Savers tips and resources

Volatility is part of the stock market—and significant volatility can be influenced by factors outside investor control: trade wars, terrorist attacks, global pandemics, and other micro and macroeconomic situations to name just a few.

Turning 40 is a major milestone in both life and retirement planning. With retirement on the horizon, it’s time to reflect on whether you’re on track. Are you planning a big trip, a career change, or a family move? The decisions you make now will shape your financial future.

Life can throw many financial challenges your way— unexpected home repairs, student loans, and rising costs of living—that make it feel hard to put money away. Luckily, if you’re in your 30s, you still have plenty of time to get on track to achieve your ideal retirement—even if you haven’t started saving yet.

When was the last time you reviewed the investments in your employer-sponsored retirement plan?

If you’re like many, the answer might be that it’s been a while. Don't sweat it, now’s a great time to put a plan in place so you can stay up to date on the performance of your investments.

There are many factors that go into preparing financially for retirement, but one of the most important is understanding how your retirement savings will complement your Social Security benefit—and ultimately, when you should start claiming your benefit. Here are key considerations and tips that can help you start planning.

Today, Social Security benefits represent about 30 percent of the income for people over age 65^.1 But there is significant concern among workers about access to their benefits in the future. In fact, 72 percent of Americans worry their Social Security won’t be there when they retire.²

Retirement planning isn't easy—you can make all the right decisions, but your savings are always susceptible to market volatility. Unexpected world events can influence your savings by seemingly drastic amounts, causing an unsettling feeling that can leave you questioning if your financial future is secure.

If you're trying to locate an old 401(k) plan from a previous job, you're not alone…not by a long shot. The good news is that the Department of Labor (DOL) has established rules for protecting money put into a 401(k), so the money isn't necessarily lost—just waiting for someone to claim it. However, that doesn’t mean your old 401(k) account will always be easy to track down. It may take some digging, but there are a variety of ways you can find it.

It happens far too often: workers saving in a retirement plan leave their jobs and decide to take their 401(k) funds with them as a distribution, only to be caught off guard when their distribution is subject to a variety of fees and taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be looking for the income taxes on funds that have been accumulating tax-free, and recordkeepers will be charging a fee for processing the distribution. These taxes and fees apply whether you leave the plan and take your money, or your employer closes the plan and pays you out.

There’s never a bad time to audit your retirement savings account and make sure there are no major discrepancies between the amount of time you’d like to be retired and the amount of time you can afford to be retired.