Retired Brains

12 Tips to Help Retirees Avoid Being Scammed

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 20:41:00 +0000

October 12, 2016

by Art Koff

According to the Better Business Bureau 10% of the U.S. population falls victim to consumer scams every year.

John Jupin, a former FBI special agent and retired U.S. Department of Labor — Office of Inspector General special agent gives this advice: "You may not be able to totally prevent fraud, but to minimize it is the key. The longer it goes on, the more problems you have. To minimize your exposure to fraud, I strongly suggest keeping up to date on the latest scams, as if you are aware of them, you are more likely to avoid being scammed."

You can check out a list of scams here. Below I have listed some new scams you should you should know about.

Social media has enabled scammers to reach millions of users often by creating "fake" pages promising everything from discounted tickets to sporting events to free airline flights or shopping sprees at name department stores. Official-looking Facebook pages often including the actual logos of well-known companies are used to create an air of authenticity. Sometimes these posts come from a trusted friend who was encouraged to share "the deal." Clicking on these pages can lead you into divulging your personal information.

Electronic pickpocketing

Information on credit cards using RFID chips can be stolen by thieves using relatively inexpensive portable scanners. All they need to do is get the scanner close enough to your wallet or purse to steal credit card numbers and expiration dates. Thieves can use this information to make fraudulent purchases. If you're concerned about getting ripped off by someone with a scanner place a piece of aluminum foil in your wallet as this will defeat the scanner.

12 Tips to Help Avoid Being Scammed

1. Get a mailbox that locks.

2. Do not leave personal information in your car.

3. Make sure your smart phone, laptop, iPad, etc. have pass codes to prevent unauthorized use.

4. Close any old, unused credit card accounts you do not use.

5. Set up online access to your banking accounts so you can easily check unlawful use and stop mailed statements.

6. Do not throw away documents that contain personal information like credit card statements and medical bills. Shred them first.

7. Check with your Better Business Bureau (bbb.org) for authenticity of offers.

8. If a purported "employer" (company paying you on a commission basis) or a buyer or seller gives you a check and insists that you wire or deposit money back into their account, it is a scam. There is no legitimate reason for someone to give you a check and then ask that you give them a part of the money back.

9. Never assume a check has cleared, even if you get access to funds from a check you deposit, unless your bank explicitly tells you so. Just because the funds from the check say "available" in your account doesn't mean the check is good.

10. Do not accept checks for more than your asking price, commission, revenue share or salary. Demand a check for the correct amount and if this is refused, you will know it's a scam.

11. Never wire or deposit money into the bank accounts of people you do not know for any reason.

12. Resist high-pressure tactics. Scammers pressure their victims to act now to get a job, help out a friend or family member in trouble or receive payment for an item they are selling. If you are a victim report the scam immediately by filing a complaint at fraud.org via its secure online complaint form. This form is shared with law enforcement and consumer groups to go after the scammers.

Here are a few sites that will help you identify scams.

Avoiding Identity Theft

The easiest and most successful way to protect yourself against identity theft is to place a credit-card freeze on your accounts. This prohibits anyone, including you and your spouse, from opening credit in your name. It will not affect your credit or cause problems with the credit cards you currently have nor will it affect your mortgage, car loans, etc.

Since scammers cannot open credit in your name, they are unable to use your identity, and identity theft becomes highly unlikely. Remember that while a credit freeze is in place you will not be able to apply for new credit cards or credit yourself.

To place a credit-card freeze on your account, you must contact the three main credit agencies.

Equifax 800-525-6285
Experian 888-397-3742
Trans Union 800-680-7289

If your identity has been stolen, you must notify the credit agencies listed above. You should also contact your local law enforcement agency. Complaints can be filed as well by calling 877-IDTHEFT or logging on to the Federal Trade Commission website.

4 Steps You Should Take to Make Sure You Don't Outlive Your Money

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 04:45:00 +0000

By Art Koff as seen in MarketWatch

According to a just-published HSBC Holdings publication 59% of those surveyed said financial security is one of the things they value most in life and 67% said a priority is having enough money for a comfortable life in retirement.*

The focus of this column is on what you can do to make sure you have enough funds to live the lifestyle you hoped to live during your retirement years and not run out of money.

Perhaps the most important single thing you should consider is to make sure your spending is at a level so that you will not run out of money. Your monthly income from investments, Social Security, pensions and other areas coupled with your withdrawal from principle must be adjusted to last you well into your 90s. This spending must include additional funds put aside for unexpected expenses like health-care problems not covered by Medicare and insurance.

It is very difficult to accurately estimate the balance between spending and income even with sound advice from a financial advisor. You must estimate your expenses, and to be safe, you must plan to have a good deal of your wealth left at the end of your life.

Step 1. Project your life span using a reliable calculator like the one from the Social Security Administration.

Sept 2. Create a budget that includes your projected monthly expenses. Include your yearly expenses and special onetime expenses separately. Vanguard has a Retirement Expenses Worksheet which should be helpful.

Note: Retirees have a tendency to substantially underestimate what they may spend on health care so estimate this area with particular care.

Step 3. Create a list of income and assets. Does your income from retirement savings coupled with Social Security benefits, pensions, etc. match your expenditures, and if not, how much must be taken from assets to cover the shortfall? Needless to say, expenses must be adjusted, as when assets are sold, this further reduces the income they produce.

Step 4. Estimate how long you will work. If it seems that your income will be far less than your expenditures consider continuing to work longer either for your current employer or on a part-time, temporary, seasonal or project basis. See here for information and help.

You can also considering working from home. See here where you can find information about hundreds of companies that provide at home work solutions. Also, you can consider starting a small business or even purchasing a franchise to generate income. See here for more information.

Be aware that if you continue working after you are receiving Social Security there will be a with-holding of $1 for every $2 you earn over $15,720 (2016 figure).

Here you can view 11 calculators from the U.S. Government including a Social Security retirement estimator and a early or late retirement benefit calculator.

MarketWatch columns to reference

“Ways to retire with more money”

“What to consider when choosing a retirement location”

“Why you should consider retiring abroad”

“14 tips and resources for finding work in retirement”

How to Navigate Benefits if You’re Working Past Age 65

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 04:08:00 +0000

http://retirementrevised.com/
by Mark Miller

It’s no secret that Americans are working longer. But some are working well past traditional retirement age: the fastest-growing segment of the labor force is workers over age 65, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – and the growth is especially pronounced among workers over age 70.

Working longer certainly can boost the odds of a successful retirement plan via higher Social Security income, retirement account contributions and fewer total years of dependence on portfolio accumulations.

But working well past traditional retirement age does present some complications. Much of our retirement benefits structure still is geared toward a more traditional retirement age. The Medicare enrollment age is 65; Social Security’s full retirement age (FRA) is 66, on its way to 67 in 2027. Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) must begin at age 70 ½. And the tax-deferred retirement system is predicated on the idea that older people will be in lower tax brackets when funds are withdrawn than during the traditional wealth accumulation years.

I’ve put together a Guide to Navigating Benefits if You’re Working Past Age 65, which is available as a free PDF download. You’ll receive this report free when you sign up for the free weekly RetirementRevised.com email newsletter. You’ll get weekly updates on Social Security, Medicare, investing in 401(k)s and IRAs, careers after age 50 and much more. Click here to subscribe and receive the guide.

Meanwhile, here is a summary of the key retirement planning items to keep in mind.

Social Security

Working longer is a great way to get the most out of Social Security. Benefits are calculated using a formula called the primary insurance amount, or PIA. For people working in their 60s, there’s very little sense in filing early – unless you have reason to think your life expectancy will be unusually short. Earlier filers who have income from work in 2015 of more than $15,720 are hit with a penalty (Social Security defines “income” in this context as wages from employment or net earnings from self-employment). If earnings exceed the limit, $1 will be deducted from benefit payments for every $2 earned over that amount. The withheld benefits are added back into benefits after you reach full retirement age. After that age, they can have unlimited income and receive Social Security benefits without penalty.

Likewise, there’s no reason to wait beyond age 70, even for people who are still working, since credits stop accruing at that age. However, it’s important to keep an eye on taxation of Social Security. Benefits are taxed using a “combined income” formula that is determined by adding together adjusted gross income, tax-exempt income and half of the Social Security benefit. If that total exceeds $25,000 for individuals ($32,000 for married couples), then 50 percent if the excess must be included in income for tax purposes; if it’s over $34,000 ($44,000 for couples) then 85 percent of the excess is included in your income.

Medicare

Medicare filing errors can be costly.

Eligibility begins at 65, and sign-up is automatic if you already receive Social Security benefits. If not, it’s important to sign up sometime in the three months before your 65th birthday up through the three months following, because failing to do so can lead to expensive premium penalties down the road. (Although signup can be done up until three months after the 65th birthday, but there’s a waiting period for people who don’t enroll by the end of the month that they turn 65.)

Monthly Part B premiums jump 10 percent for each full 12-month period that a senior could have had coverage but didn’t sign up. That can really add up: a senior who fails to enroll for five years ultimately would face a 50 percent Part B penalty–10 percent for each year. Penalties also are applied to Medicare Part D (prescription drugs) and Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) that include drug coverage.

3 Ways to Rescue Your Retirement If You’ve Fallen Behind

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:48:00 +0000

From Real Deal Retirement
By Walter Updegrave

I’m in my late 50s and not as prepared for retirement as I’d like to be. I have the equivalent of about one year’s salary saved in my 401(k) and that’s about it. What can I do improve my retirement prospects?

