Claysphere Rivera asked:


It is a settled fact, as certain as death, that most American’s are not saving much for their retirement. This is due, conceivably, to a lot of factors but mostly because they lack proper discernment and awareness about different kinds of retirement benefits that the state and federal government have waged.

Added on this score, retirement planning has rarely been actively pursued in the American context. Most individuals never give retirement planning serious considerations.

The scenario laid above has different sets of parameters and intricacies that need to be explained in another set. However, this article focus on retirement benefits as provided for under the federally governed Social Security retirement benefits program.

Commencing with the wise details of the basic points regarding retirement benefits, it is necessary, above anything else that you confer with well adept counselors to help you hurdle with your specific situation. To be precise, you need the aid of a qualified social security attorney.

Noting, these experienced representatives can help you in all concerns relating to your pursuit of retirement benefits. They are capable of easing your way into retirement.

To start with, a must know is the constitutive retirement benefits qualification. When you have been working and paying for Social Security taxes, you may earn corresponding credits. These credits can work toward Social Security benefits.

To get the retirement benefits, you will need certain number of credits. Correspondingly, the number of credits needed to qualify for retirement benefit depends on your age. No retirement benefits can be paid until you acquired sufficient number of credits.

In reference to the retirement benefits amount, it all depends on how much one has earned during his/her working career. Higher earnings will have higher benefits. Conversely, lower lifetime earnings often result in relatively lower benefits.

Another important concern with this benefit is the requirement as to age. The Social Security law was recently changed, gradually increasing the full retirement age to 67, in view of the longer life expectancy. To reap the retirement benefits, one must attain the full retirement age.

However, there are specific cases of early retirement that are permissible. The pitfall of the latter instance is the permanent deduction of retirement benefits.

Enough for the personal qualification, the Social Security retirement benefits also provides some financial assistance for family members of a qualified retiree. The family members who may qualify for this benefit are limited to the following groups:

• The spouse aged 62 or older, or those younger than 62 but are taking care of a child covered in the retiree’s record and who is under 16 years old or disabled;

• a former spouse aged 62 or older (as well as a divorced spouse) and unmarried;

• children up to age 18, or up to 19 if they are still full-time students who have not yet graduated from high school and disabled children, irrespective of their ages

The benefit that each of the group related above are limited. The total benefits that the eligible family members should receive must not be more than the determined limits. A necessary reduction will be made if later found that the total benefits exceeded the set limits.

These were the condensed matters regarding Social Security retirement benefits.

To have a full view of the entire coverage of this area of Social Security benefit program, the effective assistance of a Social Security attorney should be employed. Having them to help you in this respect could give you a resolute and systematic approach in your retirement, which makes it a lot less laborious.

The longest of journeys in your Social Security retirement benefit claim start with a single step, that is, by securing the assistance of a competent and vigorous attorney.

Our expert Los Angeles attorneys have the expertise in providing professional legal advice and representations to retirement benefits claimants. For more details, log on to our website and fill out our free case evaluation form.



MONTERO

takeresponsability asked:

took the retirement money wallstreet got what they wanted war in iran already www.cnn.com USA wants to start another war Iran *RIP George Carlin* A nation under god…… “the enemy prays to god to win the war, soldiers pray to god to win the war, somebody is going to be disappointed, what about everyone?” George carlin Did Palin Really Say She Wouldnt Hire Blacks? they took the retirement money wallstreet got what they wanted … nation under god religion shame of america brainwashed Did …

BAEZ

Aaron J asked:


If I leave my job before becoming vested, I understand that the company takes back the unvested money. But what if there is less money in the fund than what they have put in due to bad investments? Or what happens if I had made a lot of money due to good investments? Can they take back more than they put in if I make earning off of their money? Or do I owe them money if there is less than what they have put in due to losses?

FONSECA

dipendra asked:


Most of the people I have met have not planned for their retirement as they say ‘future is unpredictable and we need to live in present’ but my dear friend’s future is the outcome of present, our present will decide our future. When we think of retirement we generally think of old age, a period when you have to give up the job and sit at home doing nothing. Contrary to the fact, most of the retiree lives a very active life. We need to seriously consider out planning towards retirement because once we retiree our income stops coming but our expenses remain as it is and in some cases it rises with the rising inflation.

In this regard mutual fund has turned out to be the right answer for making retirement planning easier and safer. Mutual fund being managed by professionals is a key to effective retirement planning.

