Financial education helps people learn about savings, credit, and loans. It also helps prepare for life changes and the unexpected. Financial knowledge is an important part of retirement planning - so how prepared are adults in the United States for their retirement?

Jack Myers with Social Security explains the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) conducts polls on how retirement savings affect people’s financial well-being. In a poll conducted during the pandemic, 85% of respondents confirmed that some aspect of their personal finances was causing them stress. 

Myers has seen other polls regarding retirement savings that suggest Americans are behind when it comes to saving for retirement. He believes it is fair to say that saving for retirement and financial well-being in general are significant sources of stress. Much of that is due to uncertainty and lack of financial education.

The Social Security website has some great information to help you learn about the Social Security portion of your retirement plan. Myers indicates Social Security benefits shouldn’t be your only form of income in retirement but for most people, they are an important part of your retirement plan. 

Through your mySocialSecurity account at www.ssa.gov you can find personalized estimates of what your retirement benefits will be at different ages. 

Myers says you can even see how additional years of earnings will affect those benefits if you are considering different retirement dates. You’ll also learn about whether or not you’ll have to pay federal income taxes on your retirement benefits and how working after you start collecting your benefits will affect them.