Generally, you should have six to nine times your salary tucked away in a 401(k) or other accounts by your mid-50s to early 60s to have a good shot at maintaining your standard of living in retirement. So you’re definitely short of where you ought to be.

On the bright side, at least you know you have some catching up to do. Not everyone who’s behind does. For example, a February study by researchers from Ohio State and the University of Alabama found that 27% of 55- to-60-year-olds included in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances hadn’t accumulated the resources they’d need to maintain their standard of living in retirement, yet seemed to think they were doing just fine. The researchers labeled them “unrealistic optimists.”

But even though you’re behind, there’s no need to panic. You’ve got plenty of time to improve your retirement outlook, provided you’re willing to embark on a bold catch-up plan starting right now. Here are the three things you need to do.

To see the 3 ways recommend by By Walter Updegrave, retirement expert and author of Real Deal Retirement click here.

How to Build a Million Dollar Nest Egg from Scratch Even at 50

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 21:20:00 +0000

From Real Deal Retirement
By Walter Updegrave

Obviously, you would have a much better chance of accumulating $1 million or more in savings had you begun saving and planning for retirement 20 or more years ago. But assuming you do actually get started now—as opposed to merely planning to start—you still have plenty time to dramatically improve your retirement prospects.

As to whether you can realistically expect to accumulate a seven-figure nest egg by the time you retire, well, that depends on a number of factors, but mostly boils down to how diligently you save and how long you’re willing to continue working. Even with very optimistic assumptions, however, I’d say you’re most likely looking at a long shot.

5 Ways To Tell If You’re Really Ready To Retire

For example, a 50-year old starting from scratch who earns $80,000 a year, gets 2% annual raises and earns a 6% annual return on investments would have to save 30% of salary each year for the next 20 years to crack the $1 million mark. Saving that large a percentage of salary year in and year out would require a Herculean effort under any circumstances. I think it’s fair to say it’s even harder to go from saving nothing to 30% virtually overnight.

At the risk of sounding Pollyana-ish, however, I don’t think you should feel discouraged. Granted, you’re probably going to have to make some significant lifestyle changes if you want to ramp up your retirement savings. But there are a number of ways you can put yourself in a much better position to retire than you are now—and certainly make yourself better off than had you done nothing at all.

Read the rest of the article at Real Deal Retirement

How to Face the Challenges of Balanced Investing for Retirement

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 27 May 2016 00:46:00 +0000

By Art Koff as seen in MarketWatch

The retirement challenge facing most Americans is how to achieve a balance between investments that are safe and secure while at the same time providing the growth and eventual income needed to adequately fund retirement expenses.
Of course there are many factors influencing investment decisions that need to be made which include overall health and life expectancy, the kind of lifestyle planned during retirement, the amount of capital already put aside and the actual ongoing performance of the investment portfolio.

Taking advantage of the long view

The basic strategy that is appropriate for most is investing in the stock market's continued long term increase in value. Most understand that the market is highly likely to increase over a 20-plus-year period of time.

To maximize an increase in funds over many years it is necessary to minimize the costs associated with investing and this means minimizing the fees, commissions and other costs of trading and funds management. The best way to achieve this is to invest in broad-based stock-index funds — either mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Not all index funds have the same fees, and over many years these fees can add up so it is important to carefully check these costs.

Where patience comes in
In addition a problem for many investors is that they react emotionally to the short term gyrations of the stock market. Historically, the "average investor" tends to panic and sell when markets fall, turning a temporary decline into a permanent loss of capital. Because there is a large financial press clamoring for attention, news about short-term declines is hard to avoid, and it's easy to act/sell on exaggerated fears. If it was as easy to track the daily value of your home and sell it when mortgage rates or unemployment jumped, many would have unfortunately sold at the bottom of the housing crash.

There will certainly be stock-market corrections (defined as a 10% or more fall in the overall stock market) and even bear markets (defined as a 20%-or-better drop) every few years, prior to and beyond your projected retirement date. Recent bear markets have resulted in 50% or larger declines, and weathering these bear markets takes a certain amount of fortitude, patience and understanding that selling at these times can be devastating to a nest egg. Since there have been 20 bear markets since 1929, or approximately one every four to five years, investors can expect several more prior to their date of retirement.

Balancing it all out
Some investors think they can avoid the anxieties and risks of investing in stocks by relying on the less-volatile asset categories of bonds and money-market funds; however, because these vehicles return so much less over the long term, an investor would need a huge portfolio to be sure her/his income would not run out or be inadequate for the full number of years of retirement.
A blend of stock funds, bond funds and cash would reduce the magnitude of swings in market value as compared to a 100% investment in stock funds. This would make it easier to tolerate down market times.

To achieve a balance between investments that are as safe as can be expected while at the same time provide returns that enable you to meet your financial needs, check your investment strategy using a retirement income calculator. This will help show you the tradeoffs that different combinations of stock and bonds your portfolio will produce. You may find you will need to adjust your planned expenditures during retirement, increase your pre-retirement savings, dial up the percentage of risk-based investments in your portfolio, or continue to work longer than you anticipated.

Here are links to some retirement income calculators:

CNN Calculator. Enter your age, retirement age and what you have saved so far and the calculator will project how much money you will have at 67 years of age.
Vanguard Retirement nest egg Calculator. How long will your retirement nest egg last? How much could your investments grow? Answer a few questions to see a long-term projection. Then try making a few changes to view the impact on your results.
T. Rowe Price Calculator. Share some information about your retirement needs and investments. This tool will run 1,000 market simulations to evaluate your chances of success and offer some tips to help improve your situation.

And here’s some Information on funding your retirement and retirement planning.

Why You Should Consider Retiring Abroad

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 06 May 2016 15:59:00 +0000

In the U.S. alone, there are 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, a trend expected to continue for the next 15 years. This means that about 3.6 million Americans are retiring each year. And more Americans are retiring outside of the U.S. every year, as evidenced by almost 375,000 retirees receiving their Social Security checks overseas in 2013 (the latest data published by the Social Security Administration).

The dollar has appreciated against most foreign currencies. Thanks to this exchange rate, purchasing property overseas has become relatively reasonable and certainly much less expensive than the purchase of similar property here in the U.S. The cost of living in most overseas locations is a good deal less, which means you can maintain a better lifestyle and your savings will last longer.
In addition, although the cost and quality of health care varies substantially from country to country, there are many overseas locations that offer health care services similar to what is provided in the U.S. and usually at a great deal less.

As you research overseas locations you should select some destinations and check to see how they compare to your needs and expectations. Considerations should be:

Lifestyle/cost of living. Is the beach important, what about restaurants, shopping, skiing, the arts, etc.? Do you want to live near the mountains or near the beach or even both? What lifestyle will your budget provide?

Climate. Many overseas retirement destinations are hot and humid, while some can be chilly and others have a rainy season lasting several months. How does climate affect your decision?

Health care. Do you have medical problems or a medical condition that requires special medical attention or require that you live near a hospital? What kind of health care is available in the country you select, what are the costs and is this available locally?

Time to travel/ease of travel. If you plan to return often to the U.S. to visit friends and family, or if you want them to visit you; if you have health issues and need to return to take care of them this is an important consideration.

Safety. If you don't feel safe, you may not feel comfortable in certain overseas locations.

Politics/government/local laws/stability. How comfortable are you living in a country with anti-American leanings, or where you must be careful with your interactions with the police or local politicians?

Natural disasters. Some places have hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding, etc. and their infrastructure is not set up to handle them.

The arts. How important is access to museums, opera, symphony, ballet, theater?

Sports. Do you wish to play golf, tennis, ski, run, bike, hike, scuba dive, or climb mountains? Do you wish to be able to attend professional or amateur sporting events? Is it important to view sporting events on TV?

Shopping. Is shopping important to you? What about shopping for food, clothes or staples?

Language. Are you comfortable in a country where English is not the native language and perhaps is not spoken or understood by many of the locals?

As you do your research on retiring, relocating abroad check out our content in this area including a chart evaluating many destinations according to cost of living, health care, climate, etc. and links to help you evaluate how far you money will go in over 300 countries, IRS tax implications and much more

The Best Alzheimer’s Resource on the Net

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 14:30:00 +0000

By Art Koff. Founder RetiredBrains.com

Every year more and more people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As baby boomers come of age, the number of people afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to reach 13.8 million by 2050. This is millions more than previously expected. Of the millions who have this disease today as many as half don't have specific arrangements to help them get care. Health care costs for those with the disease and for people who have other forms of dementia are more than three times higher than costs for older Americans who are not afflicted.

If you are concerned about yourself or a loved one and wish to see recent Alzheimer’s research as well as see the answers to the questions you might have about this disease, this is the place to find it.

Our just completed Memory Loss & Alzheimer’s Section includes hundreds of links to where additional information can be found and the resources our viewers have requested.

Below are some of the resources included

· The 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer's

· Checklist of Symptoms

· Reduce Your Risk

· Alzheimer's Drugs

· Extend Quality & Length of Life

· Diet and Alzheimer's

· Forgetfulness & Memory Tips
· Senior Moments

· Symptoms, Care and Help

· Traveling With People That Have Alzheimer's

· Care Outside the Home

· When to Stop Driving

· Do You Have Mild Cognitive Impairment

· Determining the Care Level Needed

· Assisted Living Facilities

· Skilled Nursing Facilities

· Adult Day Programs

Please pass this information on to those you feel will find it helpful.

