Many worry about how they will turn retirement savings into retirement income
A new Allianz Life study finds 48% worry they will live too frugally and not enjoy retirement as much, while 45% worry about how to best take distributions from their retirement savings for retirement income.
– Oct. 29, 2024 – Many Americans lack a plan for how they will draw from their retirement savings for income in retirement and worry about the funds lasting for their lifetime, according to the 2024 Annual Retirement Study from Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.
Less than half of Americans (44%) say they currently have a plan for how they will take income in retirement. Boomers (67%) are more likely than Gen Xers (30%) or millennials (33%) to say they have a retirement income plan.
“If you don’t know how you will draw from your retirement assets for income, then you aren’t ready to retire,” said Kelly LaVigne, VP of consumer insights, Allianz Life. “So much of retirement preparation focuses on accumulating assets – and that’s important – but it is critical to understand how those assets will be able to fund your life after you retire. To do that, you need to make important decisions like when to start claiming Social Security and examine what resources you have to fund your retirement.”
Nearly half (48%) worry about living too frugally and not enjoying retirement as much as they should.
“Without a solid strategy, the ongoing process of deciding how much money to withdraw from which account when can be daunting,” LaVigne said. “A retirement income strategy will help reduce the number of ongoing decisions you need to make. One way to help reduce the number of decisions you need to make about retirement income is to incorporate an annuity into your portfolio that offers guaranteed lifetime income.”
What Are The Top Risks To Retirement Income?
Americans identified the greatest risks to their retirement income. Ranked in the top three risks to retirement income were:
- Everyday costs increasing (42%)
- Outliving money (35%)
- Health care costs (32%)
- Stock market dropping (31%)
- Spending too much and running out of money (30%)
Americans could benefit from the guidance of a financial professional to evaluate retirement income strategies. Many Americans (45%) worry about how to best take distributions from their retirement savings for retirement income.
“When figuring out how to draw from your assets for retirement income, you want to include risk mitigation strategies that can help address worries about running out of money, inflation, taxes, and rising health care costs,” LaVigne said. “That strategy may include incorporating an additional source of consistent, reliable, and possibly, increasing income. A financial professional can help create a strategy for how to effectively turn your retirement assets into income that can last a lifetime.”