Some people like it. Some people don’t but the fact is that retirement is a reality for every working person. Most young people today think cannot think of retirement as reality as they believe in ‘living at present’. However, it is important to plan for your post-retirement life if you wish to retain your financial independence and maintain a comfortable standard of living even when you are no longer earning. This is extremely important, because, unlike developed nations, India does not have a social security net. In India people still depend upon bank savings and fixed deposits for retirement purpose, which is unfortunately inadequate.

Retirement Planning acquires added importance because of the fact that though longevity has increased the number of working years haven’t, so you end up spending the last phase of your life without earning.

In simple words, retirement planning means making sure you will have enough money to live on after retiring from work. Retirement should be the best period of your life, when you can literally sit back and relax or enjoy your life by reaping benefits of what you earn in so many years of hard work. But it is easier said than done. To achieve a hassle-free retired life, you need to make prudent investment decisions during your working life, thus putting your hard-earned money to work for you in future.

With the special features of mutual funds like Systematic Investment Plan, Systematic withdrawal plan, systematic transfer plan in addition to other unique features of different funds, the investor can easily plan for its post retirement requirements and ways to achieve it.

Unlike many other countries of west, in India we do not have state-sponsored social security for the retired people. While you may be entitled to a pension or income during retirement, but will it be sufficient post retirement.

Although the compulsory savings in provident fund through both employee and employer contributions should offer some cushion, it may not be enough to support you throughout your retirement. That is why retirement planning is extremely important for every one. More over with mutual funds the investors can actually plan for themselves and also achieve their planned objectives. As compared to direct equities this option of mutual fund is much safer for planning your retirement corpus.

There are many reasons for the working individuals to secure their future emergence of separate families and its attendant insecurity, increasing uncertainties in personal and professional life, the growing trends of seeking early retirement and rising health risks are among few important risks. Besides falling interest rates, also the sustained increase in the cost of living make it a compelling case for individuals to plan their finances to fund their retired life.

Planning for retirement is as important as planning your career and marriage. We need to take conscious and careful decisions to prepare for our retirement. Life takes its own course and from the poorest to the wealthiest, every one gets older with time. We get older every day, without realizing. With our coming old age we tend to become more understanding to the facts of life and realize the importance and impact of retirement. The future depends to a great extent on the choices you make today. Right decisions with the help of proper planning, taken at the right time will assure smile and success at the time of retirement.

In my words, retirement planning means making sure you will have enough money to live on after leaving your work. Retirement should be that period of your life, when you can sit back and relax. Retirement should bring more of enjoyment in your life by reaping benefits of what you earn in so many years of hard work. But it is easier said than done. Most of the people live their worst life during retirement. To achieve a hassle-free retired life, you need to make right investment decisions during your working life, thus putting your hard-earned money to work for you in future. If you are not very aware of the investment that you need to undertake then you can easily take help of online advisers to help you with your retirement plan through mutual funds. The earlier you start the better it is for you.

Now retirement planning can be done with a single click and with the advice of a registered mutual fund advisor by Association of mutual funds in India (AMFI). Fill this retirement questionnaire to know your current financial situation and your investor profile which will help you plan for a worry-free retirement.

This is a no obligation free mutual fund advisory; investors can make informed mutual fund investment decisions with the expertise of our advisors.



RICKMAN

James Lange asked:


Many peopleperhaps youfeel they cannot afford to save for retirement. The truth is you may very well be able to afford to save, but you don’t realize it. That’s right. I am going to present a rationale to persuade you to contribute more than you think you can afford.

First, I am operating on assumption that you are following the cardinal rule of saving for retirement: If your employer offers a matching contribution to your retirement plan you are contributing whatever your employer is willing to matcheven if it is only a percentage of your contribution and not a dollar for dollar match.

Now, let’s assume you have been contributing only the portion that your employer is willing to match and yet you barely have enough money to get by week to week. Does it still make sense to make non-matched contributions or Roth IRA contributions assuming you do not want to reduce your spending? Maybe. (This article does not address Roth IRA contributions vs. non-matched 401(k) contributions and hereafter only refers to non-matched 401(k) contributions).

If you have substantial savings and maximizing your retirement plan contributions causes your net payroll check to be insufficient to meet your expenses, you should maximize retirement plan contributions.

The shortfall for your living expenses from making increased pre-tax retirement plan contributions should be withdrawn from your savings (money that has already been taxed). Over time this process, i.e., increasing contributions to your retirement plan and funding the shortfall by making after-tax withdrawals from an after-tax account, transfers money from the after-tax environment to the pre-tax environment. Ultimately it results in more money for you and your heirs.

