How to ensure you don't outlive your retirement savings

Over half of Americans over the age of 50 are concerned they'll end up outliving their retirement savings, Kiplinger reported, based on a recent survey from nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® and Transamerica Institute®. In fact, just 17% of Americans within this age group feel "very confident that they can maintain a comfortable lifestyle in retirement," Kiplinger wrote.

Understandably, the unpredictable nature of both the economy and your health can make it hard to know for sure whether you've saved the right amount for retirement. Even still, there are steps you can take to ensure you've saved enough, so you can enjoy your golden years rather than spending them stressing.

Be realistic about how much you'll need in retirement

While saving any amount in a tax-advantaged retirement account is a good thing, it's even better if you're working toward a defined goal. “Your retirement number can basically be your signal that you’ve saved enough money to comfortably last you 20 to 30 years while you’re no longer working,” CNBC explained.

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To figure out your retirement number, it's first necessary to determine how much you'll spend each year in retirement, taking into account costs like "rent or mortgage payments, health care and long-term care costs, groceries, transportation, travel expenses, and pet care (if you plan to have a pet)," per CNBC.

From there, figure out how much money you'll get through federal benefits, such as Social Security. You'll then subtract that amount from your projected annual expenses. After that, "you’ll just multiply that out-of-pocket amount by 25," with the end result being "the amount of money you should aim to save before you retire."

Have a strategy in place for making withdrawals

Another important calculation is figuring out how much you can withdraw from your retirement each year without prematurely draining your funds. There are a number of rules of thumb you can use to figure this out. CNN suggests the following: 

• "Percent of portfolio" withdrawal strategy: With this approach, take out "4% or 5% of your portfolio every year no matter what.” For example, "say you choose 5% and have a starting portfolio of $1 million. If the portfolio falls to $800,000, your annual withdrawal drops from $50,000 to $40,000. If the portfolio grows to $1.2 million, it increases from $50,000 to $60,000."  
• 4% rule: This rule, which is among the best known, suggests withdrawing 4% of the total amount of your portfolio for the first year of retirement. Each year after that, you'll adjust the amount you withdraw for inflation. "If you have $1 million, you withdraw $40,000" in the first year, and then if in the second year "there’s 3% inflation, you withdraw $41,200.”

Consider guidance from a financial adviser

If you're not feeling confident about how you'll fund your retirement, just remember you don't have to figure it out on your own. Not only might getting professional advice soothe your anxieties, it can also help you ensure you've set things up so your retirement savings aren't gone before you are. “Financial professionals can usually do more complex calculations and projections for you,” wrote CNBC, “and they may be able to point out oversights in your plan and offer alternatives."