If it seems like commentators are “piling on” criticism to poor defenseless retirement calculators, they are. For example, check out this Forbes piece called “Retirement Income Calculators: Not Much Better Than Counting on Your Fingers?”
I commented on this as well back in January with my piece on “What’s Your Number? Six Reasons Retirement Calculators May Fail Individual Investors.”
Calculators are based on analytics, algorithms, etc., developed by real people and real organizations. So, if they’re next to worthless, at least according to the commentators, what’s wrong with these people and organizations?
My answer is an old cliché, “If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
In other words, if all you do is manage money, then every solution is about managing money, whether there are other answers or not.
Another article I read was from MarketWatch called “This common delusion can wreck your lifestyle in retirement.”
The delusion the article refers to is the assumption by individuals that, when they retire, they will be debt-free. Yet, the reality is that 8 in 10 Baby Boomers retire with some amount of debt they’re still paying off.
To be honest, I think most pre-retirees pretty much know their debt situation and so I don’t think it really comes as a surprise to them.
What one has to do is recognize the situation, carry the debt in the most efficient manner, and account for paying it off when they build their retirement income plans.
One possible solution would be to consider a reverse mortgage as an option to consolidate debts.