CAN THIS RETIREMENT BE SAVED?

After your DIVORCE, with too little saved?  I don’t know about you, but I know about me – after I went through my divorce I was back to ground zero.  Everything that we had accumulated during our marriage suddenly disappeared.  Since my ex had quit his job we only had my income and it didn’t even cover our living expenses.  We went through so many financial situations as a result:

Bankruptcy

Short-sale of our house

Lack of Income due to my ex’s unemployment

Because of all these problems, we went through our entire retirement portfolio along with my inheritance from my mom.  It sure wasn’t very much fun.

I’m receiving spousal support now, but only for another 8 years and then all I will have – unless I do something now – will be my Social Security!  And that won’t even cover my rent & utilities.

I’m not alone.  So many of us are experiencing the same scenarios.  Just like Debbie Smith, 61, in this recent article in the AARP Bulletin.  She also experienced a divorce which put her in a precarious position.  She was unprepared “for the next year, let alone retirement.”

She says, “A divorce is devastating to your finances, especially when you divorce later in life.”  “You have less time to recoup that loss.”

Some of the suggestions that are made in the article are:

• Plan to work as long as you can
• Lower your spending, get used to a more modest lifestyle
• Save as much as possible and plug anything you can into your retirement
• Delay taking Social Security as long as possible

You can read more about Debbie Smith and 4 others in the AARP article below.

Source: Retirement Issues and Solutions – Social Security, 401k, Divorce – AARP