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Articles World » Finance » Investing » How Can We Plan For Retirement In the New Decade?

How Can We Plan For Retirement In the New Decade?

According to statistics, record numbers of Americans think retirement is WAY out of their reach, but at least one expert thinks people can still make it happen if they approach their retirement planning in a different way.

In 2009, only 13 percent of American workers say they are very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement, according to the annual Retirement Confidence Survey by market researchers Matthew Greenwald & Associates. This is the lowest number since they started the survey in 1993. In addition, people apparently expect to work longer because of the economic downturn, with 28 percent of workers telling pollsters that they've changed their planned retirement date over the past year. Moreover, 89 percent of those people say that they're specifically postponing retirement to increase their financial security.

Robert J. Krakower, a Certified Financial Planner and author of Redefining Retirement for a New Generation from On Task Publishing (www.newretirementrealities.com), believes that the old rules for retirement are broken, and people need to adjust their views on retirement planning in order to have a chance at retiring on time.

"Forces beyond our control are changing the shape of retirement itself," he said. "Forces such as increased life expectancy, the sheer size of the baby boom generation that is just beginning to enter retirement, and the massive replacement of pensions with 401(K) plans, shift the risk away from the corporations, where it used to be, and onto the shoulders of individuals. The impact of these radical changes on retirement makes it critical to redefine retirement, to understand all the risks involved, both old and new, and to think more pragmatically about the meaning retirement and best methods for generating reliable retirement income."

Krakower believes Americans need to adjust their attitudes about retirement, and what it takes to have a successful retirement plan.

"The generation that is starting to save for retirement today has a much greater challenge than past generations," he said. "It wasn't that long ago that the average retirement lasted no more than 10 years. Life expectancy was much lower, which lowered the financial burden for most workers. For the boomer generation, ten years marks the first stage of a retirement that can easily last 30 years or more. Longer lives mean increased risk of outliving your nest egg. Who knew that the thing that would threaten to break our financial backs in the end would be that we're living longer?"

Plus, there are just more of us nearing retirement age than ever before. The demographic bubble is about to burst, and launching more retirements than at any other time in American history. These conditions create dramatically higher risk for retirement planners, he added.

"The demise of the old pension plan and the rise of the 401(k) represent a new retirement risk," he said. "Now, individuals must cope with the risk that bad investment decisions can have catastrophic consequences for their lifestyle in retirement. So a useful redefinition of retirement will dispel the myth that investing is always safe and, as long as you stay invested, no matter what the circumstances, you will come out ahead. Redefining retirement means taking a fresh look at all the assets to which individuals have access, and thinking in new ways about how to put those assets to work to generate lasting retirement income."