We all love reading lists of the best places to retire. They interest us and they make us think about what is possible in retirement. However, deciding if one of the best places to retire is in your own home or somewhere far away is a really BIG decision. Why Relocate for Retirement? Days in…
How to make sense of retirement planning? Here is your guide to the 16 retirement numbers that are most important for a secure future.
Tis the season… No, it is not quite time to decide whether you’ll say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Bah Humbug or none of the above. It does, however, involve shopping! The 2020 Medicare Open Enrollment season is upon us and will last from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. Now is the time to assess your…
If you think you haven’t saved enough for a truly secure retirement, think again. The impossible could become possible with these 10 creative ways to retire. You see, saving diligently your entire life and then quitting work to play bridge is only one way to get to retirement. And, the odds are that it is…
To say that Social Security and Medicare are important to the financial well being of seniors would be an understatement. Sixty-two percent of eligible beneficiaries rely on Social Security income for more than half of their income. And almost everyone who is eligible uses Medicare to help fund their healthcare after 65. Here are the…
According to reporting from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, retirees have a wide variety of savings and investments. Here are the average cash, savings, and home equity balances in the U.S. Keep reading to see how your accounts and investment types compares to that of most retirees. Use the NewRetirement Planner to see your…
An enjoyable retirement is the goal, right? You work your whole life and hopefully create and follow a plan so that you can kick back and do what you want to do when the time comes. Well, a recent survey from Nationwide suggests that all is not going according to plan for many retirees. The…
Are you wondering how to to retire overseas? If so, you’re in good company! Retiring Overseas Has Almost Doubled in Popularity Retiring abroad has become increasingly popular. According to the Social Security Administration, the number of retirees who draw Social Security outside the U.S. jumped 40%, to more than 413,000 between 2007 to 2017. And,…
Age is just a number. In fact, even the word “old” means less and less these days as many of us stay healthy and active well past the traditional retirement age of 65. Is 80 the new 40? Or, is 100 a better benchmark age for enjoying life and achieving interesting things? Preparing for retirement…
When most people think about financial and retirement planning, feelings of stress, worry, and anxiety rise in our throats. This stress — while unpleasant — exists for good reason. Stress serves a purpose. Less than 50% of people have a written retirement plan. The majority of people simply don’t have enough saved for this time…
If you are in the countdown to retirement — marking the days until you can launch into the next stage of your life – this checklist is for you. In the past, many people thought of retirement as a time of life when things slowed down. Now, retirement is more of a blast off into…
Saving for retirement is hard. However, when you are still working, creating a retirement investment plan can be relatively straightforward. The goal is to simply grow the money. But, when you retire, your investment goals become multi-faceted, layered, and downright complicated. You still want your money to grow, but you have a whole lot of…
A new documentary, The Weight of Gold, explores the many mental health challenges that retired Olympic athletes face. You might be surprised to learn that those challenges are similar to what happens at retirement to many people in far more mundane jobs. Retired Olympic athletes – and anyone who has retired from a job where…
Were you the kid in kindergarten that secretly ate paste in the corner? Or were you the one solving all the math equations from the end of the book on your first day in class? (I knew those kids. Both of them were in my class, and I’m not yet admitting to being one of…
After a nearly devastating set of personal crises – cancer, near bankruptcy and a suicide attempt by his father – Bruce Feiler spent five years talking to people about their biggest life transitions. He analyzed what patterns people experienced and what was the key to thriving after a big event. The result is a method…
The summer of 2020 hasn’t felt much like a summer since we’ve been working from home and not traveling since March. Whether you’re going on an all-American road trip in August, making s’mores in the backyard, or even if your vacation plans have been put on hold till 2021, these new and newly updated retirement…
Keeping your retirement savings on track helps you meet your retirement goals. That seems like a very simple concept, and in a way it is. But living with that plan every day isn’t quite so simple. Why You Need to Save for Retirement More than 1/3 of Americans don’t have a retirement plan to speak…
Terror about retirement spending is not uncommon. In fact, most people are worried about spending their nest egg and running out of money. After all, you have been conditioned for decades to earn, not spend. You were probably a teenager when you opened your first paycheck and officially started the cycle of earning and spending…
While we’re in the daily grind of working for a living, we often visualize life after retirement as happy, stress-free relaxation. Getting a little R&R is certainly important, but there is a limit to the amount of napping, puttering around the house and daytime television a person can take. Without a plan for life…
While pensions are not nearly as common as they once were, they are a very important part of the retirement plans for many of society’s most valued workers: teachers, police officers, fire fighters and more! However, it is surprisingly hard to find a reliable retirement calculator with pension inputs. 5 Retirement Calculators With Pension Controls:…
To build wealth, most people think you need a Wall Street job, good luck or just being born into advantageous circumstances. Those things definitely help, but building wealth can happen by following a few best practices and habits consistently. And, you can even begin building wealth in your 50s. It is definitely not too late.…
Your brain is not necessarily set up in a way that makes it easy to plan a secure retirement. You have cognitive biases — faulty ways of thinking that are unfortunately hardwired into your brain — that work against you. Behavioral finance and behavioral economics are the study of these phenomena. Understanding behavioral finance and…
You want to have a better retirement. But how do you get there? You could spend hours researching the latest science behind happiness, personal finance and investment theory, and health research. Or you can take a few minutes to watch the best TED Talks related to retirement. With their engaging speakers and easy-to-digest format, even…
Life expectancy has mostly been rising in the United States — overall. However, recent research has found that there are significant differences in life expectancy by county. In fact, in many counties, the average life expectancy is 20 years — TWENTY years — shorter than in other areas.The good news is that some areas of…
What happens to your debt when you die? It’s possible that an individual can have so much debt after they die that it will wipe out the assets that they’d hoped to leave for their heirs. In some situations, family members may be on the hook for their deceased relative’s debt.However, this all depends on…