Let’s Talk About Retirement

Josh Neumann asked:


Retirement finance planning is one of the most important activities you will ever engage in. Quite simply, if you don’t know where the money is coming from once you’ve finished working, you won’t have a very enjoyable later life.

Various occupations have different retirement ages. There might be several reasons behind a person’s retirement. Retirement surely brings significant changes in the life style of concerned person.

Gone are the days when retirement symbolizes getting older. Retired young and early is current trend.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of people get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of their daily lives that they don’t even consider having a retirement plan until it’s too late. This is one of the primary reasons that, according to the social security administration, 95% of people in the world today are either dead or dead broke by the time they hit retirement; a simply lack of planning.

Employers and employees both need to begin planning for this important event. Retirement plan service companies give a variety of choices to help employers and their employees find the best option for them in planning for their retirement.

Retirement planning services companies will help you to map out and achieve your long term goals, and formulate a way to get there. Many of these companies provide seminars to give you more info on the topic.

These agencies all have a lot of experience in planning for retirement, and they should be an essential part of your retirement planning. Each client is presented with a written financial plan and is assisted with the implementation of the selected plan.

For the purpose of pre-retirement planning, a retirement planning services company uses sophisticated planning models, research databases and comprehensive data gathering techniques. Every client receives a financial asset allocation and lifetime income protection plan.

Some retirement planning services help clients with more than 15 years of business experience, in their mid-career planning. They also assist clients in making the right financial and investment decisions, including debt reduction strategies and in projecting future retirement income needs.

Retirement planning service companies are members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and are registered investment advisors. Retirement plan services have simplified the process of selecting a retirement plan and planning out investment decisions.

Of course, before meeting with these companies to help you, you need to know your retirement goals and what they will cost you, so that you can plan your investing activities accordingly. Very simply, without knowing this info, your meeting times will not be very productive.

While you are figuring out your projected expenses, make use of a retirement planning calculator, which is a device designed specifically to help you figure out how much cash you will need when you are done working. These machines are readily available via the web.

Finally, a very popular plan you might want to consider is the Pinchot Plan for Retirement. While the specifics are far out of the scope of this article, this is a very popular plan that more and more peopele are utilizing nowadays, and you certainly would be wise to at least consider it. Hopefully these retirement and finance planning tips will help you achieve your goals for your golden years, and live the life of your dreams.



DINA

Shelby Smith asked:


Many of you are in the red zone right before retirement, or you’ve already retired. No doubt your number one fear is running out of money in retirement. You’re part of a very large and growing demographic force: 35 million over age 65, 50 million drawing Social Security and 78 million baby boomers now turning 62. This means the future demand for everything used by the “retirement set” will increase, and “retirement prices” will rise dramatically. Many of you may have accumulated a retirement nest egg in a pension account, will draw a company pension and/or have other savings and investments earmarked for retirement. Where should you keep your retirement money?

If you’re keeping up with economic and financial developments, here’s what you’re seeing: sub-prime credit meltdown that has destroyed housing and is now spilling over into automobile debt and credit cards; highly volatile stock and bond markets; a weak dollar fueling higher prices for oil and other goods; more unemployment and rising inflation; retail sales, consumer confidence and new jobs creation in sharp decline; drastic interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve to avoid a recession; a money giveaway stimulus package from Washington to prop up the lagging economy; widespread talk of recession and stagflation. These all add up to troubled economic times which should prompt you to review where you have your retirement money.

You’re told the stock market is the best long term, but “long term” has a different meaning in retirement. Didn’t the dot.com stock market meltdown in 2000-2002 send many retirees back to work and prevent others from retiring? Aren’t the current inflation-adjusted stock market indexes below their previous peaks? Regardless, the loud voices of Wall Street and investment companies are advising you to buy now at bargain prices. Are the markets headed higher or is their advice self-serving? Who can forecast the economy or the stock market?

If the stock market craters as it did in 2000-02 and 1973-74, and you lose some of your retirement money, how will you replace it? Since there will be no second chance, I encourage you to think carefully before you commit your money. If you’ve been told that you’ll do just fine over the longer run (generally meaning ten years), make sure you can wait this long for a market rebound. Also remember that a rebound is not certain!

What about fixed rate places like government bonds, bank CDs and money market accounts? These are rock-solid safe unless your greatest fear is outliving your money. Since current fixed rates are lower than inflation, you’ll be losing purchasing power with these choices. The potential loss of purchasing power will only add to the risk of outliving your money. What about real estate, collectibles and non-market investments? These are not only risky but generally illiquid. Before committing your retirement money, ask yourself this question: “How will I handle the worse case outcome?”

