www.principal.com Open in urlscan Pro
2a04:4e42:a00::740  Public Scan

Form analysis
0 forms found in the DOM

Text Content

Skip to main content
 * For Individuals
 * Invest & retire
    * Ways to Save
      * Roth & traditional IRAs
      * Rollover IRA
      * Annuities
      * Retirement plans
    * My Retirement Plan
      * Enroll in your 401(k)
      * Rollover an account
      * Find a form
    * Get Help
      * Help for individuals
      * Find a financial professional
   
   Your financial future starts here
   
   Discover your path to investing and retirement

 * Insure
    * Ways to Insure
      * Disability income insurance
      * Disability income retirement security
      * Estate planning & irrevocable life insurance trusts
    * My Insurance
      * Find a dentist
      * Find a vision provider
      * Find a form
      * View a claim
    * Get Help
      * Help for individuals
      * Find a financial professional
   
   Peace of mind starts here
   
   Discover how insurance can help you protect what matters

 * Build your knowledge
    * Getting Started
      * Budgeting
      * Debt
      * Education
      * Financial planning
      * Investing
    * Living Your Life
      * Health care
      * Insurance
      * Markets and the economy
      * Taxes
      * Workplace benefits
    * Looking Ahead
      * Estate planning
      * Nearing retirement
      * Retirement income
      * Retirement planning
      * Social Security
   
   See all topics and articles

For Businesses
Search
Clear

SearchLoading


Close search
Log in Menu
 1. Retirement, Investments, & Insurance for Individuals
 2. Build your knowledge
 3. 5 steps to creating your retirement plan

6 min read March 07, 2023
5 steps to creating your retirement plan

Even if it’s a long way off, saving and planning for retirement is a good idea.
These five steps can help you create your retirement plan.



It’s never too early to start planning for retirement—but many people wait until
it’s almost too late. While almost 40% of adults start putting away money for
retirement in their 20s, 54% of people didn’t even begin creating a retirement
plan until they were in their 50s.1

It’s never really too late, though, to figure out how to plan for retirement.
These five steps can help.


1. ESTABLISH A GOAL OF HOW MUCH MONEY YOU MAY NEED IN RETIREMENT.

A goal may not mean an exact dollar figure. Instead, think of this as a rough
idea of how much income you may need in retirement.

If you haven’t tackled that before, a resource like the Principal® Retirement
Wellness Planner may be a good place to start. It uses current age, income, and
retirement contributions, as well as past savings, estimated Social Security
benefit, and goal retirement age to give you an idea of how much you may need,
and how you’re progressing toward that goal.


2. SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN.

The earlier you start saving—even if you’re not sure of your exact retirement
goals—the more you’ll gain from financial concepts like compound interest.

For example, imagine this scenario: You start saving in your mid-20s for just 15
years, or you start saving at age 35 and stash money away for 30 years. You’d
have more in the latter scenario than the former, right? Surprisingly, no.2

SAVING SOONER—BUT FOR LESS TIME—GIVES YOU A GREATER ADVANTAGE.




3. INCLUDE SOCIAL SECURITY AS PART, BUT NOT ALL, OF YOUR RETIREMENT PLAN.

Social Security was never intended as a full income replacement program;
instead, it’s supposed to replace just a portion of your pre-retirement income
and work with other retirement savings.

How much Social Security figures into your retirement planning depends on your
lifetime earnings and the age at which you claim benefits. (Currently, you’ll
reap the biggest financial benefit by waiting until age 70.) What form Social
Security may take when you retire depends a lot on future benefit levels and
legislative support, to name just two factors.

You can track more about your forecasted potential benefits by creating an
online Social Security account.


4. ADJUST YOUR RETIREMENT SAVINGS PLAN TO MAKE UP FOR LOST GROUND.

Life is complicated, and financial goals change from year to year. If there have
been times you haven’t been able to put away as much as you wanted for
retirement, you have options to make up the gap so you can still meet your
goals. Those include:

 * Increase your contribution in a workplace-sponsored retirement plan like a
   401(k). Think an extra 1% a year, or at least enough to get the company
   match.
 * Set up an individual retirement account (IRA) or Roth IRA to save in addition
   to any workplace plans if income and contribution limits allow.
 * Make catch-up contributions to your 401(k) (if your plan allows) or IRA if
   you’re 50 or older.
 * Pay off debt, then stash those funds in retirement savings.
 * Extend your retirement date, even by a year or two.


5. CHECK IN ON YOUR RETIREMENT PLAN AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR.

You probably reassess your budget yearly (or more frequently). Your retirement
savings deserve the same attention, even if you’re just making sure your address
and beneficiaries are up to date.


