Arleen asked:


My 2 retirement account companies do not distribute annual statements on my accounts, they only distribute monthly or quarterly statements at best. So given that, what statements do I need to keep in my files and for how long? I’m trying to clean out my office and get rid of any unnecessary paperwork. Thanks.

KYLE

oakly asked:


I need to start saving for retirement. Is there a rule of thumb that could get me started.. Like 5% or 10% of my income… I need some basic advice on what to do.

LAPORTE

Eric Bayne asked:


Do you know how much money you will need at retirement? Do you know if you will even have that much money? The best method to know for certain is for you to start putting together your retirement worksheet today. Before you begin your worksheet, however, you will need to answer the following 3 vital questions:

How much do you want to make a year, in today’s dollars, when you retire? Or, to put it another way, if you were to retire right now, what yearly salary would you require in order to keep you living in the fashion to which you have become accustomed. The majority of worksheets and calculators will have built into them projected appraisals for inflation and will be able to use this figure to calculate roughly the amount of annual income you will need at retirement.

How many years are there before you retire? This is critical because it is the number of years you have remaining in which to add funds to your financial portfolio. The spreadsheet will take the value of your current portfolio and add to it any expected contributions up to the retirement date. The calculation will show how much you can expect to have at retirement. If this amount is less than what you require, you will either have to add more money to your portfolio, change your investment strategy, or lower you expected standards of living at retirement.

What is the sum of all your sources of expected retirement income? This includes your expected Social Security income as well as any of the following investment plans – 401k, 403b, 457, Keoghs, SEP, IRA, and pension plans. It’s important to get as concrete figures as you can and put them on paper. This helps to avoid the rose colored glasses scenario where you think you have more money than you actually do. A major cause of people getting to retirement and being shocked that they don’t have enough money to live at their current lifestyle level is their failure at an earlier age to take a hard look at their financial situation when they had plenty of time to do something about it.

How many years will your retirement funds be expected to last? This is a sensitive question as it gets into life expectancy and mortality issues. Once you begin to collect Social Security, your income from it will be relatively constant. But Social Security will most likely cover less than half of your desired income. And in many cases, it will cover much less. This means that your remaining investments have to supply the rest of your income. In the best of circumstances, you will be able to live off of a combination of the interest and dividends from your investments and not have to touch the principal. If, however, you are forced to start drawing against the principal, your annual income from it will continually decrease until gone. Knowing how many years your retirement funds will be necessary will help you make the decision as to whether you should start to draw the principal down or accept a lowered standard of living.

How is your health? For many retired people, their medical bills are their biggest out of pocket expense when they retire. Even with Medicare, you may have deductibles to pay for. We can’t look into the future and say for certain what our health will be at retirement. But if you already are taking medical treatments for a disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and so on – you can be almost certain that those bills will increase significantly as you reach retirement age. Many people when making their retirement plan, forget planning for future medical bills. But now, before your retirement, is the best time to do this.



POLANCO

Jon5700 asked:

These two DC-8 aircrafts, owned by United Parcel Service, where departing from Louisville, KY to Roswell International Air Center. (final flights) twitter: twitter.com website: fshdlive.com facebook: www.facebook.com become a fan: www.facebook.com flikr: www.flickr.com

DAHL

Sean W asked:


Let’s say a professor retires at age 55. When can s/he start receiving the retirement money without any tax penalties?

CONWAY

knickplaya asked:

The Greatest Knick of all-time’s career, captured in a special tribute…this has made several Knick fans break down with prideful tears…words cannot express the love, nor will it be forgotten, the love can only be felt deep within ones self…and that’s where this video comes into play. … Knicks Ewing NBA NCAA Basketball Passion Love Patrick Jamaica Georgetown NY New York Pro Athlete Hall of Fame

SKINNER

drew2718281 asked:


I am considering how much money to contribute to my retirement accounts and part of the decision invovles whether this money can be used to purchase property. If the money in my 401k, IRA, and Roth IRA is off limits, then it seems that I should contribute less because it will prolong the time before I have saved enough for a down payment on a house. Does anyone have any advice on this matter?