There is one savings place that offers an “opportunity” to make an above-market rate of return without the risk of loss if held to term. It is guaranteed by some of the world’s oldest, strongest and largest financial companies. The rate of return is determined by stock/bond market indexes with owners sharing in the upside potential but avoiding downside losses. The worse case outcome is a guaranteed positive rate of return. The earned interest is income tax deferred until actually withdrawn and there is no mandatory age when the money must be used. Additionally, it can be turned into a guaranteed lifetime income that can be started, stopped and stored. What’s more, it offers penalty-free partial liquidity for emergencies and bypasses probate if the owner names a beneficiary. It can be opened for a small or a large amount, and sometimes more money can be added later. There is no law which limits the amount of money that can be placed in it. It is truly a safe place to keep retirement money.

It is maligned by Wall Street and bankers because it competes with their products. The financial press doesn’t like it either - primarily because they are uninformed, misinformed or just plain biased. I’m talking about fixed index-linked annuities that are offered by insurance companies: the same companies that insure your home, live, health, business and other valuable assets. The worse case outcome is a positive, albeit small, rate of return if held to maturity, but there is an opportunity to do much better. Fixed index-linked annuities are not for everyone, but you need to consider them as one of your safe options for retirement money. Where are you keeping your retirement money in today’s uncertain and troubled economic climate? If in risky places, now is a great time to review your options.

Shelby J. Smith, Ph.D.

March 2008

Learn about safe money places - check out the Retirement Pros website http://www.theretirementpros.com/ I’m also doing free monthly video seminars online sign up at: http://www.theretirementpros.com/Tele-Seminar-MRM.php

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FAY

David Chazin asked:


Plan Today for Retirement Tomorrow

By David N. Chazin

In conjunction with Sagemark Consulting, a division of Lincoln Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor. Mr. Chazin is a regular contributor to PlannerConnect.

Planning and saving for retirement, like cleaning out the attic, may be something you figure you’ll get to later. But when “later” arrives at retirement age, you may not have the financial resources to enjoy your golden years.

Long gone are the days when you could expect the traditional sources of retirement income — Social Security and your company’s pension plan — to carry you through retirement. This is the result of several factors: inflation, longer life expectancies, company cutbacks of medical and pension benefits, and the rising age requirements for full social security benefits.

By taking an early and active role in planning for your retirement years, however, you can stay ahead of the game. Building up your personal savings should be at the center of your overall retirement planning strategy. Your savings could come under increased pressure in future years to make up for the shortfall caused by corporate and government retirement benefit cutbacks. So the sooner you start saving, the better.

Setting specific goals is the first step in planning for your retirement. That means figuring out when you want to retire and what kind of lifestyle you want to have. The younger you are, the tougher it is to calculate exactly how much money you’ll need at retirement. A popular rule of thumb is if you earn $100,000 or more annually prior to retirement, you will need almost 70 percent of that amount ($70,000 or more) annually to maintain your standard of living after retiring. Your financial needs could be greater or smaller, of course, depending upon your individual circumstances.

Here’s a closer look at the compelling forces, which are causing more workers today to recognize the importance of personal savings for retirement:

Medical Benefits

In response to soaring retiree health care costs, many cost-conscious employers are reducing health coverage for their retired workers. Companies are making retirees pay a greater share of the premium, tightening eligibility requirements, and requiring higher deductibles. Some businesses are even eliminating retiree coverage altogether. According to a Foster Higgins survey, only nine percent of firms with fewer than 500 employees offer coverage to retirees.

Pension Benefits

Employer-sponsored pension plans are an important source of retirement income for many employees. But recent changes may ultimately mean a decline in the standard of living for tomorrow’s elderly. One trend is companies’ shift, generally from defined benefit plans (which promise a specified payout upon retirement), towards defined contribution plans (in which the employer and/or employee may contribute to the employee’s account, depending on the plan’s specifics). As a result, the decision and risk on how to invest pension funds is shifting from employers to employees — and many employees who make their own investment decisions are inclined to choose low-risk/low-return investments. Without greater diversification however, that strategy may leave them with a lower-than-expected standard of retirement living.

Social Security

A tidal wave of baby boomers will begin straining the Social Security system when they start to retire around 2010. Once considered politically untouchable, the system’s walls started cracking in the 1980s when benefits for couples earning over $32,000 were partially taxed for the first time. Higher Social Security taxes or reduced benefits remain a possibility in the future. So don’t rely too heavily on Social Security to bankroll your retirement.

