Annuities have a great allure, furnishing you income in retirement. But there are annuities and there are annuities. And they are dauntingly complex. One very smart advisor who can untangle them is Jeff Rose, CFP, the founder of Alliance Wealth Management in Carbondale, Ill His take: Annuities, like any other investment, make perfect sense in the right situation. In the wrong situation, they can cost you money – and even be dangerous. Read more
Retirement Strategy : A Personal Account
A friend recently told me he’s planning to retire but is worried about his financial ability to do so. When he described his situation, I told him it seemed to me he didn’t have anything to worry about. But, still he’s worried. As luck would have it, I heard a finance professor lecture on retirement income planning the following day. He suggested a strategy that might just help put my friend’s mind at ease. I then also read an article in the Harvard Business Review by Nobel laureate economist Robert Merton touting the same idea. It’s not a cure-all, a panacea or magical solution. As a financial whiz-kid once reminded me, “No financial product has a ‘secret sauce’.”
The concept: use annuities as a key element in your retirement income strategy. Read more
Protect Your Retirement From The Government’s Whims
I’m worried that government policies will undermine the value of my retirement savings. I’ve worked hard for this money and I’m counting on it to keep me comfortable during retirement. What can I do to avoid being robbed by Washington? — Joyce A.
“Robbed” is perhaps a little strong, but I understand your trepidation. For better or worse, government policies in any number of areas can clearly affect the value of your nest egg, not to mention your retirement prospects overall. Read more
Have You Crash-Tested Your Retirement Plan?
At this point it’s anyone’s guess whether the recent turmoil in the market is just another a speed bump on the road to further gains or the start of a serious setback. But either way, now is an ideal time to ask: Would your retirement plans survive a crash?
The three-step crash-test below can give you a sense of how your retirement plans might fare during a major market downturn, and help you take steps to avert disaster. I recommend you do this stress-test now, while you can still make meaningful adjustments, rather than waiting until a crisis actually hits—and wishing you’d taken action beforehand. Read more
The 5 Best Places to Retire on the Beach in 2016
These overseas retirement spots have water views and an affordable cost of living.
A beach retirement costs much less if you are willing to move overseas.
Perhaps the most common retire-overseas daydream is a new life at the beach. Mountain lifestyles and city living can be great options, but the promise of a beachfront retirement draws many people abroad. If you, like so many others, dream of a coastal retirement, here are five of your best choices.
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Watch Out for These Retirement Gotchas
Find out how to protect your retirement plan and savings against these hidden costs, important deadlines, and financial traps.
From high fees buried in hundreds of pages of fine print to important tax deadlines that sneak up on you, retirement planning is full of surprises for people who are unprepared. Make sure you’re aware of the potholes along the road to retirement so that you can navigate the process with fewer headaches. Here are some of the retirement planning traps to look out for and how to avoid them.
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2016’s Best and Worst States To Retire
Brought to you by Wallethub.com
Based on affordability, health factors, such as hospital rankings, number of physicians and quality of life.
Retirement might be the end of the line, but it doesn’t have to be the end of financial security or life satisfaction. For many of us, our primary concern with retirement is timing, which often coincides with the age at which we become eligible to receive Social Security or pension benefits. Hopefully the choice will be ours and not dictated by our circumstances — the unfortunate case for nearly a third of nonretirees who haven’t put away a single penny for retirement, though not necessarily through any fault of their own. Read more
How much do you really need for retirement?
It’s the age-old question: How much should I save for retirement?
For years, financial advisors recommended people save at least $1 million to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But given longer lifespans and concerns about the financial status of Social Security, is that target enough to fund a potentially decades-long retirement?
Maybe not. Read more
5 Ways to Tell if You’re Really Ready To Retire
Think it’s about time to call it a career? Great. But before you say “Hasta la vista, baby!” to your job, I suggest you go over the five items in my Are You Really Ready To Retire? checklist.
Just to be clear: I’m not talking about “ready to retire” in the sense that you’ll flip out if you have to deal with your egomaniac of a boss one more day. I mean you’re ready in the sense of being financially, socially and emotionally prepared to make the transition to your post-career life. That’s important to know because if you exit before you’re truly prepared, you may find yourself repeating another famous Schwarzenegger line: “I’ll be back.” Read more
Buying an Annuity? 6 Questions to Ask
Annuities are not for everyone, but they might play a valuable role in your retirement plan — as long as you take the time to learn about them, ask the right questions, and buy ones that are appropriate for your needs.
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