Will you have enough income for life for your expected retired lifestyle? The idea of a fulfilling retirement sounds great, but in our 50s, it suddenly becomes more than just a distant dream. Just the thought of retirement starts to feel like a tangible reality.
It’s the time when we can really think about life after our careers, the years in which we can finally enjoy the fruits of our life’s work. To make the most of it all, you need to ensure that you have sufficient income for life, or in other words, enough money to last however long your retirement might be.
In this article, we will explore what those in their 50s, near retirement, and in retirement should know about income for life strategies. We will discuss how to create dependable lifelong income streams from retirement investments and savings.
If you are exploring ways to generate income in retirement, you may have thought about annuities at some point. Of course, annuities can be quite involved sometimes. They come in many flavors, and it’s quite natural to ask why people buy annuities.
The reasons are different for everybody. But one short answer is because annuities can provide more financial peace of mind with their contractual guarantees, backed by the life insurance company.
Annuities have grown in popularity, as people can use them to supplement their Social Security payouts, have a guaranteed lifetime income stream, earn interest on their money, protect their assets against market losses, and enjoy tax-advantaged financial growth. Paying for long-term care, offsetting inflation, and shielding assets from probate and creditors are a few other reasons as well.
In this article, we will delve into reasons behind why people buy annuities and how these guaranteed financial vehicles can contribute to a well-rounded financial strategy.
Retirement is a big life milestone, as it’s when people depart the workplace and start on a new chapter of personal fulfillment and exploration. However, life doesn’t just hit the pause button once you have retired. A number of post-retirement risks and challenges require careful planning and attention.
From outliving your income to a rising cost of living, here are a few things to keep mind in mind for post-retirement risks that you may come across. In this article, we will go over those risks and explore strategies to effectively manage them.
“Can I retire yet?” It’s a question that many people ask. The answer is deeply personal, quite different for everyone, and depends on many factors. Some drivers include how you will replace the income that you were earning from your career, what you have done to feel as ready as possible for retirement, and how you will handle the new life changes.
In many respects, retirement is the “next chapter in life,” but it can also be a period of uncertainty. As you near the bend, how should you approach that question of “when can I retire?” How can you be sure about when the right time to retire is for you?
It will ultimately hinge on your personal goals, but here are a few things to keep in mind as you think about this question.
Retirement planning is a critical part of financial planning. It’s the point at which people leave behind a career and enjoy the fruits of their life’s work. Since they are no longer bringing home the bacon from their job or business, the money has to come from somewhere.
To that end, ensuring a secure and stable income during retirement is a top priority. While there are a variety of financial vehicles that you can tap for income, annuities are an effective way to maximize retirement income.
With their contractual guarantees, they offer a unique way to provide a steady stream of income throughout retirement, helping retirees maintain their lifestyle and meet their financial needs. The risk tied to annuity payouts is pooled by insurance companies across thousands of contract holders, creating efficient risk management that no individual retirees can produce by themselves.
In this article, we will cover using annuities for retirement planning, their benefits, and some reasons for including them as part of a comprehensive retirement plan. Before going further, let’s cover the basics of annuities.
As you near retirement, it’s typically more important to protect what you have than it is to reap financial gains. A ‘volatility buffer’ strategy can help especially when in the retirement red zone, or that point of 10 years before and 10 years into being retired.
If someone is within that timespan, then a major financial loss can seriously derail their retirement goals. For instance, many people were ready to retire in 2008, but they were forced to work for another ten years or so in order to make up for investment losses suffered in the financial crisis.
But what is a volatility buffer, and how does it work? In simple terms, a volatility buffer is a way to reduce investment loss risk in your financial plan. It can help you keep financially on track in times of unsavory market conditions, including when you are taking withdrawals from your asset holdings for retirement income.
You have a variety of options that you could use in a volatility buffer strategy. One way that you can guard against this heavy cost of investment loss risk is with a fixed index annuity. This type of annuity has a feature of protection in the volatility of the markets while keeping your money safe from losses. Of course, this is just one option among others.
In this article, we will go over what a volatility buffer is, how to include a volatility buffer strategy in your overall plan, the pros and cons of this strategy, and how to tell if it’s a good fit for your financial situation.
The term “aging in place” refers to how retirees wish to remain in their homes for their entire retirement, however long it may last. Aging in place is a growing trend and increasingly important for millions of Americans.
On the other hand, it’s also a hard goal to achieve. One major moving target in retirement is how our health needs evolve as we age. These changes can be especially impactful if we move into health situations requiring assisted living or other long-term care support.
According to a U.S. News & World Report survey, 9 in 10 adults aged 55 and up said it’s an important goal for them to be able to receive this care in their own homes, where they are comfortable and familiar, if at all possible. In this article, we will discuss aging in place and some other things to keep in mind, including:
What you should know about it,
Ways to create a sustainable plan that can make it possible, and
Potential pitfalls for planning for aging in place.
Find planning for retirement a little daunting — and perhaps frustrating? To help boil things down, we are bringing experts from all corners of the retirement and insurance spaces to give you high-level insights for your financial confidence and security. In this SafeMoney.com Spotlight Series interview, Kim O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice (FACC), joins us to talk about retirement trends, annuities, life insurance, long-term care, and evolving regulations affecting insurance products.
This is a wide-ranging interview talking about all of the choices available to you, past and upcoming innovations in the annuity and insurance markets, how satisfied that annuity and insurance customers truly are with their policies, how you can build a truly well-diversified plan to handle today’s hard-to-predict risks, and much more!
You may have heard of an “annuity bonus” if you have ever looked at annuities before. Bonuses are just one annuity feature, but are they warranted? Are these annuity bonuses a good thing in general, or are they more of a good fit in certain situations?
In this article, we will go over the basics of an annuity bonus, what it involves, what situations in which you might consider one, and the pros and cons of an annuity bonus. In general, annuities that come with a bonus are called “bonus annuities.”
You can use some simple formulas to calculate how much a given investment might grow over time, such as the Rule of 72. This rule can show you how long it will take for your money to double at a certain rate of return, but it also assumes the growth isn’t taxed.
What about estimating how long it will take for an investment to grow but when the growth is taxable? This is where simple calculations such as the Rule of 108 can come in handy. The Rule of 108 is similar to the Rule of 72 insofar as it lets you see how quickly your taxable investment might double in value. It also assumes a federal income tax rate of 32% that applies to the growth annually.
In this article, we will go more over the Rule of 108, how to use it to get an idea of how it long it would take for your taxable money to grow, some pros and cons, and how you can get the most out of it.
Start a Conversation About Your Retirement What-Ifs
Start a Conversation About Your Retirement What-Ifs
Already working with someone or thinking about getting help? Ask us about what is on your mind. Learn More
What Independent Guidance Does for You
What Independent Guidance
Does for You
See how the crucial differences between independent and captive financial professionals add up. Learn More
Stories from Others Just Like You
Stories from Others
Just Like You
Hear from others who had financial challenges, were looking for answers, and how we helped them find solutions. Learn More
Sign Up for Our Newsletter
Get a monthly email on the latest news, tips, and practical strategies involving your retirement and money.
Among many other topics, learn how you can make your money last for as long as you need it, can protect your wealth against current and evolving risks, can maximize your income, and can stay retired comfortably.