Other Factors

Inflation and family needs also can impact your retirement plans. Although the rate of inflation has been relatively low in recent years, the long-term effects of even a low inflation rate can eat away at your pension investment returns. And saving for your children’s college education bills and caring for your elderly parents may also erode your savings.

There’s no need to panic. But you should start planning for your retirement now. More than ever, it’s up to you how large a nest egg you’ll have at retirement. To help you determine how much money you’ll need to retire on, or to see if your current retirement plan will achieve your goals, consult qualified professionals for retirement planning advice.

David N. Chazin is part of a network of qualified financial planners affiliated with PlannerConnect. You can reach him at David.Chazin@LFG.com, or to connect with a financial planner in your area please call (800) 318-7848, or visit the PlannerConnect website.

David N. Chazin, is a registered representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors, a broker/dealer, and offers investment advisory service through Sagemark Consulting, a division of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., a registered investment advisor,3000 Executive Parkway, Suite 400, San Ramon, CA 94583, (925) 275-0300. Insurance offered through Lincoln affiliates and other fine companies. This information should not be construed as legal or tax advice. You may want to consult a tax advisor regarding this information as it relates to your personal circumstances.



ELMER

Wayne Miller asked:


And it is true that a big part of being ready to retire involves being ready financially to be able to step out of the work world and start to take life easier.

But just as life is not just about making money, retirement is about so much more than having the money not to work. Preparation for retirement also means preparing to live a simpler life, preparing to become a senior citizen and a grandparent and preparing to look at life differently.

Your health care is going to be an important issue in your retirement years. As you enter retirement, you may be strong as an ox and active and full of health and life. But any of us can fall prey to poor health or accidents. And if your employer from whom you retired does not extend your health care insurance for you to continue your coverage past your employment, you should make other plans. You can continue the same coverage that you had under the Cobra system but that can get pretty costly and dip into your finite retirement savings pretty significantly. Medicare can be helpful too. But to be perfectly comfortable that you have coverage, look to Medicare supplement insurance so you maintain the same quality of care in retirement that you have now in the working world.

Do not just limit your retirement planning to your money. Your retirement will be a time of a big change of lifestyle and a change to your values and how you spend your time as well. You will have more time on your hands and studies show that those who enter retirement without an agenda can become adrift in all that time and that is not healthy. Human beings are doers so even though you may no longer be working for a living, find ways to be productive and make a difference in your community. You can start finding those opportunities long before retirement so when you finally step out of the work world, expanding those hobbies and volunteer efforts is as natural as can be.

In addition to the change of where you spend your time each day, you may have even a bigger change in where you live ahead for you in retirement. Many times people who step into their retirement years find that maintaining the house where you raised the kids is just not necessary and more work than it worth. Selling the home and using the equity to finance a leisurely retirement life is a great way to go. But you should start early both preparing the home for sale and preparing the family that a grandma and grandpa house is going away.

In addition, where you go to live is something that can be great fun to dream about and doing some research on just the right place. You may choose to rent a small place in an older part of town and enjoy a whole new lifestyle in that setting. Or you might go for a high-rise condo with a view of the river or a nice quiet apartment in a retirement oriented apartment complex where you and other retirees can explore this new world together.

Above all it is important to embrace the retired lifestyle with the enthusiasm and excitement that you might greet any new opportunity. Do not let being retired mean just not working. In fact, go through the mental and emotional exercises of putting the working world behind you and redefining yourself in this new role. You are retired now and you are a senior citizen and maybe even a grandparent.

These are not negative things. There is a strong role for grandma and grandpa in society and in your family. And the world takes great joy in a senior citizen who embraces that time of their life and sets out to be the best senior citizen they can be. If you predetermine that this is the kind of retired person you are going to be, that attitude will propel you past that sudden change of life shock and get your retired life off in running in an exciting way that will lead to many happy and fun times in your life of leisure as a retired person.



SELMA

Rob W asked:


I moved from VA a few days prior to my official retirement effective date. I receive a final pay, including substantial leave cashed out after I moved. Is this subject to Virginia tax? All preretirement pay, including this shows up on my W2 with VA as the state reflected on it.

LUANN

Mike Kennedy asked:


Terminal wealth dispersion is the technical term that describes the variability of the future value of investment portfolios. This inevitable variability means that no one knows what the value of their investment portfolio will be when they reach retirement age or at any time during their retirement. And the uncertainty of individual’s life expectancies compounds this problem.

