If you feel like someone took 2020 and tossed it in a blender, pressed start, and threw everything into chaos, you’re not alone.

You’ve likely experienced many canceled plans, work adjustments, complicated family decisions, and (as if that weren’t enough) some financial challenges.

We don’t know what the near future will bring in regards to COVID-19, the local economy, and the markets.

So, the question becomes, How do you prepare for retirement when there is so much unknown?

How can you look ahead to 2021 when you don’t even know what next week will bring?

Here are 6 financial actions that could make all the difference as we near the end of 2020.

What comes to mind when you imagine something wiping out your retirement savings? A personal tragedy? A natural disaster? Maybe a recession?

There’s no doubt that these events could significantly impact your portfolio, but they are largely out of your control. The real dangers to your retirement plan are the little-known and often ignored threats that could cause you to lose what you have diligently worked for.

Here are 5 ways you could run into retirement trouble and how to help prevent them from derailing your retirement finances.

What’s your goal, financially speaking, for retirement? Most likely, its to make sure you have enough money to last through your years in retirement while living the lifestyle you planned for.

It sounds pretty straightforward, right?

Where it gets complicated is negotiating between two equally valid but CONFLICTING concerns with your money in retirement:

the need for safety and principle preservation (you aren’t adding any more paychecks in to your retirement accounts...),

and the need for growth to hedge inflation & other unexpected costs during life in retirement.

How do we balance these two conflicting concerns?

Imagine this scenario; you've worked your entire life, but you're ready to retire. So you retire with what you think is the perfect portfolio to get you through your retirement, but then the market takes an unexpected turn. What COULD that mean for your retirement situation? There are a couple of different scenarios we're going to play out as Sam Liang and Adam Blye discuss on this episode of After The Paycheck

Has {motions at everything happening in the world right now} have you thinking about pushing back your ideal retirement date?

If so, you aren't alone, people are feeling less confident now about how much they are saving for retirement, (Only 46% confident today compared to 58% prior to the pandemic)

And a landmark study released in August found that 39% of American workers, some 68 million in all, are changing the timing on when they plan to retire.

But is simply holding off your retirement date the best way to help improve your chances of a successful retirement?

What are some scenarios where a person would want to start taking social security benefits before full retirement age? In this episode of After The Paycheck, John and Adam cover:

- three scenarios in which a person may want to claim their social security benefits early

- what could be viewed as one HUGE con to those who do take their benefits too early

- a few examples of how there may be alternatives to how you look at your retirement income plan to make sure you are maximizing the benefits that you receive from social security!

Donor Advised Funds and Qualified Charitable Distributions are two ways that you can maximize your philanthropic impact, while benefiting from tax advantages that may help you in your retirement planning process.

Who would benefit from creating a DAF or a QCD? If you are someone who is thinking about their retirement planning needs and has ever thought and of any (or maybe ALL) of the following:

"I'm thinking about my retirement, and I would like to spend more time giving back in the future" "I want to leave behind some sort of personal or family charitable legacy" "I'm always looking for ways to reduce my taxes"

Then setting up a DAF or QCD may be of interest to you - neither of these are REQUIRED to be part of your retirement planning process, but as your concerns and/or lifestyles change in retirement, you might be motivated to make some changes to your retirement plan and it is always good to know that this is an option.

Have you considered these factors to understand how much you'll need in retirement:

How long will you be retired for? (Are you planning to retire at 60, and live to age 80? What happens if you make to 81, 82...83???)

What are inflation numbers going to look like when you retire - or 5 years, 10 years, or more in to your retirement?

Are you confident that you'll be able to live off the interest that your retirement accounts will generate in retirement? (There's no way another 2001, 2008, or March of 2020 will happen again...right?!?)

In this episode of After The Paycheck, Sam and Adam focus on determining what the best options of withdrawing money from your retirement accounts should be when considering these issues

Why are there different "markets" discussed in the news, and how do they pertain to people's ACTUAL retirement accounts?

What does it mean for you today if you are:

- in cash

- left your portfolio alone

or if you went to a more conservative mix in your portfolio?

In the episode, Ryan and Adam discuss:

- What are the different types of “markets” the financial industry professionals refer to for economic & financial growth (S&P 500, NASDAQ, Dow Jones)

- How these markets may or may not have an effect on your specific retirement accounts

- Why understanding this information will help you in your retirement planning journey

In this episode of after the paycheck, John Conley and Adam discuss a few hypothetical situations and what to do if you are in one of these situations:

- You HAVE been let go from your job and were planning to retire in the next 5 years

- Your company offers you a pension buy out today, but you were hoping to work for another 3-4 more years

- You want to know what are some things to do TODAY to help shield yourself from a sudden loss of income in the future

Navigating job loss when nearing retirement