Note: Should you be aware of content that we have not included we would appreciate your passing it on. Please contact us placing Alzheimer’s in the subject line.

How to figure out how much risk to take with your retirement money

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 18:06:00 +0000

By Art Koff Published on MarketWatch March 29, 2016

Are your investments too risky? For those who are retired or near retirement, this is a particularly important question because they have a shorter investment horizon. If you suffer a large loss now, you don't have a great deal of time for your investments to recover. This is exactly what happened in 2008 to many people.

On the other hand, we are living longer, so you are likely to still need to get some growth out of your investments in order to make sure you don't outlive your savings. It is certainly difficult to grow your investments without taking at least some risk.

There is currently plenty of anxiety in the markets, either real or imagined: China's growth or contraction, Britain departing from the European Union, oil crash ripples, recession fears, political uncertainty in the U.S. in an election year, market volatility, interest rates, and global terrorism.

The question is how should you adjust investments to maximize safety while still enjoying a combination of return and growth potential? The answer is your "risk tolerance" or the amount of risk you should be taking in your portfolio. Everyone should know their risk tolerance and everyone's risk tolerance is different. Your adviser should help determine this, or you can use one of the many online tools to help.

This is more important than ever. A recent study by ERBI has shown that only 21% of Americans are "very confident" they have enough money for retirement. As a result, a number of pre-retirees feel they must invest in vehicles which are expected to provide adequate income, but some carry undue risk. "We occasionally see instances of near-retirees trying to throw a 'Hail Mary' pass in order to hit their retirement goals," says risk tolerance expert Kendrick Wakeman, CEO of FinMason, Inc, "but it's better to increase savings and/or adjust retirement expectations than to potentially lose retirement completely."

The question is how should you adjust to maximize safety while still enjoying a combination of return and growth potential? Nearly 80% of workers underestimate how much they will need to save for their retirement.

How much investment is needed for your retirement years depends on a number of factors. Your current age, what age you plan to stop working, how much income you project you will need, what your current financial situation (net worth) is, are you likely to inherit substantial funds prior to or during retirement, and how long you will need your retirement money to last.

Each investor must make her or his retirement investment decisions based on their particular needs. Recommendations that are designed for everyone are just not appropriate.

Here are some tools to evaluate your needs:

This questionnaire helps you determine your risk profile.

This calculator uses helpful charts to let you gauge your risk tolerance and compare it to your current portfolio.

This calculator will estimate your personal risk over the next 5, 10, or 15 years. Risk Calculator.

This calculator uses helpful charts to let you gauge your risk tolerance and compare it to your portfolio.

This is a more academic approach with an extensive set of psychological questionsdesigned to determine your risk tolerance.

T. Rowe Price Retirement Income Calculator (you must register as a guest to use).

Fidelity Retirement Score (answers 6 questions to see where you stand.

For more in-depth information, check out these articles:

Retirement planning guide (What must I know to plan for the future or to prepare for a meeting with a retirement planner.)

Increase your retirement income (Annuities, Social Security, Reverse Mortgage and more.)

Where Can I Put My Retirement Savings So IT Won't Get Whacked By The Stock Market?

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Sat, 26 Mar 2016 16:51:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave, RealDealRetirement @RealDealRetire

It seems I keep losing money in my retirement accounts these days. Is there a safe place I can invest my savings so that at least it won’t be affected by the stock market?

—L.W.

Sure, there are plenty of places you can put your retirement nest egg to protect it from a possible setback in the stock market. You could move it into cash equivalents such as a money market fund, an FDIC-insured savings account or CDs. Some investors have even been flocking to gold lately as a refuge for uncertain times.

But the question is should you?

Cash equivalents are very secure and stable, but they yield virtually nothing these days. So you’re paying for security by accepting very low rates of return that may make it difficult for you to build an adequate nest egg that can support you in retirement.

How Smart An Investor Are You? Try this Quiz

And while gold has shown that it can hold up well, or even thrive, when stocks run into trouble, it’s not as if gold is a model of stability that rarely drops in value. On the contrary, gold can be even more volatile than stocks and is given to steep periodic losses, witness the fact that, after soaring to nearly $1,900 an ounce back in 2011 amid concerns about European debt levels, gold has since declined to just over $1,200 an ounce, a slide of about 35%.

Fact is, while moving your retirement stash to one of the alternatives mentioned above, or other putative havens for that matter, may be “safe” in the sense that it can shield you from a market downturn, it leaves you vulnerable to other risks. So in trying to protect yourself, you may actually be doing the opposite.

So what do I recommend instead?

Basically, I suggest you try to achieve a balance between the security you seek from short-term downdrafts in the stock market and the long-term returns you need to achieve goals like accumulating enough savings to support you through what can be a long retirement. To my mind at least, the most sensible way to do that is by investing your savings in a low-cost mix of stocks and bonds that’s conservative enough to afford reasonable protection from market turmoil but aggressive enough to generate the long-term returns you’ll need to achieve your financial goals.

The appropriate mix of stocks and bonds can vary from person to person for any number of reasons, including age, the size of your nest egg, how much you have in the way of other resources to fall back on and how you react to investment losses. But the best way to start figuring out what blend of stocks and bonds makes sense for you is to get a sense of how much risk you can comfortably take on, which you can do by completing a risk tolerance-asset allocation questionnaire like the one Vanguard offers free online.

The 4 Things You Need To Know To Survive A Bear Market

After answering 11 questions that get at such issues as how large a loss you can handle before you freak out and how long you expect to keep your money invested, you’ll receive a suggested mix of stocks and bonds, as well as access to stats showing how that mix and others more conservative and aggressive have performed in both good and bad markets. While those stats can be helpful, I recommend you go a step further and also estimate how the suggested portfolio would have performed in a severe bear market like the one that began in late 2007 and continued through early 2009, when stocks lost nearly 60% of their value and bonds gained almost 8%.

Such an exercise can give you a better feel for how you might react should you have to deal with a similar market meltdown. For example, a blend of 70% stocks and 30% bonds would have lost roughly 35% from the peak of the last bull market to the trough of the bear (assuming no rebalancing). If seeing the value of your savings decline by that amount would have had you bailing out of stocks in a panic, then you might want to rein in your allocation to stocks a bit.

The Best Way To Invest For Retirement Income

That said, you don’t want to lean so far towards security that you end up with anemic returns that make it harder to achieve your goals. So when you think you may have a stocks-bonds mix that’s right for you, test it again by plugging it into a good retirement income calculator. That should tell you whether your investing strategy, combined with how much you’re saving (or spending, if you’re already retired) will keep you on track toward a secure retirement. Once you’ve arrived at a suitable portfolio, don’t mess with it, except to rebalance periodically, do the occasional portfolio check-up and perhaps shift more toward bonds as you near and enter retirement.

Have You Crash-Tested Your Retirement Plan?

Going through the exercise I’ve described above won’t completely insulate you from stock market setbacks. But that’s not the aim. Rather, the goal is to provide enough protection to allow you to ride out the inevitable stock market slumps and then participate in the recoveries, which is a more effective strategy than trying to anticipate the market’s ups and downs.

So by all means keep some of your portfolio in cash equivalents—enough to cover at least three months’ worth of expenses during your career and anywhere from one to three years’ worth of spending in retirement. But aside from such an emergency cushion or spending reserve, the rest of your savings should be invested in a way that gives you the best shot at getting through periods of market turmoil without sacrificing too much in long-term gains.

Walter Updegrave is the editor of RealDealRetirement.com. If you have a question on retirement or investing that you would like Walter to answer online, send it to him at walter@realdealretirement.com.

13 Steps to Organizing Your Accounts and Assets

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 12:58:00 +0000

From MarketWatch

With identity theft rampant in the digital age, it’s never been more important to keep proper track of your assets and accounts, and making sure that someone you trust is also aware in case help is necessary. The following is a list of 13 ways to help organize your world.

(This information should also be shared for the most part with your accountant, attorney and financial advisor as a precaution in case you become unable to act or pass on suddenly.)

1. List all of the accounts, logins, passwords and websites you use, including email accounts.

2. List social media, including login and passwords for Facebook, LinkedIn Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc. Be aware that each social-media site has a different set of rules governing how to close an account and remove the profile of a deceased user. Some are relatively easy while others may require a copy of an obituary notice or even a death certificate. For more information on who gets access to a deceased person's digital accounts including state by state laws on access to digital accounts after death check this report from the Pew Research Center.

3. List any sites including logins and passwords you use to purchase or sell products and services like eBay, Amazon , Craigslist, Zappos, etc.

4. List all credit cards and retailers where you have open accounts.

5. List all business- and service-related online accounts like banking, utilities, cable, phone, Internet, etc., including logins and passwords.

6. List all accounts in which you use automatic transfers or payments via a credit card or checking account withdrawal. Discuss with your spouse or family as to whether you want these accounts closed or transferred when the time comes.

7. List the contact person, if you have one, at each account, as well as passwords and login information and make sure to include all financial, banking and credit-card sites. These are areas that have the biggest possibility of creating problems if you are not available or able to act.

8. Instruct the appropriate person (family member or friend) whether you wish some kind of message or notification sent out via your social-media sites including various alumni list-serves indicating your passing or incapacitation.

