinges on your year of birth. But if you delay your filing past FRA, you can give your monthly benefit a boost of 8% per year if you hold off on claiming it, up until age 70.
Having more money coming in from Social Security won't automatically guarantee that your savings won't run out. But think about it this way: Let's say you're able to boost a $2,000 monthly Social Security benefit to $2,320 by delaying your claim by two years beyond FRA. If you have an extra $3,840 coming in per year, that's $3,840 you won't have to take out of savings. It's that simple.
3. Consider an annuity
An annuity is a contract you sign with an insurance company that has you putting down money in exchange for a series of payments. Some annuities will guarantee regular payments for the rest of your life, so that's one way to help ensure that you won't end up completely without an income if your savings start to dwindle.
However, annuities have their drawbacks. They can be expensive to put into place from a fee standpoint, and many are designed to pay recipients a fixed amount throughout retirement, regardless of inflation.
Social Security, by contrast, is at least set up to adjust for rising living costs. But still, it's an option worth considering if the thought of running out of money is keeping you up at night.
After a lifetime of hard work, you don't deserve to struggle financially in retirement. If you're worried about depleting your savings and encountering that very fate, take these steps to avoid that scenario.
