Once we reach age 50, most of us feel as though we have our careers on track and our finances in check. But what about your retirement plan? Are you building toward a secure future, or do some areas of your financial life still need some work? Ask yourself the following six questions to assess where you are now, and where you need to go in the following decade.

Do you know what to expect from Social Security? Go to ssa.gov and establish a personal account. From there, you can review your earnings history and receive an estimate of future benefits. You do still have ten or more years left in your career, and if those are high-earning years you could grow your estimated benefit even more.

Do I contribute the maximum amount to my retirement fund each year? Hopefully you’re making the maximum contribution to your 401(k) each year, and reaping the associated tax benefits. If not, try cutting your budget a bit so that you can increase your contribution rate a little each year.

Have you investigated additional retirement savings opportunities? If you’ve reached the maximum contribution each year, now you can begin to make additional “catch-up” contributions to your 401(k). You could also open and fund an IRA, to build even more savings for the future.

Have you paid down debts? Or are your debts at least manageable? At this point, your debts should feel manageable, and you have a plan to become debt-free before retirement. If not, consider debt counseling or consolidation so that you can get this area of your finances under control.

Do you read your 401(k) statements? Do you keep up with the earnings in your account? And what are you paying in fees? There are ways to reduce fees, if you feel like you’re losing too much money that way.

What are your goals for retirement? In order to plan for a happy retirement, you should know what you want from those years! Schedule an appointment with us, so that we can discuss your goals. Then we will estimate your future spending and help you make a retirement income plan to support those dreams.