Protect Your Retirement: Seven Things You Can Do Right Now

Whether you’re preparing to retire or already retired, a proactive plan is critical to help safeguard your retirement, especially amid uncertainty.

An older couple laughs with family during a meal.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Entering retirement is a significant milestone in life, and it can bring both excitement and fear.

For some people, retirement means freedom — from deadlines, stress and the grind of going to work nearly every day for decades. They can’t wait to take it easy, spend more time with friends and family and do whatever they want.

Those fears are not unfounded, especially during times of spiking inflation, volatility, rising interest rates and predictions of a coming recession.

It’s never been a good idea to “wing” retirement. But these days, whether you’re already retired or preparing to make the leap, it’s critical to have a proactive plan built to protect your future — no matter what.

Retirement planning is about much more than investing. It’s about prioritizing your goals and figuring out what’s required to achieve those goals. And it’s about preserving what you already have as you move through the different phases of retirement, whether you’re dealing with inflation risk, interest-rate risk, market risk, high health care costs or longevity risk. Your comprehensive plan should include investment planning, income planning, tax planning and estate planning.

Here are seven things you can do right now to help safeguard your retirement:

Jessica Cervinka, IAR
President and Founder, Kingsguard Capital

Jessica Cervinka is the president and founder of Kingsguard Capital. As an Investment Adviser Representative, her mission is to provide clients with the guidance they need in an easy-to-understand style. Jessica is the author of Retirement Wars and has been published in Morningstar, MarketWatch and Yahoo! Finance. Jessica, her husband and their five sons live in Powhatan, Virginia.