9. Provide a copy of this information to your spouse/family and to your accountant and attorney along with instructions of how these matters should be handled.

10. Indicate the location of your will, any vehicle title, title to property, mortgage documents (even if they are paid in full), loans owed or payable to you, insurance policies, tax documents (owed or due).

12. Include a recent financial statement, if you have one. If you do not have one prepare one.

13. Include the names and contact information of your accountants, lawyers, advisors, physicians, insurance agents and all professionals with whom you do business.

It is important to protect credit and assets against "ghosting" in which an identity thief steals the identity of a dead person.

If you wish to download or print a form listing your assets and where they are located you can do so here.

Close to Retirement? Can You Build A $1 Million Nest Egg From Scratch At 50?

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 16:50:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave, RealDealRetirement @RealDealRetire

I’m almost 50 years old and have virtually nothing saved for retirement. But I plan to start now and would like to build a seven-figure nest egg by the time I retire. Is that goal realistic and what should I do to make it happen?

—Steve, Texas

Obviously, you would have a much better chance of accumulating $1 million or more in savings had you begun saving and planning for retirement 20 or more years ago. But assuming you do actually get started now—as opposed to merely planning to start—you still have plenty time to dramatically improve your retirement prospects.

As to whether you can realistically expect to accumulate a seven-figure nest egg by the time you retire, well, that depends on a number of factors, but mostly boils down to how diligently you save and how long you’re willing to continue working. Even with very optimistic assumptions, however, I’d say you’re most likely looking at a long shot.

5 Ways To Tell If You’re Really Ready To Retire

For example, a 50-year old starting from scratch who earns $80,000 a year, gets 2% annual raises and earns a 6% annual return on investments would have to save 30% of salary each year for the next 20 years to crack the $1 million mark. Saving that large a percentage of salary year in and year out would require a Herculean effort under any circumstances. I think it’s fair to say it’s even harder to go from saving nothing to 30% virtually overnight.

At the risk of sounding Pollyana-ish, however, I don’t think you should feel discouraged. Granted, you’re probably going to have to make some significant lifestyle changes if you want to ramp up your retirement savings. But there are a number of ways you can put yourself in a much better position to retire than you are now—and certainly make yourself better off than had you done nothing at all.

A Simple-But-Smart Retirement Investing Strategy That Actually Works

Any viable catch-up plan has got to start with saving, and in your case, the harder you can push yourself the better. Let’s return to that hypothetical 50-year-old I mentioned earlier. If he socks away 15% of salary each year (which is what many retirement experts say you should be saving throughout your career) and earns a 6% annual return on what he saves, he would have just over $320,000 by age 65. If he continues that regimen three more years to 68, the tally jumps to nearly $440,000 and if he keeps working and saving to age 70, his nest egg would total roughly $530,000. Boost the savings rate to 20%, and the respective figures range from roughly $430,000 to just over $700,000. These figures fall short of $1 million, but you’re still talking about serious sums of money that can materially enhance your retirement standard of living.

Let’s not forget that you’ll also have other resources to draw on, starting with Social Security. The Financial Engines Social Security calculator estimates that a 50-year-old man like the one described above might qualify for Social Security benefits of $25,100 a year in today’s dollars at age 65 and $35,900 if he waits until age 70 to claim. That translates to nearly $550,000 and almost $620,000 respectively in total estimated lifetime benefits (although, of course, you can get this amount as a lump sum).

5 Tips For Charting Your Retirement Lifestyle

And if you own a home that’s worth substantially more than you owe on it, you may be able to convert that equity into spendable cash either by downsizing to smaller, less expensive digs or by taking out a reverse mortgage (or, for that matter, downsizing and keeping the option of doing a reverse mortgage later on).

Assuming you’re up for it, there’s always the possibility of boosting your retirement income by working part-time in retirement. You can check out job listings geared toward older workers and retirees—and also find advice on how to land such jobs—at such sites www.RetiredBrains.com

And if you really want to think outside the box, you might also consider relocating to an area with lower living costs, so you can effectively squeeze more spending out of whatever nest egg you do manage to accumulate during your career. To compare the cost of living from one city to another both overall and in categories such as housing, health care, food and transportation, you can check out the Sperling’s Best Places Compare Cost of Living calculator.

Do You Know Your Retirement IQ? Take This Quiz

In short, while saving as much as you can over the next 15 to 20 years is the surest way to enhance your retirement outlook, there are a number of steps you can take, individually and in concert with one another, that can also help improve your chance of being able to maintain an acceptable standard of living throughout out retirement.

One caveat: while reaching a seven-figure nest egg may be a nice target to aspire to, you need to be careful about getting too hung up on any particular number. What really matters is whether you’re saving enough so that draws from your nest egg plus Social Security plus income from other resources will give you the spending cash you need for a secure and comfortable retirement.

How To Double Your Nest Egg In the Home Stretch To Retirement

The best way to tell if you’re on track to generate the income you’ll need is to go to a good retirement income calculator one and plug in such information as your salary, savings rate, how much (if anything) you already have saved and when you plan to retire. Based on that information, the calculator will estimate your chances of reaching your goal if you stick to your current regimen. If your estimated success rate is uncomfortably low—say, below 80% or so—you can then re-run the analysis to see how saving more, retiring later, working in retirement or making other changes will increase the probability of achieving your goal. By going through this exercise every year or so, you can see whether your plan is working and, if not, what you must change to boost your odd of success.

But it’s all got to begin with serious saving, the sooner, the better. Because unless you start socking away some significant bucks pronto, all the other moves I mentioned probably won’t be enough to allow you to retire in anything close to your current lifestyle.

Why you should consider retiring abroad

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 16:06:00 +0000

As seen in Market Watch

In the U.S. alone, there are 10,000 baby boomers retiring every day, a trend expected to continue for the next 15 years. This means that about 3.6 million Americans are retiring each year. And more Americans are retiring outside of the U.S. every year, as evidenced by almost 375,000 retirees receiving their Social Security checks overseas in 2013 (the latest data published by the Social Security Administration).

The dollar has appreciated against most foreign currencies. Thanks to this exchange rate, purchasing property overseas has become relatively reasonable and certainly much less expensive than the purchase of similar property here in the U.S. The cost of living in most overseas locations is a good deal less, which means you can maintain a better lifestyle and your savings will last longer.

In addition, although the cost and quality of health care varies substantially from country to country, there are many overseas locations that offer health care services similar to what is provided in the U.S. and usually at a great deal less.

As you research overseas locations you should select some destinations and check to see how they compare to your needs and expectations. Considerations should be:

Lifestyle/cost of living. Is the beach important, what about restaurants, shopping, skiing, the arts, etc.? Do you want to live near the mountains or near the beach or even both? What lifestyle will your budget provide?

Climate. Many overseas retirement destinations are hot and humid, while some can be chilly and others have a rainy season lasting several months. How does climate affect your decision?

Health care. Do you have medical problems or a medical condition that requires special medical attention or require that you live near a hospital? What kind of health care is available in the country you select, what are the costs and is this available locally?

Time to travel/ease of travel. If you plan to return often to the U.S. to visit friends and family, or if you want them to visit you; if you have health issues and need to return to take care of them this is an important consideration.

Safety. If you don't feel safe, you may not feel comfortable in certain overseas locations.

Politics/government/local laws/stability. How comfortable are you living in a country with anti-American leanings, or where you must be careful with your interactions with the police or local politicians?

Natural disasters. Some places have hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, flooding, etc. and their infrastructure is not set up to handle them.

The arts. How important is access to museums, opera, symphony, ballet, theater?

Sports. Do you wish to play golf, tennis, ski, run, bike, hike, scuba dive, or climb mountains? Do you wish to be able to attend professional or amateur sporting events? Is it important to view sporting events on TV?

Shopping. Is shopping important to you? What about shopping for food, clothes or staples?

Language. Are you comfortable in a country where English is not the native language and perhaps is not spoken or understood by many of the locals?

As you do your research on retiring, relocating abroad check out:
RetiredBrains content including a chart evaluating many destinations according to cost of living, health care, climate, etc. Links to evaluate how far you money will go in over 300 countries, IRS tax implications and much more

International Living's World's Healthiest Places
MarketWatch 10 Best Places to Retire Abroad

5 Tips for Tapping Your Retirement Nest Egg

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 03:01:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave
RealDealRetirement @RealDealRetire

It used to be that if you wanted your nest egg to carry you through 30 or more years of retirement, you followed the 4% rule: you withdrew 4% of the value of your savings the first year of retirement and adjusted that dollar amount annually for inflation to maintain purchasing power. But that standard—which was never really as simple as it seemed— has come under a cloud.

So what’s replacing it?

Depends on whom you ask. Some research suggests that if you really want to avoid running out of money in your dotage, you might have to scale back that initial withdrawal to 3%. Vanguard, on the other hand, recently laid out a system that starts with an initial withdrawal rate—which could be 4% or some other rate—and then allows withdrawals to fluctuate within a range based on the previous year’s spending.

JP Morgan Asset Management has also weighed in. After contending in a recent paper that the 4% rule is broken, the firm went on to describe what it refers to as a “dynamic decumulation model” that, while comprehensive, I think would be beyond the abilities of most individual investors to put into practice.