Another way to squeeze blood from a stone is to consider an interest only mortgage. The reduced mortgage payment (in contrast to what you would be paying on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage) is deductible as a home interest expense. The additional cash flow from the reduced payment could be used to pay credit card debt or fund one or more tax favored investments. You could open a Roth IRA, make additional retirement contributions, and/or purchase a tax-favored life insurance plan. In the long run, you could be better off, often by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course there are risks with this strategy.

Another opportunity to shift savings from the after-tax environment to tax advantaged retirement savings might arise if you are the beneficiary of an inheritance.

Take this “Changing Your IRA and Retirement Plan Strategy after a Windfall or an Inheritance” mini case study for example:

Joe always had trouble making ends meet. He did, however, know enough to always contribute to his retirement plan the amount his employer was willing to match. Because he was barely making ends meet and had no savings in the after-tax environment, he never made a non-matching retirement plan contribution. Tragedy then struck Joe’s family. Joe’s mother died, leaving Joe with $100,000.

Should Joe change his retirement plan strategy? Yes.

If his housing situation is reasonable, he should not use the inherited money for a houseor even a down payment on a house. Many planners and people will disagree. Of course it depends on individual circumstances.

Instead, Joe should increase his retirement plan contribution to the maximum. In addition, he should start making Roth IRA contributions. Many of you who live in areas that have seen huge real estate appreciation think he should use the money to invest in real estate. You may have been right yesterday. You might even be right today. It is, however, a risky strategy, unsuitable for many if not most investors.

Assuming he maintains his pre-inheritance lifestyle, between his Roth IRA contribution and the increase in his retirement plan contribution, Joe will not have enough to make ends meet without eating into his inheritance. That’s okay. He should then cover the shortfall by making withdrawals from the inherited money. True, if that pattern continues long enough, Joe will eventually deplete his inheritance in its current form. But his retirement plan and Roth IRA will be so much better financed that in the long run, the tax-deferred and tax-free growth of these accounts will make Joe better off by thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of dollars.

The only time this strategy would not make sense is if Joe needed the liquidity of the inherited money, or he preferred to use the inherited funds to improve his housing.

Now, do you think you can afford to make the maximum contribution to your retirement plan? The truth of the matter is you cannot afford to ignore my advice and not make the maximum contribution to your retirement plan.



GIVENS

Allen Bohart asked:


Since the days of FDR and the beginning of Social Security, people have been conditioned to believe that retirement comes at age 65. In more recent years, however, more and more people are yearning to retire at an age where they can more fully enjoy their golden years. Here are some tips for making early retirement a reality for you.

The most important thing to consider for early retirement is your ability to live frugally. If you spend every penny you make now, it’s not likely that you will be able to do any better when you retire. Teaching yourself to live below your means now will take you a long way toward realizing that dream of early retirement.

One area that many people can improve upon is the choice of vehicle they drive. After all, do you really need a new car every 5 years? If you want to retire early, then choosing a good used car is probably a much wiser, not to mention cheaper, alternative. Not only will the car payments be much cheaper (perhaps non-existent if you pay cash for the car), but your insurance premiums are likely to be much cheaper as well.

Another area to concentrate on is your home mortgage. By paying at least one extra mortgage payment per year, you will considerably shorten the term of your loan. The goal here is to pay off your home loan before you retire, so that you have one less payment to worry about when that happy day comes. Not only that, but you will literally save thousands of dollars in extra interest payments over the life of that loan!

Aside from living within your means, you will also want to start some kind of retirement savings account. You should put as much of your disposable income as you can into this account, and you should start that account at as young an age as possible. In this manner you put the magic of compounding interest to work for you. For example, if you were to put 20% of your income into an index fund starting at age 20, chances are you would be able to retire by age 40. Of course, the more you can afford to put into the fund, the earlier you will be able to retire.

The best possible away to approach the retirement savings account is to make it as automatic as possible. One way to do this is to have the money withdrawn from your paycheck each pay period, so that you never see or miss the money. If this kind of thing is not available through your employer, see a financial counselor to help you set this up.

If your employer offers one, then you will definitely want to participate in the 401(k) plan. For most plans, the employer contributes either a matching amount or a one-time yearly payment to your retirement account. That’s free money, and nobody in their right mind would pass that up!

Aside from the 401(k) and the retirement account mentioned above, another possibility to consider is a Roth Individual Retirement Account. There are limits to how much you can contribute to the Roth IRA and you will have to pay a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you take an money out of the account before age 59 1/2. On the flip side, though, any money earned through the Roth IRA is tax-free forever, which is why this type of account is so attractive.

While none of these steps can guarantee you an early retirement, they are all steps in the right direction. If you really want to retire early, then these steps and more will be required for you to do so. After all, what have you got to lose by trying? At worst, you will retire with more money than you would have had without a savings plan. At best, you may retire much earlier than your co-workers!



