RETIREMENT SECURITY BLANKET
This week’s article tells us that “One of the biggest fears among retirees and soon-to-be retirees today is that they will outlive their retirement savings. With life expectancies in developed countries at unprecedented highs, this is a justified concern. Many senior citizens will live to see their eighties and nineties, but they may have only saved enough to fund a lifetime equivalent to their own parents’ – perhaps up to their late seventies. Thus, the demand for a retirement “security blanket” is high.” Call us if you are interested in learning more about using an annuity to help fund your retirement. We’re always here to help.
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LET’S LOOK BACK TO LOOK FORWARD
As we come to the end of the year I thought to share with you a group of articles that I have found to be informative, each of them reflecting on different issues relating to planning for retirement that you may want to reflect on. Ranging from “11 Money Lies to Stop Telling Yourself” to “20 Things You Can Learn From Your Parents’ Retirement”, you will find pointers that may help you. Call us if you would like to discuss any of the ideas you read about. We are always here to help.
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IF YOU LIVE LONGER
“Imagine sitting down on the day of your retirement to plan your financial future. You know what your annual expenses have been and you want to maintain your current standard of living. So, you consult a recent mortality table and find that if you’ve made it to your 65th birthday, you can expect to live to 85 years old. You perform a little calculation and find that, together with your Social Security monthly payments, you have just enough savings to maintain your current standard of living and spend all of your savings and future expected earnings by the time you die at the age of 85. But what if you live longer?” This and other questions are addressed in great detail in this week’s article. We have some ideas of options that might be available to you which address the ‘if you live longer’ question. Call us, we’re always here to help.
A STREAM OF CONSUMPTION IN RETIREMENT
This week’s article states that “Individuals engaged in financial planning for retirement have no shortage of resources available to provide guidance on how much to save and how to invest those savings. If one does a Google search on the term “retirement planning,” the lion’s share of the over 1.2 million hits appear to guide one to websites that discuss various features of the saving and investment decisions. Given the dominant focus on saving and investment, the typical worker could be forgiven for believing that “retirement planning” is synonymous with “wealth accumulation.” While wealth accumulation is an important ingredient in any financial plan, it is not sufficient to ensure financial well-being in retirement. A particularly glaring shortcoming of the focus on wealth accumulation is that it fails to consider how one’s assets will be converted into a stream of consumption in retirement.” Call us if you are looking for options that provide a stream of income in retirement that you can’t outlive. We’re always here to help.
DEFINED BENEFIT OR DEFINED CONTRIBUTION
This week’s article, found in an issue of the Harvard Business Review, was of interest to me because it described very simply the difference between and shift from Defined Benefit retirement plans to Defined Contribution plans and it discussed that “more dangerous yet is the shift in focus away from retirement income to return on investment that has come with the introduction of saver-managed defined contribution plans”. We have always liked products that provide an income in retirement that you can’t outlive. If that is something of interest to you, give us a call and we can tell you about some options that may be available. We’re always here to help.
SUCCULENT SAVINGS
After what I hope was a hearty Thanksgiving day meal, I thought you would enjoy this article which suggests that you “consider throwing a new recipe onto your menu. Ingredients like contributions to an employer sponsored 401(k) program or to fixed indexed annuities can create a deliciously balanced portfolio that can keep you and your family financially full for many Thanksgivings to come.” Call us if you’d like to explore what ingredients are needed to make this “recipe” for you and your family. We are always here to help.
ALWAYS LEARNING
I read an article this week that was directed toward teachers who were revisiting their retirement plan “for when they are no longer lesson planning.” One section of the article in particular caught my eye because it addressed in a very simple way two topics that we always discuss with our clients who purchase Fixed Indexed Annuities, how you don’t lose your principal, and how you do make money. The article states “An FIA uses a unique formula to calculate annual interest based in part on the performance of a stock, bond or commodity index. While the index is used as a benchmark, you don’t actually invest in it—FIAs do not directly participate in any stock or equity investments. Different FIAs will also apply other limitations in determining how much of the index change to credit as interest. These limitations are called caps and participation rates.” Call us if you would like to discuss this further. We’re always here to help.
HARD TO UNDERSTAND YOUR EMPLOYER PLANS?
Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it is difficult to understand if changes in our employer pension plans are actually advantageous to us. That’s why I thought you might want to read this week’s article taken from the Harvard Business Review. It explains a few concepts that might help you to put into perspective your employer’s retirement plan. It discusses as “more dangerous yet [is] the shift in focus away from retirement income to return on investment”. Call us if you would like to discuss options for retirement income. We’re always here to help.
STRUGGLING TO SAVE
“Why do you think Americans struggle to save for retirement?” This was one of the questions posed to an retirement expert in this week’s article. His response was “If I told you that people spend more time planning their yearly family vacation than they do planning their nearly 20 years of retirement, would that surprise you?” Perhaps one of the reasons this happens is that we just don’t readily know the perfect answer. How do we accomplish this goal that each year seems harder and harder to attain? Call us, we’re here to help and look forward to speaking with you and to discussing with you options you may not have thought about.
RETIREMENT IQ
This week’s article takes a close look at “new research that shows a startlingly low retirement IQ” Staying informed and being educated are important and so I thought to share with you three tips to saving for retirement that are mentioned in the article: begin saving early, factor your savings into your budget, and contribute to your employer’s retirement plan. Call us if you’d like to discuss how to implement these ideas, and to discuss options that can help to incorporate guaranteed lifetime income into your retirement plan. We’re always here to help.