So if you’re a retiree or near-retiree, how can you draw enough savings from your nest egg to live on, yet not so much you run out of dough too soon or so little that you end up sitting on a big pile of assets in your dotage?

Here are my five tips:

Tip #1: Chill. That’s right, relax. No system, no matter how sophisticated, will be able to tell you precisely how much you can safely withdraw from your nest egg. There are just too many things that can happen over the course of a long retirement—markets can go kerflooey, inflation can spike, your spending could rise or fall dramatically in some years, etc. So while you certainly want to monitor withdrawals and your nest egg’s balance, obsessing over them won’t help, could hurt and will make your retirement less enjoyable.

Tip #2: Create a retirement budget. You don’t have be accurate down to the dollar. You just want to have a good idea of the costs you’ll be facing when you initially retire, as well as which expenses might be going away down the road (such as the mortgage or car loan you’ll be paying off).

Ideally, you’ll also want to separate those expenses into two categories—essential and discretionary—so you’ll know how much you can realistically cut back spending should you need to later on. You can do this budgeting with a pencil and paper. But if you use an online tool like Fidelity’s Retirement Income Planner or Vanguard’s Retirement Expenses Worksheet—both of which you’ll find in the Retirement Income section of Real Deal Retirement’s Retirement Toolbox—you’ll find it easier to factor in the inevitable changes into your budget as you age.

Tip #3: Take a hard look at Social Security. The major questions here: When should you claim benefits? At 62, the earliest you’re eligible? At full retirement age (which is 66 for most people nearing retirement today)? And how might you and your spouse coordinate your claiming to maximize your benefit?

Generally, it pays to postpone benefits as your monthly payment rises 7% to 8% (even before increases for inflation) each year you delay between ages 62 and 70 (after 70 you get nothing extra for holding off). But the right move, especially for married couples, will depend on a variety of factors, including how badly you need the money now, whether you have savings that can carry you if you wait to claim and, in the case of married couples, your age and your wife’s age and your earnings.

Best course: Check out one of the growing number of calculators and services that allow you to run different claiming scenarios. T. Rowe Price’s Social Security Benefits Evaluator will run various scenarios free; the Social Security Solutions service makes a recommendation for a fee that ranges from $20 to $250. You’ll find both in the Retirement Toolbox.

Tip #4: Consider an immediate annuity. If you’ll be getting enough assured income to cover most or all of your essential expenses from Social Security and other sources, such as a pension, you may not want or need an annuity. But if you’d like to have more income that you can count on no matter how long you live and regardless of how the markets fare, then you may want to at least think about an annuity. But not just any annuity. I’m talking about an immediate annuity, the type where you hand over a sum to an insurance company (even though you may actually buy the annuity through another investment firm), and the insurer guarantees you (and your spouse, if you wish) a payment for life.

To maximize your monthly payment, you must give up access to the money you devote to an anuity. So even if you decide an annuity makes sense for you, you shouldn’t put all or probably even most your savings into one. You’ll want to have plenty of other money invested in a portfolio of stocks and bonds that can provide long-term growth, and that you can tap if needed for emergencies and such. To learn more about how immediate annuities work, you can click here. And to see how much lifetime income an immediate annuity might provide, you can go to the How Much Guaranteed Income Can You Get? calculator.

Tip #5: Stay flexible. Now to the question of how much you can draw from your savings. If you’re like most people, an initial withdrawal rate of 3% won’t come close to giving you the income you’ll need. Start at 5%, however, and the chances of running out of money substantially increase. So you’re probably looking at an initial withdrawal of 4% to 5%.

Whatever initial withdrawal you start with, be prepared to change it as your needs, market conditions and your nest egg’s value change. If the market has been on a roll and your savings balance soars, you may be able to boost withdrawals. If, on the other hand, a market setback puts a big dent in your savings, you may want to scale back a bit. The idea is to make small adjustments so that you don’t spend so freely that you deplete your savings too soon—or stint so much that you have a huge nest egg late in life (and you realize too late that you could have spent large and enjoyed yourself more early on).

My suggestion: Every year or so go to a retirement calculator like the ones in Real Deal Retirement’s Retirement Toobox and plug in your current financial information. This will give you a sense of whether you can stick to your current level of withdrawals—or whether you need to scale back or (if you’re lucky) give yourself a raise.

Walter Updegrave is the editor of RealDealRetirement.com. If you have a question on retirement or investing that you would like Walter to answer online, send it to him at walter@realdealretirement.com.

5 Tips for Charting Your Retirement Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 04:03:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave
RealDealRetirement @RealDealRetire

You probably already devote considerable attention to the financial side of retirement planning: how much to save, how to invest, different ways of turning your nest egg into a reliable retirement income, etc. But have you done any retirement lifestyle planning?

Unlike financial planning, lifestyle planning focuses less on money and more on how you’ll actually live your life once you retire.

And just as it’s essential to know whether you’ve got the financial resources to call it a career, it’s equally important to be sure you’re ready to make the lifestyle transition from the work-a-day world to post-career life. You’re going to be spending a good part of your life in retirement. Without the framework of a job to provide structure each day, you’re going to have to find new ways of spending your time that will be satisfying, meaningful and fulfilling.

Of course, the lifestyle you’ll live in retirement is also linked to your finances. You’ll need a much larger nest egg if you expect to travel frequently than if you plan to live a laid-back lifestyle close to home. Ditto if you go into retirement with a mortgage or other debt.

In short, financial planning and lifestyle planning really complement each other. You can’t really do either justice without considering the other.

Here are five tips for getting a start on this crucial aspect of retirement planning:

1. Think Big: One of the most important questions you’ll face in retirement is where you want to live. Will you stay in the same city and neighborhood you’re living in now, or relocate for a change of pace or perhaps to save some money? And whether you stay where you are or move, you’ll also want to consider whether to downsize to a smaller place that requires less maintenance and upkeep.

On the relocation issue, you can check out any number the of “Best Places To Retire” lists that abound on the Net. If nothing else, you’ll get a good sense of the options available. You can then assess living costs at a site like Sperling’s Best Places. As for downsizing, you can scout out real estate prices in different areas by going to a site like Zillow, and then following up with a local real estate agent to get a more detailed assessment of housing and living costs.

2. And Then Think Small: Wherever you choose to live during retirement, you’ll also need to put some thought into how you’ll spend those years. Here, I’m talking about the small-picture issue of what you’ll actually do day-to-day now that a job won’t be soaking up eight or more hours of your time and attention each day.

Going to a tool like Ready-2-Retire, which you’ll find in Real Deal Retirement’s Retirement Toolbox, can help you sharpen your retirement vision. Ready-2-Retire offers icons representing 24 different retirement activities (travel, returning to school, hobbies and creative interests, etc.) that you then drag and drop into three different baskets—Very Important, Moderately Important or Trash—based on how important each is to you. This exercise doesn’t necessary provide actual structure, but it can help you replace vague musing about how you might spend your time with some actual activities.

For a more in-depth and nuanced assessment of what your post-career life might involve, you may want to check out one of the growing number of pre-retirement seminars. One example is the Paths to Creative Retirement workshops offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, where participants explore retirement options and receive guidance on managing the transition to retirement.

3. Do a Trial Run: Don’t stop at a tool or workshop. The only way you can realty tell whether your vision of retirement is realistic is to give it a test drive. Thinking of moving to Key West and starting a small business selling those terrific photos you took of the sunset when you vacationed there for a week last year? Try renting a house in the Keys for a few months and setting up shop to find out if there’s actually a demand for those pictures, not to mention whether the laid-back vibe will lose its appeal after a few weeks. Better to find out whether your vision of an ideal retirement jibes with reality before you relocate than after.

4. Crunch Some Numbers: Once you’ve decided how you want to live in retirement, you’ve got to make sure you can afford that lifestyle. Can the combination of Social Security payments, your pension and reasonable draws from your 401(k) or IRA really support your condo in the city, that mountaintop retreat you want to buy and all the traveling you plan to do?

The only way to really know is to estimate the cost and compare it to the income your nest egg and other sources will generate. If the outlays for your dream retirement exceed your likely income, you can either dial back your “must-have” list a bit, or put in a few more years on the job so a larger nest egg and higher Social Security payments can give you the cash flow to do the Full Monty.

5. Assess Your Social Connections: As important as financial security is in retirement, a Merrill Lynch study found that, after retiring, people missed the social connections they had through work even more than they missed the regular paychecks. Indeed, other research also shows that retirees who felt satisfied with the number of friends they had were almost three times more likely to be happy than those who felt they came up short on the friendship front. Along the same lines, retirees who volunteered or attended some form of worship were likely to feel more content than those who rarely or never volunteered or attended religious services.

I’m not at all suggesting that you’re doomed to a life of misery if you’re not a social extrovert or you’re not particularly religious or spiritual. But having a social network of friends and family that can provide companionship and support in times of need can be as important as having financial reserves that you can fall back on.

4 Tips for Finding The Right Financial Adviser

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 02:38:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave
RealDealRetirement @RealDealRetire

For years the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Labor have been yakking about coming up with ways to better protect investors from adviser conflicts of conflicts. And who knows, maybe they’ll get around to doing so in our lifetime. In the meantime, here are four tips to help you find a pro who’s competent, honest and willing to work for a reasonable fee.

1. Start with questions to yourself. The adviser that’s the right fit for you can depend a lot on what kind of assistance you need. So before you begin your search for financial help, take a little time to ask yourself exactly what it is you want an adviser to do for you.

