Articles Tagged ‘retirement planning’
Retirement Planning Advice for Boomers
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015
Very large numbers of “baby boomers” (people born in the post-World War II baby boom from 1946 to 1964) have started reaching retirement age. Some of these individuals have accumulated large nest eggs, while others may be significantly underfunded.
Regardless of a person’s individual situation, the chances are good that virtually every person approaching retirement understands that they need to make sound financial decisions in order to put themselves in the best financial shape. Even with such a wide range of financial scenarios, there are still some retirement concepts that apply to virtually everyone.
Here is some retirement planning...
Pros and Cons of a Roth IRA
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
When saving for retirement there are many choices to make. One of those choices is to decide between a Roth IRA and a Traditional IRA. Both have their distinct advantages and disadvantages. A Roth IRA offers lots of significant benefits, including flexibility on distributions and withdrawals.
Unfortunately, some people choose one of the other based on misinformation. Before deciding if a Roth IRA is better, or a Traditional IRA is the way to go, it’s important to know how to compare the two. Then you can begin to ask yourself the questions that matter and impact your present...
The Three Biggest Retirement Planning Myths
Wednesday, October 29th, 2014
There is plenty of good information about retirement out there to help you identify your priorities, set realistic goals for yourself, and come up with a plan for achieving those goals. It can take a bit of time to research in order to find those resources, but rest assured that you’re not alone when planning for retirement.
Unfortunately, there is also a lot of unhelpful or even harmful information out there as well. This misinformation about retirement can cause you great setbacks on your path to retirement, and make it harder for you to reach your goals.
Here are three...
Are You Ready for the Real Health Costs in Retirement?
Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
How much of your retirement nest egg have you accumulated to cover health care costs during your later years? According to a recent study, the average 65-year-old couple retiring in 2013 would need approximately $220,000 to cover their medical expenses throughout retirement. For the most part, this figure has increased steadily over the past decade.
As uncertainty continues to loom in the business and political aspects of the health care industry, it’s unlikely that this figure will decrease significantly in the coming years. Furthermore, this figure is only an average, so your expenses may be much higher if you...
Success Secrets from Early Retirees
Thursday, May 22nd, 2014
From time to time we hear about individuals and couples who seem to have hit the jackpot: not in the literal sense of having won the lottery, but having figured out a way to retire at age 55, or maybe 50, or perhaps even younger than that.
At first glance this might seem too good to be true. After all, many of these early retirees spend their working years at jobs and careers that aren’t particularly high paying. How is it possible that these people can retire after spending fewer years in the workforce than the average worker.
Here are...
Should You Take a Retirement Test Drive?
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014
It’s a fairly common practice for some people that before they make a major purchase, they do whatever they can to try things out first. Sometimes this is literally a “test drive,” as one would do before buying a new automobile. Some individuals might even try to rent a home in a new neighborhood before committing to move there and buy one.
This same “test drive” concept can even be applied to various types of life decisions as well. For example, some young couples choose to live together before deciding whether or not to get married. You can even...
Pension Decision #1 – Lump Sum or Monthly Payments?
Thursday, April 24th, 2014
If you have a pension that you’ll be able to draw upon during retirement, then there’s a good chance that you’re in a better financial position with respect to retirement than many others. The more sources you have to draw upon for retirement income; not just pensions, but also Social Security benefits, as well as your IRA and 401(k) accounts; the better.
But many pensions provide their beneficiaries with a choice on how to receive their benefits: either to receive monthly payments for the rest of their lives, or to receive a single lump sum as soon as they retire.
...
5 Steps for a Retirement Savings Tune-Up
Tuesday, March 25th, 2014
Like any other personal finance goal, getting to retirement with a healthy nest egg requires long-term planning and effort. But the plan you might have come up with early in adulthood might no longer be the best way for you to reach your retirement savings goals.
It’s important to remember that you need to revisit your long-term financial plans from time to time, and make changes to that plan if necessary. Fortunately, you may not need to start over from scratch – instead, you simply may need a retirement savings tune-up.
Here in some retirement advice on five steps...