Hedging against the risks associated with these two factors places an onerous burden on individuals. Although this hedging could result in a very comfortable retirement, if one can afford the hedge and their timing is right, the potential downside risk is so great that it may be deemed unacceptable by many individuals. So one has to ask “Do individuals really prefer to forgo a sure but modest retirement income and play the odds with their retirement savings in hopes of being very well off in retirement?”

With individual accounts, individuals lose the benefit of the pooling of risks. The two risks that force individuals to over-save are investment risk and the risk of living beyond the average life expectancy. In both cases the outcomes, terminal wealth and life span, are highly variable. When the risks are pooled for a large number of individuals over many overlapping life spans, the average outcomes are highly predictable, which is what makes traditional pension plans work so well.

Traditional pension plans exist, for all intents and purposes, in perpetuity. This being the case, they can build reserves during good times in the financial markets and weather the bad times, thus enabling them to make consistent payouts to retirees regardless of the timing of their retirement. Unfortunately, individuals do not get to choose their holding periods or the years of their retirement and must take whatever comes along, and what comes along might be good or it might be bad. Thus individuals must set savings goals that are sufficiently high to hedge against the risk of the average return of an investment portfolio over its holding period falling well short of that which would be expected very long term.

The relatively short duration of individual’s holding periods leave them very susceptible to the effects of market cycles, which are notoriously unpredictable in amplitude and frequency. Being broadly diversified mitigates this risk but does not eliminate it, as it’s entirely possible for a worldwide bear market to occur during one’s holding period. Then at the end of the holding period for wealth accumulation, a second holding period begins, which will be the term of retirement, and this second holding period carries the same risks as the first, but at a time in life when there is no source of income to make up for portfolio under-performance.

The other component of risk that individuals must hedge is the risk represented by the uncertainty of one’s life span, which means that individuals must aim even higher when setting their savings goals. The managers of large pension plans can depend on retirees living on average for only the average life expectancy of employees who reach retirement age. The average life expectancy for someone who reaches the age of 66 is currently 82 years, and 66 is currently the age when workers are eligible for full Social Security benefits, which makes it a reasonable baseline. Based on those assumptions, the average term of retirement would be 18 years and pension plans should only have to be funded to the extent necessary to cover the cost of this average term of retirement.

Individuals, however, don’t know how long they’re going to live, so they must over-save to ensure that they don’t run out of money before they run out of time. This need to over-save is independent of the first need, thus the need to over-save is compounded, i.e., an individual needs to save enough to cover the cost of living well beyond the average life expectancy and the targeted amount of savings at retirement age must be great enough to ensure with a reasonably high level of certainty that the actual amount on hand at retirement is at least the bare minimum necessary to get by on.

A popular estimate of the term of retirement for which individuals must plan is 30 years. Saving enough to cover the cost of a 30-year retirement is a much greater burden than saving for an 18-year retirement, but planning on a shorter retirement exposes individuals to tremendous risk. It also exposes taxpayers to tremendous risk, as individuals who outlive their savings will undoubtedly require some form of public assistance to make ends meet and are likely become wards of the state when they become physically incapable of caring for themselves.

An individual who bases their retirement saving on living to the age of 96 but only lives to be 82 will have forgone a lot of pleasures in life, such as travel, fine dining and better vehicles, that they could otherwise have enjoyed. But many individuals just don’t have the level of income required to support the saving rate necessary to amass the wealth required to hedge against the downside of terminal wealth dispersion and the possibility of living well past the average life expectancy. For them it’s not a matter of forgone consumption, it’s a matter of going through life with the knowledge that they are likely to spend their golden years living in abject poverty and that that will be their reward for 40 or 50 years of hard work. And it gets worse!

Some economists now believe that within 15 years or so, 100% of Social Security benefits will be spent on medical expenses: Medicare Parts B and D premiums, copayments, uncovered expenses and medigap insurance premiums. If that becomes the case, anyone without substantial savings or a defined benefit pension will be looking for public assistance the day after they retire.

With the situation already at this state, adding private Social Security accounts to the mix would be like throwing gas on a fire, as individual Social Security accounts carry the same risks as other individual retirement accounts. Those who have tried to kill Social Security since its inception find private accounts very appealing. But, not so coincidentally, most of them seem to be in the enviable position of not needing Social Security to support their retirement. More recently, younger workers, too, have come to oppose Social Security, but not for the same reason as the traditional opponents. Young workers may be crushed by the burden of social Security and may never receive any benefits from the system. Those who oppose Social Security simply because it’s a social program should be expending their efforts on reforming it rather than killing it.