NEXT STEPS

Log in to your Principal account to see if your savings rate matches your
current retirement plan goals. Don’t have an employer-sponsored retirement
account? We can help you set up your retirement savings with an IRA or Roth IRA
account.

Retirement planning
Nearing retirement


1Morning Consult
2 The retirement balance (potential future value) assumes a 6% annual rate of
return on their savings. The assumed rate of return in this chart is
hypothetical and does not guarantee any future returns nor represent the returns
of any particular investment. Estimated monthly income is based on a 4.5% annual
distribution of the retirement balance at age 65 and is discounted to reflect
today’s value using a 2.5% inflation assumption (potential future purchasing
power in today’s dollars). Amounts do not reflect the impact of taxes on pre-tax
distributions. Individual taxpayer circumstances may vary. For illustrative
purposes only.

The subject matter in this communication is educational only and provided with
the understanding that Principal® is not rendering legal, accounting, investment
or tax advice. You should consult with appropriate counsel, financial
professionals, and other advisors on all matters pertaining to legal, tax,
investment or accounting obligations and requirements.

The Retirement Wellness Planner information and Retirement Wellness Score are
limited only to the inputs and other financial assumptions and is not intended
to be a financial plan or investment advice from any company of the Principal
Financial Group® or plan sponsor. This calculator only provides education which
may be helpful in making personal financial decisions. Responsibility for those
decisions is assumed by the participant, not the plan sponsor and not by any
member of Principal®. Individual results will vary. Participants should
regularly review their savings progress and post-retirement needs.

Our company

 * About us
 * Investor relations
 * News room
 * Sustainability
 * Insights

We're hiring

 * Careers
 * Global jobs
 * Financial professional opportunities
 * Internships
 * Recent graduates

Other sites

 * For dental providers
 * For financial professionals
 * Principal Asset Management

Our company
 * About us
 * Investor relations
 * News room
 * Sustainability
 * Insights

We're hiring
 * Careers
 * Global jobs
 * Financial professional opportunities
 * Internships
 * Recent graduates

Other sites
 * For dental providers
 * For financial professionals
 * Principal Asset Management

Contact
 * 800-986-3343
 * Help topics
 * Contact us

 * 800-986-3343
 * Help topics
 * Contact us

 * Terms of Use
 * Disclosures
 * Privacy
 * Security
 * Report Fraud
 * Site Map

© 2023, Principal Financial Services, Inc.

Securities offered through Principal Securities, Inc., member SIPC





COOKIES ACCEPTANCE



By clicking “Accept all”, you agree to storing cookies on your device to enhance
site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More
information can be found by clicking "Manage cookies".

View our Global Privacy Statement



Manage cookies Accept all



PRIVACY PREFERENCE CENTER

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your
browser, mostly in the form of cookies. These “cookies” of information might be
about you, your preferences, or your device, and they’re mostly used to make the
site work as you expect it to. Cookies don’t usually directly identify you, but
they can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your
right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on
the category headings to read more or change your default settings. (Note:
Blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our site, as well
as the services we can offer you.)
More information
Accept all


MANAGE CONSENT PREFERENCES

STRICTLY NECESSARY COOKIES

Always active

These cookies are necessary for our website to function and can’t be switched
off in our systems. They’re set for you behind the scenes when you do things
such as log in, fill out forms, make a request for services, or set your privacy
preferences. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies,
but some parts of our site won’t work without them.

Cookies Details‎

PERFORMANCE COOKIES

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count how many times people visit our website, and how
they get here, so we can measure and improve its performance. They show us which
pages are the most (and least) popular, and how visitors move around on the site
when they’re here. If these cookies are, we have less information about how to
improve our sites that will be useful to you.

Cookies Details‎

FUNCTIONAL COOKIES

Functional Cookies

These cookies enable our website to work smoothly and in a manner personalized
to you. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we’ve
added to our pages. For example; downloading a customer service form using PDF.
If these cookies are blocked, then some or all of these services may not
function.

Cookies Details‎

MARKETING COOKIES

Marketing Cookies

These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may
be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you
relevant advertisements on other sites. If these cookies are blocked, you will
experience less targeted advertising.

Cookies Details‎
Back Button


BACK



Search Icon
Filter Icon

Clear
checkbox label label
Apply Cancel
Consent Leg.Interest
checkbox label label
checkbox label label
checkbox label label

 * 
   
   View Cookies
   
    * Name
      cookie name

Confirm my choices