Two things you need to do before investing in retirement

Building sufficient retirement savings remains a significant financial challenge for many Americans. Personal finance expert and co-host of Smart Money Happy Hour George Kamel joins Wealth! to discuss common mistakes and offer advice for individuals looking to build their retirement savings. Kamel suggests that before investing, individuals should first focus on eliminating consumer debt “because it’s robbing your ability to invest.” His second recommendation is to establish a fully funded emergency fund covering 3-6 months of expenses. Only after completing these two steps, he says, “then your ready to invest,” advocating for allocating 15% of income towards retirement. Kamel also identifies several common retirement planning mistakes, including insufficient savings, investing in stocks with inadequate returns or excessive risk, lack of portfolio diversification, and starting retirement investments too late in life.