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Like many older Americans, Tom from Lancaster, Pennsylvania is approaching retirement with nothing saved.<\/p>\n
After witnessing his father die six months before retirement and suffering a heart attack himself, he went on a spending spree: \u201cI was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to live like it\u2019s my last,\u2019 because you just don\u2019t know,\u201d he told hosts of The Ramsey Show during a recent episode.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s where I fell into a trap.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, as Tom, 60, told the co-hosts, he\u2019s determined to dig his way out of this trap rapidly \u2014 and his game plan was a surprise even to them.<\/p>\n
Tom\u2019s family doesn\u2019t have a mortgage, so they will be debt-free after their consumer credit is paid off later this year. To maximize his chances of retiring in a few years, Tom intends to max out his retirement accounts \u2014 the 401(k) and Roth IRA.<\/p>\n
Ramsey Show co-host George Kamel recommends using the catch-up contribution room available to someone of this age. The IRS allows workers over the age of 50 to make additional contributions to their tax-advantaged retirement accounts every year.<\/p>\n
A gold IRA is one option for building up your retirement fund with an inflation-hedging asset.<\/p>\n
Opening a gold IRA with the help of Goldco<\/a> allows you to invest in gold and other precious metals in physical forms while also providing the significant tax advantages of an IRA.<\/p>\n With a minimum purchase of $10,000, Goldco offers free shipping and access to a library of retirement resources. Plus, the company will match up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re curious whether this is the right investment to diversify your portfolio, you can download your free gold and silver information guide today<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tom also intends to sell the family home and downsize to boost his chances. Downsizing has become more difficult in recent years, however, and only 5% of people over the age of 65 report moving between 2016 and 2021, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Read more: Rich, young Americans are ditching stocks \u2014 here are the alternative assets they’re banking on instead<\/a><\/p>\n Approaching retirement with debt instead of savings isn\u2019t unusual. U.S. Census data suggests that only 58.1% of baby boomers, older than 56, had at least one retirement account as of 2020. As for what\u2019s in those accounts, by 2022, thosesomeone aged between 55 and 64 had a median debt balance of $90,000, according to data from the Federal Reserve\u2019s Survey of Consumer Finances.<\/p>\n Story Continues <\/p>\n Even Tom\u2019s spending spree after an existential crisis isn\u2019t unusual, with 27% of American adults now \u201cdoom spending,\u201d according to a survey by Intuit\u2019s Credit Karma. Dreadful news about home affordability, inflation, geopolitics and climate change areis impacting the way Americans save and spend.<\/p>\n What is unusual is Tom\u2019s determination to retire by 65. While the average age of retirement in the U.S. is 61, Tom\u2019s lack of savings and debt totalling $26,000 will make it challenging for him to retire comfortably, to say the least.<\/p>\n If you want to pay downget a hold of your debt before nearing retirement, you should consider consolidating your debt.<\/p>\n However hard it will be, Tom isn\u2019t waving the white flag yet. Instead, he\u2019s determined to get back on track.<\/p>\n After paying off debt, Tom believes his family will have excess cash available to start saving. He has a plan in place, but called The Ramsey Show to find out where he should invest his savings to get the most returns.<\/p>\n One way you can start to incorporate savings automatically into your daily spending habits is through Acorns<\/a>.<\/p>\n Acorns is an automated investing app that invests the leftover change from your everyday purchases into a diversified portfolio of ETFs. Acorns automatically rounds up the price of your purchase to the nearest dollar and deposits the difference into a smart investment portfolio for you, allowing you to grow your wealth without even thinking about it.<\/p>\n It takes less than five minutes to sign up \u2013 all you have to do is link your cards and start spending as usual.<\/p>\n Sign up now and you\u2019ll get a bonus $20 investment<\/a>.<\/p>\n