If Social Security had been managed like a pension plan rather than a pyramid scheme, its current situation wouldn’t be so dire. Indeed, it might very well be a fully funded, functional system. CalPERS and other large public employee retirement plans have operated successfully for decades, with success being defined as being able to meet their obligations, not having an adverse effect on the financial markets, no scandalous events attributable to malfeasance by the plans’ sponsors and being free of influence from elected officials. There’s no reason that Social Security can’t also be managed in such a manner. It would literally take an act of Congress to do this, but the hardest part for Congress would be letting the system run without their interfering with its operation.

Passing off the burden of retirement to individuals was a great deal for corporations but it’s a very poor deal for most individuals, and extending individual accounts to include the Social Security system would only make a bad situation worse. It’s not a poor deal for all individuals because there will be some who can afford to save a substantial portion of their income and whose holding periods will coincide with bull markets, thus putting their wealth in the upper range of their terminal wealth dispersion, and who also live a long, healthy life. They will be the ones who benefit from over-saving and living beyond the average life expectancy, but they may end up forfeiting a portion of their wealth in the form of taxes to support the less fortunate. I don’t believe that is what the public expects from a well-conceived system.



CORDELL

moeursalen asked:


Full retirement age means that you won’t get a benefit rate which has been reduced because of age.

ALBERTO

Nadeem M asked:


When someone dies, leaving an estate to their beneficiary, it could include stocks, bonds, investment accounts, retirements, real property, etc.

I believe everything under $2 million passes to the heirs without any tax obligation. (Is this correct?)

My question is about the tax-deferred retirement accounts (non-ROTH) that collect ordinary income tax when you draw the funds. Would this tax be required from the heirs?

Thanks.

CHASITY

ronfurg asked:


I receive a retirement annuity from my service in the federal government and would like possibly to move to a state which does not tax the annuity income.

SOCORRO

Jinky Belle Abelardo asked:


Many countries offer state-sponsored retirement benefits, besides those provided by the employers, which are funded by payroll or taxes. In the United States, this is one role of the Social Security Administration or SSA.

One of the most important retirement decisions facing Americans is, “When should I get my Social Security retirement benefits?”

There will come a time for us when we will be looking forward to relax while still enjoying financial security. All workers have to prepare for this period of their lives.

As people age, they will have to consider their options and plan for their future. We all need assurance that when we get old and reached a time when we no longer want to work, or no longer capable of performing our jobs, we can still support ourselves financially.

What offer us financial security at such time are our retirement benefits. We get retirement benefits from our retirement plans. A retirement plan is an arrangement or a formal contract which provides people with an income, possibly a pension, during retirement, when we are no longer earning a steady income from employment.

Retirement benefits are authorized under Title II of the Social Security Act. There are certain requirements needed in order for a worker to be considered eligible to these benefits. A person attains fully insured status when he or she has paid sufficient payroll taxes to Social Security and has worked long enough in a job covered by Social Security system.

An application must be filed with the Social security Administration before an employee may collect his/her retirement benefits. There are several options in applying for these benefits:

• Applying at the local Social Security office

• Applying through phone

• Applying via mail

• Applying online

The amount of retirement benefit payments are based upon several aspects:

• Social Security taxes paid into the Social Security trust fund

• The age of the claimant

• The current earned income of an individual

Benefit payments vary based on when, a person shall claim his or her retirement benefits. Usually, a person may start receiving his or her benefits as soon as he/she is 62, but the full-retirement age comes a few years later than that.

Eligible individuals have their choice whether to have a delayed or early retirement. However, there are consequences in claiming the benefits earlier or later than the full-retirement age. Here are the rules as follows:

• If you decide to retire in your full retirement age, you will collect your full retirement benefits

• If you retire prior to reaching full retirement age, you will receive benefits less than that of what you will have received if you retire later

• If you work past your full retirement age, you will acquire your full retirement benefits regardless of how much you earn

• If you carry on working and decide not to collect your retirement benefits until you become 70, you will get more benefits when you retire

• If you opt not to collect your retirement benefits before reaching full retirement age, you should be sure to file for Medicare as soon as you turn 65.

So in deciding when to collect ones’ retirement benefits, we must consider what option will be more beneficial to us. It is never too early or too late in commencing preparations for our retirement so it is better to jumpstart now.

For commendable and fast track assistance in applying for your retirement benefits, seek the aid of our experienced Social Security attorneys. Just log to our website and learn how to avail of our free case evaluation services.



FLOYD