4 Unexpected Challenges You’ll Face If You Hope To Retire in 2025
Written by
Joel Lim
Edited by
Amber Barkley
Commitment to Our Readers
GOBankingRates' editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services - our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines and our products and services review methodology.
20 Years
Helping You Live Richer
Reviewed
by Experts
Trusted by
Millions of Readers
Will 2025 be your year to retire? Well, maybe not. For many individuals who are considering wrapping up their professional careers soon, retirement could turn out to be much more complicated than they might think.
While the practice of saving up is important, several unforeseen factors may throw your plans off if you hope to retire in the year 2025. This is a list of the most important challenges you will likely face.
Rising Healthcare Costs
The issue of health care in the years approaching retirement is often the hardest to sort out. Fidelity found that the average 65-year-old will need approximately $165,000 — after taxes — of retirement savings only for healthcare-related expenses, which many Americans simply do not have.
Much worse is that healthcare costs are rising faster than overall inflation. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimate that national healthcare expenditures will increase at an average rate of 5.6% every year from 2023 to 2032.
This means that even as soon as 2025, a lot of the healthcare-related savings that retirees had in mind would be prices of the past and not the future.
To plan for these risks, you need to plan for the rising costs in your retirement budget and save at least $165,000 for just healthcare expenses.
Inflation and Cost of Living
In 2022, inflation reached a rate of 9.1%. For retirees, this means that everything in your savings has decreased in value by a substantial amount. Even basic commodities like food, electricity and transportation costs are higher, pinching those with a tight retirement budget.
This high inflation environment means retirement plans may need to be delayed as things become so much more expensive. Further, while Social Security benefits are inflation-indexed, they do not keep pace with inflation increases.
For example, in 2022, Social Security benefits received a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 5.9%, which was substantially less than inflation, which was 9.1% in June of the same year. This led to discontent among retirees, many of whom lived on these benefits without further assistance.
Market Volatility and Economic Uncertainty
Those nearing retirement age are particularly vulnerable to the volatility associated with the stock market. Also in 2022, the S&P 500 Index decreased by 19.4%, which, judging by historical data, was the worst performance since 2008.
In particular, if you choose to retire at the same time as a bear market sets in, sequence-of-returns risk comes into play. This is the risk of withdrawing from your savings and slashing them while the market plummets.
Uncertainty in the economy goes hand in hand with the stock market and bonds, which are usually regarded as conservative, safe securities. Higher interest rates have shrunk bond prices, which creates problems for retirees whose only stable income is from bonds.
It is important to have a diversification strategy to survive any market shocks, especially if you’re about to retire.
Social Security Uncertainty
Social Security is an important source of income for most retirees. But the future of that program is iffy. According to the Social Security Administration 2023 Trustees Report, by 2034, reserves could be depleted and benefits cut to only 77% of the promised benefit level.
So, if you’re eyeing 2025 as your retirement date, plan to receive much less in Social Security payouts within the next decade.
While the program is unlikely to completely go away, future generations of retirees could face great pressure to rely more on personal savings and other sources of income to support themselves.
This uncertainty complicates retirement planning, so it is important to have a solid financial plan where you do not solely rely on Social Security.
More From GOBankingRates
