You’re Not Too Late: 4 Ways to Catch Up on Retirement

If you feel behind on retirement planning, I want to start with something important. Feeling behind does not automatically mean you're actually behind. A lot of people reach their 40s, 50s, even early 60s and think I should have started earlier or I missed my window. In fact, a recent Bankrate survey found that 57% of American workers say they feel behind on their retirement savings and more than a third say they feel significantly behind. And most of the time it's not because someone did something wrong. It's because life happened. Careers, kids, moves a lot of competing priorities. Mike Pappas here, CFP professional and the head of support at Bolden Feeling behind does not mean you're out of options, and it does not mean you need the perfect plan or a long list of strategies. What actually matters is focusing on a small number of choices that tend to move the numbers in a meaningful way in your retirement plan. That's what this video is about. In the next few minutes, I'm going to walk you through four practical ways you may be able to catch up and improve your retirement outlook. The first choice is saving more while you still can. And before anyone checks out. This isn't about perfection or maxing every account, although if you can, that's great. The retirement system is actually designed to let you save more as you get older. Once you hit age 50, contribution limits increase and many people who feel behind are still under using those higher limits. Just to put real numbers on this, for 2026, if you have a 401k, 403b or TSP, you can contribute $24,500 plus an $8,000 catch up if you're age 50 or over for a total contribution of $32,500. And if you're between ages 60 and 63, some plans allow what's called a super catch up. That higher catch up is up to $11,250 in 2026, bringing the total up to $35,750 if your plan allows it. For IRAs, you can contribute $7,500 plus a $1,100 catch up if you're age 50 or over for a total of $8,600. And if you're eligible for a Health Savings Account or hsa, that can be one of the most powerful tax advantage tools. You can contribute up to $4,400 for self only coverage plus a $1,000 catch up if you're age 55 or older. Or you can contribute up to $8,750 for family coverage plus a $1,000 Catch up. If you're age 55 or older now, you may not be able to max out all of these right away. Like I said earlier, if you can, that's fantastic. But what matters is raising your savings rate. Saving a bit more each year consistently is better than feeling overwhelmed and not changing anything. Stick with me, because in a few minutes I'll walk through a real example in Bolden so you can see how just increasing savings can materially change the outcome of your retirement plan. If saving more feels hard, it's usually because cash flow feels tight. Which brings us to the second choice. This isn't about cutting everything or becoming a hardcore budgeter. It's about auditing your spending so you understand where your money is going and whether it still lines up with the life you want to build. This is a short, intentional exercise, not exactly something you need to do every week, not something you obsess over. But most people are surprised by what they find when they step back and look at spending through a few simple lenses. Instead of asking, what do I need to give up? You're asking what am I paying for? That doesn't really matter to me anymore. One of the most helpful ways to do this is separating spending into two buckets. Must spend expenses or things that are truly non negotiable and like to spend expenses or things that are choices even if they become routine. In Bolden, this is where the detailed budgeter is really helpful because you can set your must spend baseline and then build your like to spend version on top of it, adjusting certain categories higher, like travel expenses, for example, to see the impact. That distinction alone can be eye opening, and it's important to remember that spending priorities change by life phase. What made sense five or ten years ago may not make sense today, and what feels essential today may look different in retirement. Once you understand your spending, especially looking forward, it becomes much easier to free up cash flow and redirect it towards what actually matters. And that's what makes saving more possible in the first place. The third choice is using time to your advantage. Working longer is not failure, it's a strategy. Even a small shift in timing can matter because time does a few powerful things at once. You get more earning years and more time to save. You shorten the number of years your plan needs to support you and you create flexibility across the entire plan. And for a lot of people, more time does not mean working full time forever. It might look like staying in your current role one or two extra years. Shifting to part time work Consulting or bridge work during the early retirement years to cover discretionary spending like travel, for example. And it's not just about the money. Research from Harvard Health has found that working later in life can boost self esteem and happiness and help protect against age related issues like cognitive decline and physical inactivity. For many people, continuing to work in some form provides structure, social connection and a sense of purpose. Your mileage may vary, of course, but the point is this time isn't just a math lover, it's also a well being lever. If you're feeling behind, using time intentionally can be one of the cleanest ways to create breathing room in your plan. The fourth consideration is rethinking what you already own. This one may often get overlooked because it feels emotional, not financial. But for many of you, it may be one of the biggest drivers of retirement outcomes. For most households, home equity is their largest asset and it's often not fully accounted for. When people say they feel behind, that doesn't mean you need to sell your home tomorrow. It means asking a better question, does this asset still support the life I want in the next chapter in my retirement plan? If the answer is no, it may be worth exploring what a change could look like and how it might create more flexibility in your plan. For some people, that means downsizing. For others, it might mean relocating later to a more tax friendly state. For others, it's recognizing that home equity can serve as a backup plan you could tap if markets are down, expenses spike or life throws a curveball. What matters most, again, is flexibility. Planning ahead lets you think in phases. The home that works at 55 or 60 may not be the home you want or need at 75 or 80. And that's okay. When you model different housing paths, you may be surprised by how much optionality you already have. Not because you suddenly found new money, but because you started counting assets you may have previously ignored. This is why looking at the full financial picture is so important. Let's take a quick look in Bolden to see how pulling one of these levers can impact a retirement plan. Here's Michael and Diana's baseline plan. Michael is currently 50, Diana is 52. They're each contributing 8% of their income to their 401ks and planning to retire at age 65. It's the savings rate they picked years ago and never revisited. Right now, their plan shows a 75% retirement chance of success. That's a solid score, but it still leaves them feeling uneasy and uncertain about their future retirement. So they decided to change one variable here, and they created an alternate scenario titled increased 401k contributions. They decided to look at their savings rate. After auditing their spending, they realized they had room to save much more. Michael increased his contribution to 20% and set it to rise 1% per year until it hits 25%. Meanwhile, Diana increased her contribution rate to 15% and set it to rise 1 percent per year until it reaches 20%. Everything else stays the same. Same retirement age, same investment returns, same spending, same home. Now watch what happens to their retirement chance of success. It moved from 75% in their baseline plan to 81%. No magic assumptions. No higher rates of return, no lifestyle overhaul. Just a decision to direct more of today's income toward future security. This is why focusing on the variables you control matters so much. If you feel behind, chances are you simply haven't seen what one realistic intentional change can do until you model it. So if you're feeling behind, here's what I want you to take away from all of this. You don't need to drastically change your plan or life. And you don't need to start making a list of 20 strategies you're going to try to get back on track. What tends to matter most is focusing on a small number of choices that actually move the numbers. Saving more while you still can. Auditing your spending so you can reprioritize. Using time to your advantage. Rethinking what you already own like your home. You don't have to do all four here. Start with the one that feels most practical for you right now. Once that chain sticks, momentum tends to follow. If you want to explore these choices using your real numbers, that's exactly what the bold and planner is built for. And I'm curious which of these feels most actionable for you right now, or if you've already taken action on one of them? How did it impact your retirement plan? Let us know in the comments if this video was helpful. Subscribe for more guidance on planning your retirement with confidence and I'll see you here again soon. Happy planning.