Are financial planners being honest about retirement?
I don’t think any of those three assumptions are necessarily true or false. Some people may not want to work any more after they leave their current career; others may want to work in a much less stressful job (or work part-time, or for a charity for far lower wages). In general, you don’t need as much income in retirement (primarily because you’re not investing for your retirement anymore and because your tax burden is lower). But my retirement advisor got this right; so not all advisors lie about it. Social Security may or may not be there. If you’re 62 today, it probably will be there. If you’re 22, maybe not. In all likelihood, given the political sensitivity of the topic, it probably will still be there, but in a diminished form of its current incarnation. I don’t plan to get Social Security (I’m 35), but I suspect there will be some benefit when I’m 30 years older. A good financial planner will ask you about how you feel about retirement and will treat the uncertanties as variabl
