Here’s How Inflation Might Affect Your Retirement Planning
Most people tend to overlook one of the most important factors during retirement planning – inflation. If you look at the previous three decades or so, inflation every year has been around 3% on an average. It’s quite surprising that people don’t attach that much importance to inflation while applying all strategies to accentuate their savings.
The price of goods and services rises due to inflation. If inflation happens at a 3% average rate in 2019 and 2020, the same goods and services will cost you 6% more in 2021. So, if you don’t take inflation into account, the chances are that your money won’t last you long. Inflation certainly has a huge impact on your savings set aside for retirement. How? Find out.
The Effect of Inflation on Investment and Savings
If you are one of those people who prefer to push their money in investments and into their savings account, their value will automatically come down due to inflation. For example, if you keep aside $5000 every year for 30 years, you will have $505,365 in your hand once that time is over. And that is if you are receiving an annual return of 7% throughout. That is indeed impressive.
However, unfortunately, inflation won’t allow you to lay your hands on that amount. The value of $505,365 in the future will approximately be equivalent to what $208,204 is in today’s time. You will have the same amount of dollars then. However, the value of those dollars will be much less than it is now, owing to inflation. As inflation would force the cost of goods and services to rise, you will have to pay for the future price tags.
Social Security and Inflation
A majority of the senior citizens rely on the benefits they receive from Social Security. These benefits are affected by inflation. The Social Security benefits get COLAs or cost-of-living adjustments because of inflation. As per the reports, the recipients were awarded a 2.8% adjustment in 2019, the highest one in seven years.
While these adjustments are good for the seniors, many observers think that the exact pace of inflation is underrated by the benchmark used by the Social Security Administration.
The SSA measures the annual price changes. The determining factor is the CPI-W or Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Once that’s done, the SSA decides whether it should award a COLA or not. If yes, then how much the adjustment should be. However, the CPI-W doesn’t attach much significance to those sectors that have gone through a high price increase. For instance, the healthcare sector has experienced a steep rise in prices compared to the other sectors.
The cost of prescription drugs has experienced a rise of 188% between 2000 and 2018. This is as per the reports furnished by the Senior Citizens League. Due to this relative underestimating, even COLAs couldn’t save a 34% decline in the purchasing capacity of Social Security. Social Security is, of course, very important during the retirement phase. But that doesn’t mean it will stay unaffected by inflation. Make your plans with that in mind.
Investment Choices and Inflation
Now that you know inflation would force prices to rise, and Social Security will fail to keep up with it, what should be your course of action? The most practical thing to do in such a situation is considered inflation when planning out investments. Bond yields can be much lower as compared to the inflation rate. Stocks happen to be among those investments offering returns that can surpass inflation. The stock market in the United States has offered 7% returns on average. However, stocks have their risks.
Deduct your age from 110. You get the percentage of your financial portfolio you can utilize for investment in stocks. Push the remaining amount to fixed-income investments. If you are a 30-year-old, invest 80% in stocks and the remaining 20% in fixed-income investments. If you are a 70-year-old, 40% goes to stocks, while 60% goes to fixed income.
These are a few examples of how inflation can affect your retirement planning and what steps you can take to fight inflation. You need to consult your financial advisor to devise an inflation-proof retirement strategy. That way, you can build a personalized retirement plan that matches your goals, retirement age, and finances. It will ensure that you have a comfortable, safe, and happy retirement.
More in Business & Finance
-
`
Everything You Need to Know About Blended Interest Rates
Hou ever blended a smoothie and thought, “How on Earth do my strawberries, spinach, and protein powder come together to taste...
October 17, 2023 -
`
The Osbournes ‘Relaunch’ Podcast After 5 Year Break
If you were glued to your TV in the early 2000s, there is no way you missed the hilarious, raucous, and...
October 10, 2023 -
`
Tesla in China: Back-to-Back Price Drops, But No Sales Jump?
As temperatures soared in the summer of 2023, Tesla seemed to be heating things up in the Chinese market too. A...
October 6, 2023 -
`
Navigating Red Flags in the Workplace
In the journey of our careers, it’s not uncommon to encounter red flags in our jobs that signal potential issues or...
September 30, 2023 -
`
Top 6 Best Housing Options for Older Adults
As we grow old, our physical and mental health needs change. In turn, this means that we require more assistance from...
September 21, 2023 -
`
Why Hollywood Is Private Equity’s New Money Machine
Hollywood has always been known as a glamorous industry, what with its big budgets, huge stars, and even bigger box office...
September 14, 2023 -
`
How Amazon Sellers Can Thrive in Their eCommerce Ventures
The past year has seen exponential growth in eCommerce transactions due to the unprecedented times the world finds itself in. Amazon...
September 10, 2023 -
`
How to Retire With Maximum Social Security Benefits
Retirement is a time to unwind and enjoy the fruits of your labor, but to ensure you are living comfortably, you...
August 29, 2023 -
`
How to Grow Your Sales in a Weak Economy
As a business owner, you know how challenging it is to keep your business alive during times of economic hardship. The...
August 22, 2023
You must be logged in to post a comment Login