I've never been very keen on going to the dentist. As important as I believe dental hygiene to be, I've come to associate my visits with the dentist with bad things: some level of discomfort, perhaps even pain, a flossing lecture from the hygienist, at the very least. Most of which is readily avoided by doing the things I know I should be doing regularly – brushing, flossing, a better diet.
And knowing that I haven't done what I should have been doing, I have good reason to believe that my visit to the dentist will be a negative experience – and so I put it off.
However, it's not as though the postponement makes the situation any better; if anything, the delay makes the eventual "confrontation" with reality worse. That's what retirement planning is like for many: They know they should be saving, know that they should be saving more, but, despite the encouragement of plan sponsors and advisors, they hesitate to go through the process of a retirement needs calculation because they are leery of the "pain" of going through the exercise itself, or perhaps even afraid that their checkup will confirm their lack of attentiveness to their fiscal health.
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And, as those who work with these plans know, like the postponed dental visit, putting it off not only does nothing to rectify the situation, the passage of time (without action) may even allow the situation to worsen.
Indeed, the Retirement Confidence Survey has previously found that workers who have done a retirement needs calculation tend to be considerably more confident about their ability to save the amount needed for a financially comfortable retirement than those who have not done so, despite the fact that those doing a calculation tend to cite higher retirement savings goals.
As February draws to a close, we'll commemorate America Saves Week, an annual opportunity for organizations, employers, and advisors to promote good savings behavior and a chance for individuals
Both those who participate in a workplace retirement plan, and those who don't, to assess their own saving status. Not because saving is something you should do once a year, or that reconsidering your financial goals and progress is well-suited to a particular week on the calendar, but because it IS something that should be done regularly in order to be effective.
Over time, I have found that when I make (and keep) regular dentist appointments, those visits are much less painful, and considerably less stressful than the times when I have gone "too long" between appointments.
It's a good time to remind the individuals you work with that regular savings checkups – like those inspired by events like America Saves Week – can be a lot less "painful" than they might think.
You can assess your savings plan at http://www.americasavesweek.org/for-individuals/assess-your-savings-progress
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