For example, are looking someone who can do a comprehensive evaluation of your finances, assisting you with everything from developing a retirement plan to assuring you’re saving enough and making sure you have sufficient life and disability insurance? Than in that case you probably want to deal with a certified financial planner, a pro who can take a comprehensive look at all of your financial needs.

If, on the other hand, you’re primarily looking for investing advice, say, someone who can create a portfolio of mutual funds or ETFs and manage it for you, then the portfolio advisory services that large investment firms like Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab and T. Rowe Price may be a better fit. Or, for that matter, if you’re looking to keep costs way down and you’re okay getting your investing advice mostly online, you might want to consider a robo-adviser, one of the new breed of investment management services that use algorithms to create and monitor portfolios.

The point is that just as you would think of how you’re going to use a car before you go shopping for one, so too should you know what sort of financial help you need before you start looking for it.

2. Do some due diligence. Don’t be awed just because some adviser hands you a business card that has a long string of professional credentials. Fact is, so many organizations have issued so many titles and designations over the years—The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority alone lists 157 on its site—that it’s become a virtual mission impossible to separate the bona fide ones (such as the CFP and ChFC) from ones that are mere marketing gimmicks, or worse.

So do a little digging. A good way to begin is by going to the Check Out A Broker or Adviser section of the Securities and Exchange Commission site. There, you’ll find detailed information on how to research the background of brokers, planners and investment advisers, as well as links to regulators’ sites and other resources. But don’t stop there. Before signing on with an adviser, ask him to be more specific about the products and services he’ll offer. Can he mix and match investments from many funds or is he restricted to a limited menu? Even if he can choose from a large roster, does he primarily sell one type of investment? The more you can find out about how an adviser makes his living, the better you’ll be able to evaluate whether that adviser is right for you.

3. Get details on fees and charges—in writing. Advisers are usually compensated in one of three ways: they charge a fee for the advice they give (typically a percentage of assets under management that’s paid each year); they collect commissions for the investment products and services they sell; or they get a combination of fees and commissions. A minority of advisers are willing to charge by the hour or work for a flat fee for specific projects, such as deciding whether to convert to a Roth IRA.

Each arrangement has advantages and disadvantages. But whichever method the adviser uses, he should be willing to estimate in writing the total amount you’ll pay and give a detailed breakdown of that cost (initial and annual fees, upfront commissions and “trails,” or commissions you pay on an annual basis and any underlying costs of the investments themselves, such as investment management or administrative fees). Any exit fees or surrender charges you’ll pay if you sell an investment should also also be disclosed. After you get this fee disclosure, ask the adviser whether there are comparable investments or services available for a lower cost—as there almost always are—and why he didn’t choose those instead.

4. Ask the adviser how he’ll manage conflicts of interest. There’s been a lot in the press recently about the move to hold all financial advisers to a fiduciary standard—that is, require advisers to put clients’ interests first. That sounds nice. But in the real world there’s always some way that an adviser’s interests may not completely square with yours.

For example, advisers who charge commissions may have an incentive to steer you to products or services that provide them with the fattest payout. Those who eschew commissions in favor of an annual percentage fee based on the value of assets they oversee may be tempted to keep that percentage fixed as the value of your portfolio climbs even if they’re doing the same amount of work for you. Or they might be reluctant to put you into investments that may not be covered by their arrangement, such as CDs or annuities, and thus reduce the fee you pay.

So before signing on with an adviser, ask him to explain the potential conflicts and how he plans to manage them. If the adviser balks at this request or says your interests and his are perfectly aligned, move on to another adviser. There are more than enough out there.

3 Ways to Rescue Your Retirement If You’ve Fallen Behind

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 14:33:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave
realdealretirement.com/

I’m in my late 50s and not as prepared for retirement as I’d like to be. I have the equivalent of about one year’s salary saved in my 401(k) and that’s about it. What can I do improve my retirement prospects?

—Linda M., Florida

On the bright side, at least you know you have some catching up to do. Not everyone who’s behind does. For example, a February study by researchers from Ohio State and the University of Alabama found that 27% of 55- to-60-year-olds included in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances hadn’t accumulated the resources they’d need to maintain their standard of living in retirement, yet seemed to think they were doing just fine. The researchers labeled them “unrealistic optimists.”

1. Ramp up your savings rate. Many people in your situation look for an investing solution to bail them out: a hot stock that will triple in value, maybe a high-octane fund that will generate double-digit annual returns. But that’s a risky strategy that can backfire, leaving you worse off.

A better approach: Maintain a moderate investing stance—keeping, say, 40% to 60% of your savings in stocks, depending on your risk tolerance—and focus on finding ways to save as much as you can. You may be surprised at how much you can grow your nest egg’s value in a relatively short period. For example, let’s say you’re 55 earn $80,000, get 2% annual raises and have $80,000 already saved. If you save 15% annually for the next 10 years and earn 6% a year, you’ll end up with just under $320,000 at age 65. Push your savings rate to 20% a year, and your nest egg would weigh in at almost $380,000. Granted, that’s not going to fund a lavish lifestyle. But you’ll be in much better shape than you would be without taking dramatic action.

If you have the willpower to muster such a savings effort—and it will take willpower to save 15% to 20% if you haven’t been doing so—you shouldn’t have much trouble finding places to stash your savings. The limit for 401(k) contributions these days is a relatively generous $18,000, plus $6,000 in catch-up contributions for anyone 50 or older (although individual plans can set a lower ceiling). You may also be able to set aside another $6,500 ($5,500 plus a $1,000 catch up) in a traditional or Roth IRA. (To see which type of IRA you qualify for and how much you can contribute, check out Morningstar’s IRA calculator.) And, of course, you always have the option of socking money away in taxable accounts, preferably in low-cost tax-efficient options like index funds or ETFs.

2. Put in a few extra years on the job. Working even just a few more years can improve your retirement readiness for several reasons. First, you’ve got more time to save and earn a return on existing and new savings. Another three years of saving plus investment returns on new and existing savings for our hypothetical 55-year-old socking away 20% a year would boost the value of her nest egg by roughly $135,000 to about $515,000. Those three extra years of work are also three fewer years that nest egg has to last in retirement.

But there’s another benefit to delaying your work exit: a higher Social Security benefit. Each year you postpone taking benefits between the age of 62 and 70, your benefit increases by 7% to 8%, possibly more depending on your work history. So, for example, a 65-year-old woman earning $95,000 who delays three years might see her yearly payments increase from $28,500 to $35,500 (before inflation adjustments) and her potential lifetime benefit increase $60,000, according to Financial Engines’ Social Security calculator. Married couples can reap even bigger gains in lifetime benefits by coordinating when each spouse starts collecting. The combination of a boost in savings and larger Social Security benefits can easily mean the difference between merely scraping by and enjoying yourself in retirement.

3. Think outside the box. If you’re willing to be creative and resourceful, you can find even more ways to improve your situation. For example, just as working a few extra years before you retire can enhance your retirement security, so too can taking on occasional or part-time work after retiring.

Let’s say you earn $20,000 a year working part time for the first five years of retirement. Assuming that extra income allows you to reduce withdrawals from savings by the same amount, your nest egg would be worth roughly $116,000 more after five years than it would have been if you hadn’t worked, assuming a 6% return on your savings. Just remember: If you work and collect Social Security benefits when you are below full retirement age, your monthly benefit could be reduced if your earnings exceed certain thresholds (although if it is, Social Security effectively restores those withheld payments by increasing your benefit when you reach full retirement age.) You can check out what sorts of jobs are available for retirees and pre-retirees and what they pay by going to sites like RetiredBrains.com and RetirementJobs.com.

If you’ve got a significant amount of equity in your home, you might consider freeing up some of it for spendable cash by downsizing to less-expensive digs. On the other hand, if you prefer staying in your present home, you may be able to convert some of your home equity to income by taking out a reverse mortgage. And if you’re willing to consider a somewhat more radical move, you may be able to stretch your retirement income by relocating to an area with lower living costs. (This calculator can help you compare living expenses in different cities.)

I’m not saying that taking these steps will insure you’ll achieve the same level of financial security in retirement that you would enjoy had you been saving diligently all along. That would be unrealistic. But if you start on a comprehensive catch-up plan now, you should be able to regain considerable lost ground, and you’ll definitely be better off than if you do nothing at all.

3 Ways To Be Sure You’re Not Fooling Yourself About Your Retirement Readiness

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:22:00 +0000

By Walter Updegrave
RealDealRetirement.com

Are you on track toward a secure retirement? Before you answer, consider this: A new study shows that many people who aren’t preparing well for retirement apparently think they are—while others who actually are on track may erroneously believe they’re not. Here are three things you can do to make sure you’re being realistic about your retirement readiness.

In a recent study titled “Do U.S. Households Perceive Their Retirement Preparedness Realistically?” researchers from the University of Alabama and Ohio State found that 58% of the nearly 2,300 full-time workers aged 35-to-60 polled in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances weren’t on a path to a secure retirement. They also concluded that just under half of those who are unprepared didn’t realize that they were falling short. No surprises there. Plenty of studies show that lots of people are woefully unprepared for retirement, while other research finds that many are overconfident about their prospects.