LAWS

Cecilia Valenzuela asked:


If you have heard that Arizona was a popular state to retire in, you are most certainly correct. Arizona ranks high when it comes to retirement. In fact, Arizona was actually the first state where retirement community living first got its start.

Did you know that it was Del Webb (now considered Pulte Homes) who started the idea of a retirement community?

According to Del Web, they opened their very first retirement community on New Years Day, 1960, in a suburb of Phoenix, known as Sun City, Arizona. The positive response was more than overwhelming. The first retirement community in Arizona paved the way for retired living in the United States. Ever since that day, retirement communities continue to pop up everywhere.

Del Webb is actually now a part of Pulte Homes and are not just known to Arizona, but also in 15 additional states. In Arizona, Del Webb/Pulte has certainly made a name for themselves and are very well known here and are one of the very well known and reputable home builders of Arizona retirement communities.

Whether you prefer the big cities or quieter communities, it really doesn’t matter, because you can certainly find both types of Arizona Retirement Communities here.

Baby-boomers, or snowbirds, as they are sometimes referred to, have flocked to the Phoenix metropolitan area for many years. It should not come as a surprise why this area has been considered a prime retirement choice. There are so many reasons why this area is popular among many. First of all, you have the natural beauty of the Sonoran Desert sun along with well over 300 days a year of sunshine.

Known for its gorgeous sunsets and the many recreational activities, golf is probably one of the most popular reasons that retirees make Arizona their home. There are literally hundreds of courses for the golf fan along with so many other popular activities such as tennis, various sightseeing tours, Native American culture and, of course the Grand Canyon to explore.

Retirees certainly appreciate the fact that they are conveniently close to so many things in Arizona. If the outdoors is what you are looking for, Arizona can certainly provide you an endless list of lakes and rivers which attracts so many anglers to the desert southwest. In addition, you will find just as many mountains that make up Arizona and make it the beautiful state that it is. Even Las Vegas is not that far away from Arizona!

Retirement community living can be found throughout the state and not just in Phoenix. Many parts of the “valley of the sun,” as the Phoenix area is ofte called, offers retired living at its best. It just depends on where you would like to live.

Some people prefer Scottsdale over Phoenix, or maybe Tucson. Some people prefer Gold Canyon, a city located about 35 minutes east of Phoenix, which offers many amenities in a quiet atmosphere including enough wildlife to last a lifetime. Some others prefer Flagstaff or the White Mountains, both of which are considerably cooler in the summer months.

Most of these retirement communities that you will find in the desert southwest of Arizona provide such amenities that most active older adults are seeking, such as tennis courts, golf, clubhouses, recreation and fitness centers, as well as organized and regular activities within their specific retired community.

While there may be other reasons not listed here, most people will agree that one of the key reasons why people find their way to retired housing communities in Arizona, is because of the active adult choices they have to choose from. The choices along with the enticing climate, make Arizona retirement communities their first selection of 55 plus areas.

Despite Arizona being a very popular state to retire in, Miami, Florida actually has a higher percentage rate of people living there than Arizona. In fact, according to the Arizona Republic, Phoenix is home to only 12% of the population that is over age 65, compared to 17% in Miami, Florida.

Would you like to know what city is considered to be the most recomended city to retire in? Have you heard of Prescott, Arizona?

Prescott, Arizona has a small town feel to it, which many people prefer. It is located in the cool ponderosa pines in Northern Arizona and is known to many here in Arizona, as the “Mile High” city. Conveniently located 90 miles Northwest of Phoenix, Prescott offers four very mild seasons to both the visitors and residents all-year round.

Prescott has more than 6 golf courses, which is pleasing to many. Prescott is also home to the Prescott National Forest. If you like hiking, you will have well over 450 miles worth of trails to enjoy these gorgeous (and good smelling) ponderosa pines.

Looking for more reasons to choose Arizona for your retirement community? How about healthcare? The healthcare is excellent in Arizona. There are many well known heart hospitals as well as other hospitals, the famous Mayo-Clinic, and a limitless list of clinics, for your healthcare needs.



NIXON

antishay asked:

This is a response to a recent post in my blog, What Financially Free Means to Me (My Retirement Plan). Visit www.antishay.com for more info. … early retirement money inflation home ownership mortgages debt plan

MCKINLEY

KED528 asked:

Jim Rice makes a speech to Red Sox Nation and his retired number 14 is unveiled in the right field facade in his ceremony on July 28, 2009.

BARRON

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BAUTISTA