What to do if you are Unable to Save Enough for Retirement

Have you taken all your retirement income into account? Use our SimulR simulation tool to get a good idea of how much you will need to save. Here are a few options if you cannot save all you need right now because it does not fit into your budget.

Work longer

The easiest thing to do would be to change your retirement plans a little. You could stop working later or work part-time during the last few years of your career. With these two options, you would need less savings because you would have employment earnings for longer.

Review your goals

On the How to finance your retirement? web page, we explain that, to maintain your current lifestyle, you will need to replace between 60% and 80% of your gross income. Therefore, you could decide to replace a smaller portion of your employment earnings. However, your standard of living would be lower. If you want to travel, for example, you may be able to do so, but less often. You just need to take the time to look at everything and estimate your retirement expenses to see if it works.

Increase your savings over time

Based on your situation, your salary will possibly increase before you retire. If that is the case, you could, for example, work more and invest most of your salary increases or tax refunds into your savings.

Consider a possible decrease in your expenses

It is also possible that you will have fewer financial responsibilities over time! If you have children, will your expenses decrease at the end of your career because they will be grown up? Will you still be paying off a mortgage at that time? If you believe you will have fewer expenses, you could plan to save the amounts that will be available.