BYRNES

Marc E Cram asked:


by Marc Cram, CFP

As we baby boomers approach retirement many of us have started to take a much closer look at what we will need in the form of assets if we are to live to the age of 80 and beyond. Most of us have been very focused on accumulation of assets up to this point and may not have stopped to consider what the future outcomes might look like.

We all have had expectations of what our accounts might look like and some of us have had those expectations dashed by market corrections or other financial setbacks. I think it is time that we took a close look at what other expectations we have for the future versus what reality might spring upon us. If we are to be successful in our own retirements we should move toward it with our eyes wide open and our plans firmly in place.

What follows is a short examination of five areas that each of us should prepare for and a few ideas that might help you improve your chances of success. Some of this might appear to be doomsday like but I think we will all be better off if we prepare for the worst while expecting the best, so let’s dig in.

Expectation #1: The stock market will continue to provide above average returns well into the next decade.

We know that investing in the stock market has produced the best chance of growing our assets at rates that beat inflation and other fixed money instruments over time. If you stay invested you will always get the average market return for the period you are in the market.

One thing we can say for sure about the markets, though, is that they will never go straight up or straight down. We tend to see periods of growth and periods of stagnation. In the short-term no one can predict whether you will make or lose money but we know that over the long term (10 plus years) you will get whatever the markets return.

The danger for us going forward is that when we start taking income from our investments, every negative year will shorten the lifespan of our potential income stream by as much as 5 years or more. If we want to live comfortably to ages of 85 or 90 we will need more predictable returns than those odds will give us.

Are you willing to bet that the markets will perform the way you want them to when you get ready to retire? I don’t think any of us is willing to take that bet and that is why more and more of us are looking for instruments that will guarantee us a minimum return and lifetime income streams with the money we already have accumulated. A little research on your part should yield some good choices for those assets you can’t afford to lose.

Expectation #2: I will be in lower tax bracket when I retire.

I am sure you have been told this by every planner or investment professional you have ever talked to. They all encouraged you to fully fund your IRAs and 401ks because of the current tax deductions and the tax deferred growth with the promise that when you retired you will be in a lower tax bracket. I have conducted seminars for over 5 years now where I ask the question of my audience, “do you think future tax rates will be lower, the same or higher”? I can count on one hand the number of people who said lower or the same. When you look at our country’s current level of debt along with the future liabilities for our major entitlement programs (which we will look at next) I think you too will be hard pressed to think your taxes will even stay the same going forward, let alone reduce.

Whatever your current tax bracket is, can you imagine living on less than you are today? If your income stays the same and your deductions disappear because your kids are gone and your home is paid off, what chance do you have to reduce your tax burden? The reality is that during a 20 year retirement, if you have accumulated all of your retirement assets in tax-deferred accounts, you will pay 10 times more in taxes than you saved in taxes over your lifetime, assuming no tax increase. Every increase in taxes going forward will mean you will need to take more money out of your savings to maintain the same lifestyle.

One way to solve this dilemma is to start funding a private tax-free retirement plan using an insurance product that is linked to a market index and designed to provide maximum cash accumulation with a minimum death benefit. This product is known as equity indexed universal life. Here again, a little research on your part will reveal multiple, high quality companies that currently offer these products.

Expectation # 3: I can count on Medicare and Social Security to be there for me like it was for my parents.

The reality is that both of these programs are in trouble and will only get worse as the 80 million baby boomers enter retirement. Ask anyone under the age of 40 if they think Social Security will be there for them and you will soon see that this reality is already well entrenched in our culture. The facts are that 60% of current retirees say that 50% of their income currently comes from Social Security, 34% say that it is 90% of their income and 22% say that it is 100% of their income.

By one account, it is predicted that by 2019 Medicare will consume 24% of all tax receipts and by 2042 it will consume 51% of all taxes collected.1 If you think universal health care will solve this problem, you must realize that Medicare is a form of universal health care and anything that will replace it will be burdened by the same reality of baby boomers living much longer in retirement than their parents ever did.

