Pete the Planner’s advice for Gen X’s retirement dilemmas

Coming after the baby boomers, Generation X is often referred to as “the forgotten generation,” the self-reliant generation and perhaps the last free-range generation. Today, you certainly could argue that it's  becoming the financial-panic generation. The first Gen Xers hit the workforce right around the time pensions gave way to 401(k) accounts with self-directed invested assets. Recent studies indicate that Gen Xers who have retirement accounts have saved on average somewhere in the neighborhood of $180,000. That’s well below the $1 million popularly seen as the minimum requirement for beginning a comfortable retirement. (Of course, the ability to sustain income in retirement depends a lot on your spending habits and the quality of life you try to pursue.) Nearly 50% of Gen Xers don’t even have a retirement plan, according to asset management firm Schroders. So IBJ Podcast host Mason King began compiling some of the most common questions his fellow Gen Xers ask about pending retirement or, if need be, semiretirement. For example, when is the best time to start taking Social Security, especially given that it’s headed for a funding deficit early next decade? What exactly do you do with your 401k funds once you retire? And what should you start doing today if your retirement savings are in the five figures or low six figures? In this week's episode of the IBJ Podcast, columnist Pete the Planner weighs in on the big questions for Gen X and warns against a common strategy for diversifying portfolios that King thought was genius.