What Kind of Retirement Do You Want?

 

Retirement is no longer viewed as a time to slow down, but is now considered a new beginning in life.  That means your current living expenses may have very little to do with your retirement expenses.  You need to give serious thought to the type of retirement you want—visualize what retirement will be like. To help you estimate retirement expenses, consider these questions:

  • When do you want to retire?  Will you realistically have the resources to retire at that age?
  • Do you plan to stay in your current home, trade down to a smaller one, or move to a different city?  If you plan to move, is the cost of living there more or less expensive than your present city?
  • Will your mortgage be paid off by retirement?  What about other debts?
  • Will you continue to work after retirement?  If so, will you work part- or full-time?  Where will you work and how much can you expect to earn?
  • Do you have any hobbies or interests that can be turned into paying jobs?  Are you planning to start a business after retirement?
  • How will you spend your free time?  What hobbies will you pursue?  How much and where will you travel?  How much will all these activities cost?
  • How will you pay for medical costs?  Will your employer provide health insurance or will you need to purchase insurance to supplement Medicare coverage?
  • Do you have any medical conditions that are likely to impact your quality of life in retirement?  What would you do if you became physically disabled?  Would your spouse take care of you, would you move in with your children, or would you go to a nursing home?  How will you provide for long-term-care costs?
  • How much of your income will be provided by personal investments including 401(k) investments?  Are you confident you can invest so those investments will last your entire retirement?
  • What would happen financially if your spouse dies?  If you die, would your spouse be able to support himself/herself financially?

 

Answering these questions should give you a clearer picture of retirement.  We’re here to help you transfer your goals and dreams into an actualized retirement plan.

 

Copyright © 2019 This article is published in its original form or adapted from its original publication with Investment Answers and Integrated Concepts, a separate, non-affiliated business entity. The original newsletter publication, Investment Answers Financial Success Summer 2019, is intended to offer factual and up-to-date information on the subjects discussed but should not be regarded as a complete, evolving, or personalized analysis of the topics, and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Qualified financial professionals should be consulted before implementing a personalized financial plan. Please reference the original publication for additional disclaimers.

Keep Track of Retirement Accounts

 

Most of us change jobs at least twice before retiring, leaving a trail of retirement nest eggs behind us. Now that defined-contribution plans are much more prevalent than defined-benefit plans, we have more responsibility for financing our retirement.  So it’s important to manage our retirement accounts actively.  But how can you do that if your accounts aren’t even located in one place?  Here are a couple of tips:

 

Organize Your Records

 

As long as you continue to hold your account in a former employer’s plan, you should receive statements.  Keep them all in a file —or even better, enter them all in a spreadsheet, tracking the combined balances and amounts in each type of investment.

 

Consolidate Your Accounts

 

It’s much easier to manage your assets if they’re all in one place.  Fill out the paperwork necessary for rolling them over into one account.  That single consolidation account could be the plan you are currently contributing to if it permits rollover contributions.  You can also open a rollover individual retirement account (IRA) and have the funds from your other accounts directly transferred there.

 

If You’ve Lost Track of Accounts

 

If you’ve lost track of one or more of your accounts with a former employer, contact your old employer and ask them to confirm that you participated in the plan and the steps you need to take to get a current statement of your account. Or find an old statement and look for a contact phone number or address.  As long as there are assets in the account, the financial institution can probably still account for them.

 

Copyright © 2020 This article is published in its original form from its original publication with Investment Answers and Integrated Concepts, a separate, non-affiliated business entity. The original newsletter publication, Investment Answers Financial Success Winter 2020, is intended to offer factual and up-to-date information on the subjects discussed but should not be regarded as a complete, evolving, or personalized analysis of the topics, and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. Qualified financial professionals should be consulted before implementing a personalized financial plan. Please reference the original publication for additional disclaimers.

Investment Answers Winter 2020 News

 

With the turning of the decade, many important changes for inherited IRAs have gone into effect.  As of January 1, 2020, the SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Act of 2019) has gone into effect.

This Congressionally approved bill is intended to: 1) Help reduce the costs associated with setting up retirement plans for small employers, 2) Increase access to lifetime income options (annuities) inside of retirement accounts, 3) Make significant changes to the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) requirements of IRAs, and 4) Make changes to the IRA contribution restrictions allowing for continued contributions beyond age 70 1/2.

This new law has the potential, according to the Congressional Research Service, to increase tax revenue by $15.7 billion dollars just in Federal tax revenue, not to mention State tax revenues for Inheritance and Income taxes.

Because this is the largest retirement planning bill since the Pension Act of 2006, we will be utilizing our presentations and published content as ways to get as much information to you as possible to help you better understand how these changes can impact your accounts, your beneficiaries, and the retirement planning adjustments you may need to make.

Please consider joining us for our State of the Markets events in March where this will be addressed in detail.  We will also reference some key points from the SECURE Act during our February and March Social Security presentations and in our Empowering Women Investors events.