As for Social Security, it is predicted that the Social Security trust fund will begin be tapped into in 2018 and be completely depleted by 2044.2 If we had made changes to this program years ago we might have been able to extend it but I don’t see any congress willing to touch this problem until it is too late.

The bottom line is that benefits will need to go down, we will need to wait longer to be eligible and taxes will need to go up to pay for the massive increases in cost that will result from the higher usage figures projected. We are going to have to become responsible for our own retirement planning and should these promised benefits materialize for us we should feel lucky if we can plan an extra night on the town every month.

Expectation #4: I will live to my normal life expectancy.

This might well be true but then you must ask yourself, what is my life expectancy? When Social Security was instituted the average time spent in retirement was 3 years. Many of us today will spend 20 to 30 years in retirement. Statistically speaking, if you are a single male age 65 you have a 50% chance you will live to age 85 and a 25% chance to live to 92. If you are a single female age 65 you have a 50% chance you will live to 88 and 25% you will live to 94. If you are a married couple age 65 one of you has a 50% chance to live to 92 and a 25% to live to 97.

If these numbers don’t get you thinking about how long you will need for your money to last consider this. One of the fastest growing age groups in the United States are those people over the age of 100. There are currently over 27,000 people over 100 and that number is sure to grow as the baby boomers begin to age.

Expectation # 5: I will stay healthy well into my final years.

There is no doubt about it; we are much more conscious of our health and taking care of our bodies and minds than any generation in the history of the world. We are finding new ways to combat disease and to stave off illness as well as to treat conditions that would have killed us only a generation ago. However, all of this has come at a price and that price needs to be calculated into our future income needs.

According to a study by Fidelity Investments, a retired couple without employer-sponsored health insurance can expect to pay $215,000 for out-of-pocket health care costs like premiums and co-pays. Moreover, this number does not include significant costs like long-term care, which isn’t fully covered by Medicare. These numbers also assume you live to your life expectancy and not beyond. Last year these costs rose by 7.5% and we do not know what kind of increases we may see in the years ahead. As we have outlined above, Medicare costs could easily rise by double digits in the next 20 years.

If we add in home health care and long-term care into this equation we can easily double the numbers above and put a further strain on our already over taxed retirement funds. One thing you can do about potential long-term care needs is to purchase a long-term care policy from one of the many experts in this field.

What you can do to prepare

The numbers aren’t pretty but there is no need to despair. Whether you have years to prepare for retirement or you are already there you can create a plan to succeed and prosper in your own retirement. To summarize let’s go over the realities again:

• Investment directly into stock market investments can leave you at the mercy of the markets and geopolitical events. You will need to be in investments that can give you predictable returns without the threat of market downturns.

• Taxes will probably be going up over the next few years and into your retirement. It would be best to use your tax-deferred retirement plans early in your retirement and it may be prudent to move them to tax-free instruments at your earliest opportunity.

• Government entitlement programs will take a larger and larger share of the tax revenue in the future and future benefits may well be reduced or eliminated. Start taking responsibility of your future income needs by using instruments that can give you market based growth in a tax-free environment.

• Plan to outlive your own life expectancy. Create plans that will provide income streams you cannot outlive. There are many instruments on the market today that provide living income benefits you cannot outlive and that can be funded with both taxable and tax-deferred assets you now own.

• Expect to stay healthy but plan for the probability that you will need to spend more on heath care in the future. Purchase a long-term care policy that will pay for future needs at home and in care facilities.

One thing you can do right now is to get educated and speak with a professional advisor, preferably one who carries the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® designation. The sooner you take action the greater your success will be. Remember, by planning for the worst while expecting the best, you will be the ultimate winner and your retirement years will be all you have dreamed they would be.