But the study also revealed some counter-intuitive twists. For example, the researchers found that just over half of those who are actually preparing decently for retirement don’t view themselves as being on track. And among workers who weren’t prepared, those who had a traditional defined benefit pension were more likely to be unrealistic about where they stood than those who lack a pension.

These sorts of surprising disconnects could be the result of people simply not knowing how to evaluate their retirement preparedness or , in the case of pensions, mistakenly thinking that the mere fact that they have a pension means they’ll have sufficient retirement income to maintain their standard of living.

Clearly, you’re better off being on track for retirement than not. But either way, it’s also important that your outlook be accurate, so you have a more realistic notion of what you must do to have a decent shot at a secure retirement. Here are three ways you can get a true fix on where you stand on your retirement planning efforts.

1. Crunch the numbers—and I mean really crunch them. If you’ve been socking away money diligently in a 401(k) or other retirement plan and investing in a broadly diversified portfolio, chances are you’re making decent headway toward a secure retirement. But the only way to know for sure is to do a full-fledged assessment of your progress.

Specifically, you need go to a retirement calculator that uses Monte Carlo analysis and plug in such information as the amount you currently have saved, the percentage of salary you’re contributing to retirement accounts each year, how you’re investing your savings, when you plan to retire and how much you expect to spend annually in retirement. Based on that information, the calculator can estimate the probability that you’re on track toward accumulating the resources necessary to generate the income you’ll need to sustain you throughout retirement. If you’re not comfortable doing this sort of exercise on your own, you should consider having a financial adviser run the numbers for you.

2. Fine-tune your plan, if necessary. There’s no official standard of what constitutes “being on track.” Generally, though, if the type of analysis I recommend shows that you have less than an 80% or so chance of generating the lifetime income you’ll need once you retire, that’s a sign you need to step up your efforts. If that’s the case—and the study cited above suggests it will be for most people—you can see what steps might tilt the odds of success more in your favor.

Typically, the single best way to improve your retirement outlook is to increase the amount you contribute to a 401(k), IRA or other retirement savings plan. Contributing even an extra couple of percentage points of pay each year can fatten the size of your nest egg by 20% over the course of a career. Revising your investing strategy may also help, but be careful: Taking a more aggressive stance by loading up with more stocks may boost returns, but it also makes your portfolio more vulnerable to market setbacks. A more effective tweak: Look for ways to cut investment fees.

Reducing annual costs by even a half a percentage point a year can have the same effect as saving roughly an extra 1% of pay throughout your career. Postponing retirement a few years, claiming Social Security at a later age and downsizing or relocating can also increase your chances of retirement success.

3. Re-assess your readiness periodically. Bumps and detours along the road to retirement are the rule, not the exception. Indeed, a recent TD Ameritrade survey found that two-thirds of Americans have had their retirement planning disrupted by a job loss, illness or other problem. And even if you’re fortunate enough to sail through your career without such a setback, there’s always the possibility that a market downturn will devastate your nest egg and seriously damage your retirement outlook.

Which is why it’s crucial that every year or so you plug updated information up that retirement calculator and get a fresh evaluation of where you stand, and take corrective measures, if necessary. In periods of market turmoil, you may also want to give your retirement plan a “crash test” just to be sure a severe market correction won’t irretrievably damage your retirement prospects.

Bottom line: If you want a secure retirement, you’ve got to plan for it during your career. But it’s also a good idea to have an accurate sense of whether that planning is actually panning out.

Grief and Loss Support

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 18:08:00 +0000

Older Americans are often faced with the loss of a friend or loved one.

Grief is a very individual process and no two people experience it in the same way. Therefore it follows that there is no right or wrong way to grieve. Instead of thinking of grief as a linear process, it is better to consider it a roller coaster of highs and lows where each high and low becomes less intense.

Grieving the loss of a loved one is a stressful, as well as debilitating, experience. For grief and loss support information and help click here .

For pet loss support click here

The poem below has been sent many times to people who have lost a friend or family member and most have found it to be comforting. We hope you will find it comforting as well and perhaps pass it on when appropriate.

The Ship
I am standing upon the sea-shore.
A ship at my side spreads it white sails to the morning
breeze and starts for the blue ocean. It is an object
of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch it until
at length it hangs like a speck of white cloud just where
the sea and the sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says
"There! She's gone".
Gone where? Gone from my sight—that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was
when she left my side and just as able to bear her load
of living freight to her place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me—not in her; and just at the
moment when someone at my side says
"There she's gone".
There are other eyes watching and other voices ready to
take up the glad shout.
"There she comes!"

Best Reason to Delay Retirement

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 04:19:00 +0000

Most people are thinking of delaying their retirement in order to work longer, save more money, add to their investment portfolio and avoid having to dip into retirement savings until a bit later in life.

There is, however, another major reason you should consider delaying your retirement.

Those who delay retiring are more likely to live longer

Studies and research by actuaries — the professional mathematicians who advise pension funds — show that working longer and retiring later improves life expectancy. Andrew Gaches, a longevity consultant said that "retiring at age 70 rather than 60 adds around 13 months to men's life expectancy — and 12 months to women's longevity — even after allowing for differences in individuals' health, wealth and lifestyle.”

The Stanford Center on Longevity, quoted a study that indicates "the death rates of those who were still working were roughly half that of the death rates of men the same age who were fully retired.”

Living longer is certainly of major interest to most people, but living longer is important only if your quality of life is a good one and you have enough capital or income to live somewhere near the lifestyle you had planned.

Some areas to check out regarding maximizing income for “retirees” who continue to work in some capacity:

1. Receiving Social Security benefits: If you are receiving Social Security benefits and also work but aren't yet at full retirement age, $1 in benefits will be deducted for each $2 in your earnings. For the year you reach full retirement age, these benefits are reduced $1 for every $3 earned until the month you reach full retirement age. Note the amounts you can earn continues to increase each year.

2. Delay Social Security benefits if at all possible Unless it is likely you won't live the average longer projected life, if you are in your early 60s you should not tap into your Social Security benefits. By starting at 62, rather than at the government’s “full retirement age” of 66 for people born from 1943 to 1954, you would cut your monthly benefits substantially. If you wait until age 70 you would get 132% of the monthly benefit you would collect at your full retirement age.

Read the “Working & Social Security Benefits” section at RetiredBrains for more information on this subject.

Also check the Social Security Benefits Estimator and Calculator. The information on this page of the Social Security website provides all kinds of information as well as links to where you can find answers to many of your questions.

3. The costs of health care and how you pay for them during your retirement years should be a major consideration. If you continue to work full-time, employer paid health care benefits, whether they are paid in full or contributory, are relatively reasonable. If you stop working before you are eligible for Medicare these costs are likely to be substantial.

Once you are on Medicare, and if you also take out a supplemental insurance policy, the costs even with copays, in most instances, is affordable. For more information click here.

Additional links where you can find information of interest regarding continuing to work well into your retirement years:

Search Temporary & Part-Time Jobs and project assignments as these are the kinds of employment more available to boomers and older job seekers.

Search seasonal jobs. CoolWorks.com includes a section devoted to seasonal jobs for what they call “older and bolder” job seekers.

Free eBook 10 Interviewing Tips

Free eBook Resume Building
Free eBook Finding Employment

These Are the Top 20 Cities Americans Are Ditching

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 02:55:00 +0000

Soaring costs of living meant residents left New York City and its suburbs in droves

by Erin Roman Wei Lu Bloomberg.com

New York City, Los Angeles, Honolulu: They're all places you would think would be popular destinations for Americans. So it might come as a surprise that these are among the cities U.S. residents are fleeing in droves.

The map below shows the 20 metropolitan areas that lost the greatest share of local people to other parts of the country between July 2013 and July 2014, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The New York City area ranked 2nd, losing about a net 163,000 U.S. residents, closely followed by a couple surrounding suburbs in Connecticut. Honolulu ranked fourth and Los Angeles ranked 14th. The Bloomberg calculations looked at the 100 most populous U.S. metropolitan areas.

Interestingly, these are also the cities with some of the highest net inflows of people from outside the country. That gives many of these cities a steadily growing population, despite the net exodus of people moving within the U.S.

So what's going on here? Michael Stoll, a professor of public policy and urban planning at the University of California Los Angeles, has an idea. Soaring home prices are pushing local residents out and scaring away potential new ones from other parts of the country, he said. (Everyone knows how unaffordable the Manhattan area has become.)

And as Americans leave, people from abroad move in to these bustling cities to fill the vacant low-skilled jobs. They are able to do so by living in what Stoll calls "creative housing arrangements" in which they pack six to eight individuals, or two to four families, into one apartment or home. It's an arrangement that most Americans just aren't willing to pursue, and even many immigrants decide it's not for them as time goes by, he said.

In addition, the growing demand for high-skilled workers, especially in the technology industry, brought foreigners who possess those skills to the U.S. They are compensated appropriately and can afford to live in these high-cost areas, just like Americans who hold similar positions. One example is Washington, D.C., which had a lot of people from abroad arriving to soak up jobs in the growing tech-hub, Stoll said.

Other areas weren't so lucky. Take some of the Rust Belt cities that experienced fast drops in their American populations, like Cleveland, Dayton and Toledo, even though they are relatively inexpensive places to live. These cities didn't get enough international migrants to make up for the those who left, a reflection of the fact that locals were probably leaving out of a lack of jobs.

