Break These 5 Personal Finance Rules for a Wealthier Retirement

There are two kinds of people: those who follow the rules and those who believe rules are made to be broken. If you fall into the first camp, the following list may cause you a bit of anxiety. Personal finance is full of rules. While some of these rules are helpful, others can work against you if they don’t fit your financial situation in retirement.personal finance rules

Here are five personal finance rules you should probably break for a better and more secure retirement.

1. Buy Low, Sell High

Conventional wisdom dictates that when it comes to stocks, you should buy low and sell high. However, this method is actually high-risk and typically leads to less-than-desirable returns. Stocks that are selling low are often in trouble as a result of deteriorating fundamentals or shrinking market share. When mutual fund managers recognize these issues, they sell (which effectively drives the price of the stock down). In other words, trying to buy low and sell high these days usually means you’re buying stocks that are on their way out.

A better rule of thumb is to buy high and sell higher. Many smart traders look for stocks that are near their yearly highs in strong industries. These stocks are typically trending upward, and the stock has proved its value before you buy it. The potential for more growth is consistently better than fishing for bottom-feeder stocks.

2. Subtract Your Age From 100 to Determine How Much of Your Portfolio Should Be in Stocks

Financial advisors recommend that when it comes to retirement savings, the younger you are, the more money you should put in stocks. This is because the older you are, the less time you have to recover from any downturns in the stock market. So as you approach and enter retirement, you should convert more of your volatile growth-oriented investments into fixed-income securities, such as bonds.

The traditional rule of thumb has been to subtract your age from 100. The difference represents the percentage of stocks you should keep in your portfolio. For example, at age 40, 60% of your portfolio should be in stocks, and by age 70, only 30% of your portfolio would consist of stocks.

But today, Americans are living longer, so some may consider that rule to be out-of-date. Financial planners now recommend that the rule should subtract your age from the numbers 110 or 120. Because you may need to make your money last longer, you’ll need the extra growth that stocks can provide.

Keep in mind that your investment plan should consider other factors such as inflation, risk tolerance, and financial goals.

3. Pay Off All Debt Before Retirement

Paying off your debt before you retire makes sense. After all, the lower your debt payments in retirement, the more money you’ll have to cover other living expenses – such as medical costs and travel. But this does not necessarily mean paying off your mortgage?

Many people dream of a mortgage-free retirement, but with today’s historically low interest rates, you may be better off putting any potential “extra” mortgage payments into your retirement account. This gives your money more of a chance to grow. Plus, if you invest well, your returns will definitely outpace the amount of interest paid on your mortgage.

Keeping a mortgage and putting those extra payments towards retirement savings makes even more sense if you are in a higher tax bracket and have a large mortgage because of the tax breaks. Consider a taxpayer in the 35% tax bracket who pays $20,000 in mortgage interest. Those mortgage payments would amount to a $7,000 tax break on federal income taxes. The savings are even larger when you consider state income taxes.

However, it is generally a good idea to prioritize paying off other debts, such as personal loans, credit cards, and car loans. Those types of debt tend to have higher interest rates so they can be a harder type of debt to manage.

4. Replace 80% of your income for retirement

How much income will you need in retirement? Many personal finance experts suggest that you should aim to replace 80% of your pre-retirement paycheck. That means if your pre-retirement salary is $100,000 a year, you’ll need to make $80,000 annually from Social Security, pensions, portfolio withdrawals, and other sources of income.

While this advice is well-intentioned, it is not one-size-fits-all. Many people actually need less income to maintain their standard of living in retirement because they’re no longer contributing to retirement plans, paying Social Security taxes, and paying Medicare taxes. Others spend more when they first retire, and then their spending tapers off.  Your actual needs can vary considerably.

To get a better idea of the income you’ll need in retirement, you should look at your expenses (rather than your current income). Will your mortgage and other debts be paid off? Do you plan on spending a lot on retirement? Do you have children that could be financially dependent on you in retirement? Do you plan on cooking at home less and dining out more? How about medical costs?

Of course, we can’t predict the future. But rather than looking at 80% as a hard and fast rule, it may be a better idea to come up with a customized figure based on planned and potential expenses. Once you have a good estimate of your retirement spending needs, you can compare that to a sustainable level of portfolio withdrawals and other retirement income to see if your savings are on track.

5. The 4% Rule

Those who tend to favor simplicity over a customized retirement plan often refer to the 4% rule. This rule dictates that if you withdraw 4% per year from a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds – adjusted annually for inflation – then you’ll have enough to last for 30 years in retirement (based on historical returns). For example, if you want $100,000 per year in retirement (not counting Social Security or pensions), you’ll simply divide $100,000 by 4% to get a target retirement savings of $2,500,000.

The problem with this rule is that the 4 percent rule was a product of the 1990s, a time when interest rates were significantly higher. In more recent times, some experts have suggested that a 4% withdrawal rate might be too ambitious given today’s low bond rates and lower projected return for stocks.

No withdrawal rate can ensure you won’t run out of money in retirement or, conversely, withdraw so little that you end up with more savings than you’ll need late in life. A better idea is to start with a reasonable withdrawal rate that has a decent chance of making your money last, then making adjustments along the way based on investment performance. You may also explore using a bucket strategy.

The One Rule You Should Follow

When it comes to your future, you can’t afford to make too many bad moves, but that doesn’t mean you always need to play by the same rules as everyone else.

You should definitely focus on retirement planning that takes your individual needs and circumstances into account and continue to adjust that plan as circumstances dictate.

The NewRetirement retirement planner makes it easy for you to really customize your plans and take control of all the details of your future finances.

This tool has been named a best retirement calculator by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII), Forbes Magazine, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, MoneyBoss, CanIRetireyet, and many more.





NewRetirement Planner

Do it yourself retirement planning: easy, comprehensive, reliable

NewRetirement Planner

Take financial wellness into your own hands and do it yourself retirement planning: easy, comprehensive, reliable.

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