1 According to Medicare Trustee Thomas R. Saving, a professor of economics at Texas A&M University and senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

2 Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund



WINFREY

Mary Lloyd asked:


ght (c) 2009 Mary Lloyd

The whole idea of being able to retire is up for grabs thanks to the economic meltdown. Many of us will now have to keep working for the rest of our lives–or close–and that’s leaving us with a sense of deprivation. Not so fast. You just won the work world lottery.

People survived the Titanic. We can survive this. It’s not just a matter of getting used to the idea of living a diminished later life though. We need a whole new direction. And that is a very good thing.

I’m not going to bother you with how you working longer benefits the nation and brings you more money. I’m not going to remind you that staying employed usually means better health care coverage. Here are five other reasons why staying in the workforce is better.

NOT RETIRING CAN KEEP YOU HEALTHIER PHYSICALLY. People who continue to work stay healthier than people who retire to a life of leisure. Working gives you a sense of purpose. And purpose is good for you.

In a study of 900 aging religious, those with a strong sense of purpose lived life to the end with no sign of Alzheimer’s disease even though posthumous brain studies found the lesions characteristic of it. A study of 12,460 middle-aged Hungarians found those who believed their lives had meaning had lower rates of both cancer and heart disease. A retirement of drifting from thing to thing at leisure isn’t an automatic ticket to good health.

NOT RETIRING MAINTAINS YOUR EMOTIONAL HEALTH. Work is one of the best sources of self-esteem available. If you are good enough at something to get paid to do it, that’s strong evidence of your worth. Most of us don’t realize that’s important until after we let go of it. Then we struggle to figure out why we are feeling “empty.” We need to work. If not for pay, then in some other context.

NOT RETIRING MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE TO HANG ON TO A JOB YOU HATE. If you aren’t planning to use your employer’s retirement benefits anyway (assuming there are some), there’s no reason to keep doing a job that drains you. But it’s tempting to tolerate a bad job fit or a boss that is literally making you sick in the name of “making it to retirement.”

If your job sucks and you’re going to have to work for as long as you live, for heaven’s sake go out and find one you like. It might take some time to pull it off, but you still won’t be there as long as if you hung on until you could retire.

NOT RETIRING GIVES YOU MORE ROOM TO FIND YOUR DREAM JOB. Let’s face it. When it comes to work, it takes most of us some time to figure out what we like. I know at lot more now than I did when I was forty. As you learn what lights your fire, you can move toward that kind of work IF you aren’t telling yourself that you’ll be “done” soon and into the retirement thing.

There are people well past eighty, in excellent health and fully engaged, who attribute their vitality to the fact they love their work. A local lawyer is 99 and still goes to the office. But not all day every day. Having a flexible work set-up can be part of the dream job, too. You might be able to do something as piecework or from the beach in Belize via WiFi and a cell phone. If you know you’re going to have to work forever, finding something you love is essential. Also more exciting.

NOT RETIRING MAKES YOU LESS VULNERABLE. Not working can leave you vulnerable a lot of ways. You’re vulnerable to becoming isolated. Your retirement income might go away, either because the entity providing it went bankrupt or the financial sector encounters another storm like this one. You’re vulnerable to having way too much time on your hands, particularly if you lose a spouse or companion prematurely.

It’s easier to get a few more hours–or take on a second job for a while–if you’re already employed. And for people who need people, the work setting is full of them.

The biggest lie of the traditional approach is that retirees are privileged to not be able to work. Retirement didn’t start out as a favor to older workers and that’s not what it is now. Retirement is a subtle, socially acceptable form of ageism. “Here’s some money. Now get out of the way.” Nobody cares what you do or even if you do it after you retire. You’ve rendered yourself irrelevant. BAD plan!

Instead, find a way to work that’s fun. Work at something you believe in. And find a work style and employer that make you feel you have a life not just a job. Retirement is a bad idea. Find what keeps you jazzed and enjoy what you do to make money.

SLATER

wtaetv asked:

Feb. 7, 2008: Most people dream of being millionaires by the time they retire, but that goal isn’t as far-fetched as some people might think. … wtae pittsburgh Be Millionaire By Retirement money cash big bucks get rich or die trying

RENNER