This is part of a multiple-decade trend of the U.S. population moving away from these manufacturing hubs to areas in the Sun Belt and the Pacific Northwest, Stoll said. Retiring baby boomers are also leaving the Northeast and migrating to more affordable places with better climates.

This explains why the majority of metropolitan areas in Florida and Texas, as well as west-coast cities like Portland, had an influx of people. El Paso, Texas, the city that residents fled from at the fastest pace, also saw a surprisingly small number of foreigners settling in given how close it is to Mexico.

"A lot of young, reasonably educated people are having a hard time finding work there," Stoll said. "They're not staying in town after they graduate," leaving for the faster-growing economies of neighboring metro areas like Dallas and Austin, he said.

Methodology: Bloomberg ranked 100 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas based on their net domestic migration rates, from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2014, as a percentage of total population as of July 2013. Domestic migration refers to people moving within the country (e.g. someone moving from New York City to San Francisco). A negative rate indicates more people leaving than coming in. International migration refers to a local resident leaving for a foreign country or someone from outside the U.S. moving into the U.S.

America’s Seniors Find Middle-Class ‘Sweet Spot’

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 01:32:00 +0000

By Dionne Searcey and Robert Gebeloff June 14, 2015, New York Times

Most Americans suffered serious losses during and after the recession, knocked off balance by layoffs, stagnant pay and the collapse of home values.

But apart from the super-rich, one group’s fortunes appear to have held remarkably steady: seniors.

Supported by income from Social Security, pensions and investments, as well as an increasing number of paychecks from delaying retirement, older people not only weathered the economic downturn that began in 2007 but made significant gains, a New York Times analysis of government data has found.

More "seniors" are working

Read the entire article

How to Manage Your Parents’ Finances When They Can’t

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 02:30:00 +0000

From a June article in Next by Lucy Lazarony

(link to http://www.nextavenue.org/how-to-manage-your-parents-finances-when-they-cant/

Below are five recommendations from money experts if you find yourself needing to manage one or both of your parents’ finances. They can be especially helpful if the parent who managed the household’s money for years is ill or incapacitated, since the other may be at a loss about what to do.

1. Find the financial documents. Look for your parents’ essential documents in desk drawers, safety deposit boxes and filing cabinets. You need to find their bank and investment statements including retirement accounts; insurance records; the title to the house and car as well as medical and doctor records, especially if paying for medical expenses is a growing financial concern.

When Should You Talk Money with Your Parents?

“Take an inventory of what exactly they have and a balance sheet of what’s going to come in or go out.” says Skip Fleming, a financial planner at Lodestar Financial Planning in Colorado Springs, Colo.

2. Check their cash flow. The checkbook register and bank statements can answer important questions: Are they keeping up with their bills? Are they paying the same bill twice, or not at all? Have they made a number of repeated purchases for items they may not use? Are they giving to their favorite charity every time a telemarketer for the organization calls?

How to Stop Mom or Dad From Stupid Spending

Fleming and his brother are helping their widowed mother with her finances. Fleming offers strategic planning advice while his brother, who lives closer to his mother, stops by twice a month to help pay bills. “She still to this day handwrites checks for everything,” Fleming says. “And my brother goes over to her house a couple of times a month and they go through it together.”

3. Streamline spending. Check for ways to trim and simplify your parents’ finances. Do they have credit cards they never use? A cell phone they don’t need or a very expensive calling plan?

“Try to streamline stuff as much as possible,” says Fleming, whose mother had cable add ons she didn’t need and a cell phone she didn’t use.

4. Divvy up the job with your siblings. “I’ve seen it work very well with someone doing the day to day and someone else doing the more strategic or long range things,” Fleming says.

If neither you nor your brothers or sisters feel competent to take control of your parents’ investments, reach out to a financial adviser.

5. Sign a durable power of attorney. Discuss with your siblings whether you, one or more of them, or some combination will act as durable power of attorney, making financial decisions for your parents when they cannot. (Find out precisely how a durable power of attorney works in the state where your parent lives or will be living if he or she will soon relocate.)

“It’s worth spending two hundred bucks or whatever it costs to talk to an attorney, hopefully it’s your parent’s attorney,”

Here are the average payments Medicare makes to every medical specialty

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 02:26:00 +0000

By Art Golab | June 12, 2015 Modern Healthcare

Looking at Medicare physician payment data, it would appear that oncologists were
among the highest paid specialists in 2013. But a closer look reveals that much of
the money going to oncologists is used to cover the cost of administered drugs.

This chart shows the average total payment for every medical specialty along with
the average payment for drugs, which is a subset of the total payment.

The drug payment figures were broken out for the first time in the physician
payment data for 2013 released last week.

Individual payment totals to physicians can be tracked by specialty
and location using Modern Healthcare's Medicare payment data tool.

Select specialties from the drop down menu to compare payments.

Select specialties from the dropdown menu to compare payments.
(If you wish to be able to use this menu to check and compare costs of most medical disciplines click here and screen down to this chart.)

9 Ways to Retire with More Money

noreply@blogger.com (George) — Fri, 22 May 2015 00:28:00 +0000

Increase your Social Security benefits
The new book, “Get What's Yours, The Secrets to Maximizing Out Your Social Security” helps you decide when and how to collect retiree, spousal, survivor, divorcee, parent, and child benefits to achieve the highest lifetime benefits. According to its authors following the suggestions in this book could earn you as much as an additional $50,000 in benefits.

Two of most important suggestions this book provides which are not generally known are:

1. A good strategy for married couples is for one spouse to file for the retirement benefit at 62 and then immediately suspend it. The other spouse files for a spousal benefit and can collect half of the other’s retirement benefit through age 70. Spousal benefits also apply to any couple married for at least 10 years, including divorcees.

2. Depending on circumstances, it might be better to file at 62, suspend at 66, and then refile at 70 if dependents need money more quickly. The goal is to maximize your longer-term payout so you don’t run out of money.

Check this site for additional information on Social Security which includes

- When should you receive Social Security?
- How to apply for Social Security?
- Contact information for the Social Security Administration
- Information on working and benefits
- Information on what you should do if a Spouse Dies

Continue working longer prior to retirement
The obvious advantages are more money can be saved for your retirement years and you will not have to dip into retirement savings until you finish working. Working longer also makes it easier to postpone taking Social Security making your monthly benefits larger. Check out this article for more information:

The best reason to delay retirement http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-best-reason-to-delay-retirement-2014-01-29

Continue working after you “retire”
Most jobs available to retirees are part-time, temporary, project based or seasonal and money earned from these jobs, when added to other income, helps your savings last longer and perhaps allow a bit more for a better lifestyle during retirement.

See this site for information on part-time, temporary, project based and seasonal jobs

We have provided several articles (below) for more information

Why so many retirees work in retirement

How to find work after 50

14 Tips and resources for winding work in retirement

Save/invest more prior to retiring and payoff most debt
All financial advisers suggest this course of action and since people are living a great deal longer it is necessary to do this if you hope to have enough money late in life. The Department of Labor site http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/10_ways_to_prepare.html includes 10 ways to prepare for retirement:

1. Start saving, keep saving, and stick to your goals

2. Know your retirement needs

3. Contribute to your employer’s retirement savings plan

4. Learn about your employer's pension plan

5. Consider basic investment principles

6. Don't touch your retirement savings

7. Ask your employer to start a plan

8. Put money into an Individual Retirement Account

9. Find out about your Social Security benefits

10. Ask Questions

Check out the Bankrate retirement shortfall calculator to help you determine your projected shortfall or surplus at retirement You can enter your retirement savings, monthly contributions, years before retirement, projected years you will be retired, projected annual retirement spending, and expected inflation rate and find out how long your savings should last. Shortfall calculator http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/retirement/calculate-retirement-income-money.aspx#ixzz3VzOYqCIi

The Employee Benefits Research Institute provides information on How Much Needs to be Saved for Retirement After Factoring In Post-Retirement Risks: (http://www.ebri.org/pdf/notespdf/EBRI_Notes_03_Mar15_Svngs-HlthCntribs.pdf)

Start a small business after you retire to create revenue

The revenue from starting a small business or becoming a consultant will provide additional income as well tax deductions you may not otherwise be able to take. See Become a Consultant and Information on starting your own business

Spend less after you retire

On healthcare. Make sure you have the right insurance plan for you and your family.

On your daily expenditures. Audit your phone bills, utility bills, insurance bills, etc. and you are likely to find substantial savings often do to underutilization of the plan(s) you are paying for.

On your place of residence/location/lifestyle, etc. Consider staying in the same location where you have been living as opposed to moving to a more expensive area like Florida, Arizona or California.

Reduce your taxes

Meet with your accounts to review how to reduce your taxes. They can assist you make tax efficient investments and manage tax advantaged accounts.

If you plan to gift assets there are ways to do so that will accomplish your wishes as well as reduce your taxes. If you wish to provide money to your children or grandchildren there are ways to do so which could lessen your taxes

Take advantage of discounts available to your age group

There are many discounts available to boomers and seniors. Click any of the links below to see lists in each category

Gas, Phones, Services, etc.

which can save you thousands of dollars a year.

Scams reduce the assets of retirees and people planning their retirement

Identity theft, fraud and scams against boomers, retirees and older Americans are much more common than against younger Americans. These articles provide good information on scams, frauds, identity thefts and how to recognize and avoid them.

How to identify and protect yourself from scams
Avoiding scams—and getting help if you’re scammed