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What is your biggest concern for retirement?

#1
The process of planning for an "ideal" retirement can be a challenging task, especially if that planning didn't start as early as you would have liked. Information like what's found in this retirement calculator Viewpoints article can certainly get you thinking. Even those who started saving at an early age can easily get derailed by unexpected volatility in the market.
 
What is your biggest concern when it comes to preparing for retirement?
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#2
My biggest concern is, of course, not having saved enough to generate enough income to live on, without depleting my savings in the long run. Although I have saved more than the 8X cited in the article, I plan to retire in my early 50's, and currently live far below my current income, the uncertainty of unknown expenses and inflation give me great concern.
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#3
As with most everyone, knowing the amount I would need and how long it would last were the primary concerns. But I started in my mid-20s and just kept going. It's far more important to do SOMETHING than to spend time and energy trying to be perfect. My wife and I made plenty of mistakes over the 40 years from start to retirement, but none was major. We learned from each and kept going. Very early in the process I heard the phrase "pay yourself first" rather than wait to the end of the month and invest what's left. Also, we lived on my salary and invested my wife's so that when she stopped working when our first child arrived, we would not be giving up anything. We had some "luck" along the way (started my 401k at the start of the long bull market in early 1980's), but I believe you have to be willing and able to recognize and respond to any "luck" that comes along. When I started the 401k I was fully investing in an S&P 500 index fund. I stayed in stocks and didn't start investing in bonds until my early 60's. So, get started, be rational in your decisions and keep going!
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#4
The approach that we are taking is to have a guaranteed income stream equal to our current one just prior to retirement, while leaving a healthy balance for play and the inevitable medical or other external shocks. The trick that I still have not mentally solved and internally agreed to is how to set up the remaining balance on a form of autopilot that will at least keep pace with inflation. I enjoy spending time with our investments now, but hope to take a more hands-off approach when we pull the trigger on retirement. I cannot leave it completely alone, since my nature is to tinker and hone, but there will be times where I will want to focus on other things and still sleep at night.
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#5
My biggest concern in retirement is health care costs.  I retired before Medicare age and have seen my health insurance premiums, copays and deductibles increase each year by a substantial amount.  My long term care policy premium rose by 20% this year and will probably increase by another 20% next year.  I'm concerned what Obamacare changes are going to mean for private health insurance and Medicare charges and access to quality health care.
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#6
I share your concern. I too retired before Medicare, and struggled to find affordable health care. I am now on Medicare, but had 3 years of large premium payments.
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#7
 I retired at 56.  Don't believe those 75% of income before retirement expenditures you hear in the financial press -- especially if you retire in your 50's.  What will likely amaze you as you enter early retirement is you will likely spend MORE than you ever did while working.  A few reasons:  If you are like me, after a few months of retirement, you get BORED!.   I travel more, I eat out more.   I am blessed to have a modest pension with employer sponsored retirement health insurance.   Still, even with the subsidy, when I add my premiums and all out of pocket medical expenses, I'm spending about $800 a month for my health, dental and vision care needs.  Compare that the payroll deduction of $85 a month I had while I worked.  You will get tired of sitting around the house, believe me.  I planned for retirement in my youth and financially, I did reach my goal, but one of the biggest challenges for early retirees that isn't discussed much is how you re-define your life and your passions.
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#8
I've been working for myself for a dozen years after being laid off from a big corporation job. Individual insurance is way expensive and that's with good health. In fact it is far and away my biggest business expense (I don't consider taxes as a business expense). I agree with you that healthcare expenses in the future is my biggest concerns for retirement. I am concerned that insurance companies will use Obamacare as an excuse to jack up rates and become even more error-prone, inefficient, and sluggish in paying claims.
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#9
My wife and I have followed all of the plans established to have financial security in retirement. My biggest concerns are not with the accumulation of assets. Inflation beyond a reasonable level (especially in healthcare) and a single, or series of events that impact the long-term confidence in the financial markets are my top concerns. These unplanned items are difficult to manage and would have a lasting impact on our retirement investments.  
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#10
My biggest concern is that we're all now increasingly on our own.
 
Retirement is the one time that social insurance makes sense. None of us know how long we're going to live, how healthy we're going to be, or how well the market is going to return. But when you aggregate the data over millions of people, you know average life expediencies, average health costs, and average returns.
 
A financial adviser told me that there is a huge difference in attitude between a retired government and a retired "high tech" worker. The former has guaranteed income and health care and doesn't have to worry about market performance. They sleep soundly at night and spend their time enjoying retirement. The latter is constantly fretting about market performance, spiraling health costs, and outliving their assets.
 
Sure, Fidelity has Monte Carlo simulators that will tell you the likelihood having money through your retirement with two sigma confidence, but that means I need to save and invest to outperform the market by hundreds of thousands of dollars over the average, and even then there's the chance that I won't be successful.
 
Here's to hoping the best for all of us...
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