High Anxiety: Pre-Retirees Financially Stressed About Impending Transition

Pre-retiree financial stress

Financial stress is impacting more than half of pre-retirees, according to new Schwab research.

Most people within five years of retirement are pretty stressed out about it, according to brand new research from Charles Schwab.

The findings show that these pre-retirees are nearly as anxious about what the future looks like as the present. About two in three people (65%) within five years of retirement are feeling “overwhelmed” by saving enough now for retirement and about half (52%) are overwhelmed by how they will ultimately manage their different income sources once they take the leap into retirement.

These findings underscore how daunting the transition into retirement is for pre-retirees, revealing that the final years leading up to retirement are among the most sensitive and confusing in investors’ financial lives.

Retirement more overwhelming than other financial moments in life

Most pre-retirees consider managing retirement income more overwhelming than many other financial moments typically considered stressful, such as:

Pre-retirees feel particularly anxious about how they’ll manage their income and spending needs once they move from the comfort of an ongoing paycheck into retirement:

Planning for retirement income deemed complex

Schwab’s survey finds that people on the cusp of retirement are concerned about several aspects of how they’ll manage their money once retirement begins, including:

Pre-retirees unfamiliar with retirement income basics

Lastly, the survey finds that people within five years of retirement are unfamiliar or worried when it comes to some important basics about retirement income, which may add to their stress level:

“So much of the emphasis around retirement planning is on helping people save, but helping them transition into spending down from their portfolios in retirement is just as important,” says Tobin McDaniel, Charles Schwab senior vice president of digital advice and innovation. “Millions of Americans are on the cusp of retirement, so developing solutions that enable investors to confidently manage their income needs in an easy, flexible and affordable way is one of the most critical challenges we are addressing.”

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