Trim costs

If Social Security is where you’ll be getting your money from in retirement, then it’s crucial that you draft a spending plan and stick to it. Reducing your expenses in retirement is important as other unexpected costs might show up. You don’t want to barely be able to make ends meet, do you?

To prevent that from happening, “start with the highest-impact expenses, such as home and car costs, then move down the list,” recommends Dustyn Ferguson, creator of DimeWillTell. This way, you will be able to assess how much these high-impact expenses will affect your retirement budget and take the necessary steps in due time.

Read also: 11 Ways to Improve Your Finances Before You Retire

Research benefits

If your income is lower in retirement, you can search and apply for one of the national benefits programs created to help lower-income retirees. There are more than 2,500 such programs that help seniors to pay for important costs such as housing, medication, healthcare, and taxes, says Drew Kellerman of Phase 2 Wealth Advisors.

To make the search for such programs easier for seniors, the National Council on Aging has developed a nonprofit website called BenefitsCheckUp. Do your research there and find out how you can get financial help, if needed.