Do you know what the average retirement income is in the United States? A typical retiree household brings in $49,097 annually before taxes. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines retiree households as those led by someone who is 65 or older.
And what about their spending? On average, a retiree household spends roughly $49,542 per year, which is slightly more than the average retirement income mentioned earlier.
Meanwhile, the average annual pre-tax income for all U.S. households is $73,573. And as for household spending across all age groups, the BLS estimates average expenditures to be $60,060 annually. Read More
But what happens if you put this necessary task off? If you take a “someday” approach to stopping to assess your needs in retirement and exploring strategies and solutions that can help you achieve them?
It’s not hard to find out. You may even have watched people you know and care about struggle financially in their golden years. A time in their lives that was supposed to be free of financial pressures — or at least relatively, so we think — instead forces them to make unpleasant choices just to stay afloat.
Most often, poor financial decisions (or a lack of planning) — fueled by the emotional pressures of life changes or financial stressors — tip that first domino that can begin to topple a care-free retirement.
It takes discipline in matters of money and financial planning to ensure your money works for you, instead of the other way around.
Because you don’t want to find yourself going down the wrong path to retirement, consider these consequences of not taking action to create a plan that can provide you benefits such as reliable income for life. Read More
As a postal or federal employee, you have high-quality federal benefits. In time, they will play directly into your retirement, whether you will be eligible to retire in the next 15 years or are a new career hire.
Among your many benefits are programs that directly affect your financial future. Tax-advantaged retirement savings plans, guaranteed-pension payouts, and cost-efficient life insurance coverage are just a few of those programs.
Your challenge is to ensure that you maximize what is available to you. Making smart choices early will help you reap rewards for the rest of your life. So, it’s important to weave your federal employee benefits into your complete financial picture to set yourself up for the most successful retirement possible.
To get there, you need to avoid the mistakes some federal employees make with their benefits and retirement planning. These slip-ups can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in lost benefits. And what’s more, once these mistakes are made, they can’t be reversed or changed. Read More
Photo Credit: Fisher Investments, Featured in USA Today Special, Source Link. Photo is strictly intellectual property of its owner. All Rights Reserved.
Long-time money manager Ken Fisher says he hates annuities. And he isn’t exactly shy about it. Since 2013, the head of Fisher Investments has run many blistering anti-annuity promotions – from critical columns and print ads to aggressive TV spots and online display advertising.
Over time, those promotional spots have driven market awareness, boosting Fisher’s profile as a well-recognized annuity critic. Many campaigns still run today, with the ads building on the Fisher celebrity, retirement tips, annuity leg sweeps, or other stickler points.
But while the annuity marketing blitz has been a success, a recent article raises questions about Fisher’s strong public stand against annuities.
It may point to what some call a contradiction between the “I hate annuities” mantra of Fisher advertising campaigns and the investment holdings of Fisher’s firm.
At InvestmentNews, reporter Greg Iacurci writes that while the infamous anti-annuity ads were running, Fisher Investments itself was invested in companies with large annuity business. Read More
Before you commit to an annuity as part of your retirement plan, it’s good to know the basics of this retirement tool. Every year, Americans put hundreds of millions of dollars into new annuity policies. Yet there still seems to be a measure of annuity misconceptions and confusion among consumers.
You may have seen that a quick internet search of the word “annuity” delivers a wildly diverse set of opinions! And every financial pundit has their own take on annuities. Some of the loudest voices on the internet even claim to be against them, all the while offering annuity or annuity-like solutions to their following.
To help you sort through the noise, we break down common annuity myths and supplement the conversation with some facts. Read More
The Great Recession that began in late 2007 was a painful period in many Americans’ lives. Everyone who was invested in the market, people who were overextended in mortgages, and those who lost jobs as a result of a crippled economy, were among the millions affected.
Since then, many people have recovered from the financial setbacks. Nevertheless, a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco suggests that challenges linger. According to Fed researchers, the long-run effects of the financial crisis cost every American an estimated $70,000 in lifetime income.
The researchers point to a big decline in domestic output levels as a primary cause of those losses. Based on early-2000s Congressional Budget Office forecasts, our national gross domestic product remains well below what its 2007 trend implies we might have been at now. And it’s said to be unlikely that the economy will ever make up that lost territory.
Once, reverse mortgages were considered to be the financial stepchild of retirement income sources. But respected authorities like Wade Pfau have shed new light on its potential uses in a retirement strategy. Now, growing shares of financial professionals, retirees, and other Americans see their benefits for certain situations.
If you have any pre-conceived notions about reverse mortgages, you might have formed them while watching those TV commercials with Tom Selleck, Robert Wagner, Henry Winkler, or one of many other well-known personalities.
You might ask, “What roles might a reverse mortgage play in my retirement income plan?” That is a good question. Let’s take a look at some potential uses for a reverse mortgage, including what it may involve. Read More
Like other folks, you probably see waves of retirement advice from the papers, financial talkshows, online news sources, and other outlets. Much of that advice assumes that among couples, both spouses are approximately the same age. That often results in solutions designed to address the needs of couples entering their retirement years together.
But what about couples with sizable age differences? Their different retirement timelines are likely to present unique problems. When such is your situation, how can you plan for your retirement effectively?
If one spouse is eligible to retire 10 or more years ahead of the other, that spouse will be making choices that not only affect their own retirement. It impacts their partner’s retirement, as well. Those decisions could have a dramatic impact on the younger spouse’s lifestyle now and during their own golden years.
Not only does their age disparity affect their retirement plan, it means that life events, both those foreseen (e.g., retirement or required minimum distributions) and unforeseen (e.g., the need to help care for aging parents), will be faced at different stages in their lives. Read More
If you are a retiree in your 70s or older, you may feel well positioned to weather potential financial shocks. But if you have yet to enter your golden years, you may face more difficulty maintaining your future retirement standard of living in the aftermath of financial shocks.
That is the consensus of a 2018 report from the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College. Unveiled back in February of 2018, the report is entitled “Will the Financial Fragility of Retirees Increase?”
Its conclusion? Future retirees may not be able to rebound from financial jolts, such as those from unexpected medical expenses or the death of a spouse.
That brings up an important question. Why would tomorrow’s retirees be at a greater disadvantage than those who have already retired?
Current retirees may be benefitting from company-sponsored retirement plans in addition to their own retirement assets. Not so for future retirees who face “inadequate savings and the limited income that safe withdrawal rates provide, reducing the cushion between their incomes and fixed expenses,” according to the report.
Another alarm sounded in the report: “If households choose to hold a significant portion of their savings in equities to increase the income their savings provide, they will be more exposed to sharp market downturns that arrive early in retirement.” Read More
Like most of us, chances are years ago you imagined the ideal age you would stop working and start living your dream retirement. A new study reveals that the answer to “what’s the optimal retirement age” depends on the age of the person you ask.
Bankrate.com surveyed Americans of different generations. While each had its own idea of the ideal retirement age, on average those surveyed believe the best age to retire to be 61.
Gen Xers and Millennials chose 61 and 60, respectively, as their ideal ages. Baby boomers (ages 64-72) and the silent generation (age 73+), possibly making a more seasoned estimate of the optimal retirement age, chose age 64 to 65.
Everyone wants to retire comfortably, especially after years of hard work. But age forecasting isn’t necessarily the best way to approach this. Just-as-critical questions to ask (if not more so) are: “What income do I want to retire at?” and “What financial resources will I need to enjoy my preferred lifestyle?” Read More
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