Assessing Your Retirement Resources

How resourceful can you be during your retirement? Determining where your retirement money will come from is an integral part of planning for retirement. Most people draw on three main sources of income: Social Security, employer-sponsored plans, and personal retirement savings. Each offers important resources that can help you fund the lifestyle you seek in retirement.

Social Security

Social Security offers a retirement benefit to workers and their spouses. You can start receiving benefits as early as age 62 (considered early retirement) or wait until you reach the full retirement age of 65 to 67 (depending upon your year of birth). The benefits you receive are based on the income you have earned over the course of your life, subject to a maximum amount. You can calculate how much you can expect to receive by visiting the Social Security Administration (SSA) website at www.ssa.gov.

Social Security benefits will most likely fall short of meeting all of your retirement needs. The maximum benefit for a person who retires in 2016 at full retirement age is $2,639 per month; the benefit for a nonworking spouse is considerably less. For most people, Social Security provides only a base level of income. Therefore, you may require a retirement plan that includes additional sources of income.

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