The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies recently released its latest finding from their annual “Current State of Retirement” survey. The survey actually interviews 2 sets of people: those age 50+ who are still working and retirees. In both sets, the number one retirement fear was outliving savings and investments. In fact, the top 4 fears center around not having enough funds in retirement, whether because of higher costs (mainly because of healthcare) or lack of income (either from reductions in Social Security or not having enough savings).

Juxtapose those fears with this statistic: Only one in three Americans in their 50s has ever tried to plan for retirement, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study. And a third of those who try to plan admit that they either gave up or failed miserably. The result: Barely 20 percent of pre-retirees have a useful plan for retirement. No wonder outliving savings is the number one concern.

I am a firm believer of the phrase “forewarned is forearmed,” which is one of the reason why I chose to specialize in retirement planning. Though it may not solve all retirement ills, taking the time to plan and continuing to monitor that plan’s progress is absolutely a big key to retirement security. You don’t want to wing it, because then fears like declining health and reductions in Social Security may become a bigger problem.