While not everyone is prepared for retirement, some older Americans are faring pretty well. These are the traits shared by successful retirees. According to investment firm T. Rowe Price’s survey of more than 2,500 people who have 401(k) plans and/or rollover individual retirement accounts (IRAs), the top factors contributing to their stable retirement are: Flexible…
Many retirees complete their last day of work only to find they can’t afford to live comfortably. Looking back, they point to clear planning for retirement steps they could have taken that would have made a dramatic impact. Fifty-seven percent of retirees look back on the years before retirement and wish they had done more…
Spiders. Snakes. The dark. Clowns. It’s likely that you have at least one of these fears. However, if you are near retirement age, then what scares you most is perhaps more menacing and real than any of those things. Transamerica recently published a new survey that lists the greatest retirement fears. Wouldn’t it be nice…
Saving money is hard enough. No one wants more bills to pay, especially when you’re on a fixed or limited income. But insurance is something of a necessary evil. And certain insurance plans can help you live out your golden years as worry-free as possible – a worthy investment in your well-deserved break from workaday…
Sometimes it feels like the world is designed for couples. People throw dinner parties for couples. Most forms ask about your spouse. And, let’s face it, retirement and aging – an era when you’ll sometimes need a helping hand – can feel kind of scary on your own. Whether by circumstances or choice, the U.S.Census…
If you’re reading this, you’re likely someone who: saves money, has built up some assets, and is starting to think about how to create a retirement drawdown strategy – a plan for how to turn your assets into income that will last for life. Having a sound retirement drawdown strategy and keeping to it is…
One of the biggest fears you probably have about retirement is if your money will last as long as you do. It is likely that you are also asking: How much can I spend? How much do I need? How much do I actually have? There are so many questions. Good news: the Stanford Center…
You have heard it before: “Work in Retirement!” If you want to be financially secure, working after retirement age or working as long as possible before retirement is a good idea. Think about it, if you retire at age 65 (or before), you might be spending 30 years not working. Thirty years is a long…
Don’t worry, be happy… about your retirement. You can be happy in retirement. The Big Takeaways… There are several financial strategies you can use to manage stress, like increasing savings and being proactive about your debt. Reserving time to focus on your happiness can help relieve stress in other areas of your life. The NewRetirement…
To gain financial independence for retirement, use the lessons of those who have retired early. The Big Takeaways… Financial independence can be achieved, but it’s about combining lifestyle ambitions with reasonable financial strategies. Financial independence comes with some sacrifice, so it’s important to consider the consequences before committing yourself to an early retirement. The NewRetirement…
Before you got married, you probably discussed where you wanted to live, whether or not you would have kids and your general hopes for the future. Before you bought a house, you and your spouse talked about where would be best, what size home you hoped to acquire, and more. Before you had kids, you…
When most people think about financial and retirement planning, feelings of stress, worry, and anxiety rise in our throats. This stress exists for good reason. Less than 50% of people have a written retirement plan. The majority of people simply don’t have enough saved for this time in their lives. And, even if you have…
If you are nearing or are already in retirement, you are about to change from being an earner and a saver to being a spender. You spent a lifetime amassing savings and other resources and now is the time to use these assets – assuming you can accurately figure out how much to spend in…
Figuring out what you are going to do in retirement and how you are going to pay for it is not something you do once and just forget about it. You should plan for a quarterly retirement check-in. Retirement planning is kind of like owning a house – you put in an upfront investment, but…
“FIRE” stands for Financial Independence Retire Early for a group of fired-up young people. In a nutshell, it’s about making some significant lifestyle choices immediately to try to achieve financial independence as quickly as possible. For most followers, it’s actually more about mindfulness, frugality and simplicity – not just about money and financial independence. FIRE…
We all ask the question, “How much do I need for retirement?” It is a very hard question to answer. The difficulty lies in the fact that it varies greatly depending on how long you live. Will you live to be 100, or 85? How long will your spouse live? Is 100 the New 85?…
Key retirement costs are being overlooked by the clear majority of Americans. (Probably not you though, especially if you are a NewRetirement Planner subscriber, but, keep reading to make sure.) According to a 2020 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), fewer than 4 in 10 Americans “have planned for emergency expenses or calculated…
In some ways, managing money in retirement gets a little easier than before. You only have the money you have, so your options are somewhat simpler and more limited. On the other hand, the rules of money management shift in retirement so it may seem more complicated to you. No matter whether you find it…
Dr. Thomas Boyce is a pediatrician and Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. His best-selling book The Orchid and the Dandelion summarizes two types of individuals: dandelions (hardy and propagating) and orchids (requires extraordinary care, but are intricately beautiful). What type you are may…
It’s official. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the U.S. economy officially entered a recession in February of 2020. First, the Bad News The bad news is, the most optimistic economic scenarios of a V-shaped recovery probably won’t come to pass. Experts like Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff have recently cast doubt on the…
Wealth inequality is real. The disparity effects most of us. However, the black-white wealth gap is staggering. What is Wealth Inequality? Wealth inequality is the gap in net worth — your assets minus liabilities — between the wealthy and the poor. The differences in wealth between the rich and poor in the United States are…
Suze Orman new book? Yep! She has been a source of reliable financial advice for 25 years. Her best-selling book You’ve Earned It, Don’t Lose It has sold over three million copies. The Suze Orman Show was a hit that ran on CNBC for 13 years. And, now it looks like she has another blockbuster…
Last year, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) updated their 2017 Risks and Process of Retirement Survey, providing insights on how Americans decide to retire and manage resources in retirement.The study revealed that for most people, retirement is full of surprises. Most retirees’ experience a life different in many ways from what they originally planned. Here…
Episode 40 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Kevin Hanney about the evolution of pensions and the future of employer sponsored retirement & lifetime income solutions. Kevin is the Senior Director of Pension Investments at Raytheon Technologies (formed by the merger of United Technologies and Raytheon) where he helps oversee about $100B retirement…
Despite what many quick retirement calculators lead you to believe, retirement planning is an ongoing process and not something you can do in 5 minutes. Here we break down the steps for creating a plan. Use this checklist for retirement planning if you want to feel great about your financial future.Whether your are fabulously…