Retirement Archives - Page 701 of 729 - Conscious Evolution TV Conscious Evolution TV

There are all kinds of ways to secure a comfortable retirement. Our career choices, lifestyle, and savings and investment decisions all influence our ability to retire well. There are lots of prudent steps we can take to guarantee ourselves stability when we finally call it quits. Here are five habits to ingrain into your life now to avoid regrets later in life.

Maintain a healthy contribution rate. A huge deciding factor of whether you can retire comfortably lies in how much you can save over your lifetime. Obviously, living below your means is key, which takes commitment and discipline for most people. Forget trying to save just 10 percent of your income, because you will only be getting by in retirement with that percentage. Save as much as you can, and then save some more. Don't worry about saving too much, because you can always inflate your lifestyle at any point easily.

Be careful to avoid taxes as much as possible. Taxes can take a huge bite out of your investment returns if you aren't careful. At the very least, know the tax treatment of all your investments so you can allocate them into an account that will minimize the tax bite. Donate your money to Uncle Sam if you choose to, but don't unknowingly give him more than he requires.

Don't be oblivious to your income potential. Passion certainly plays a role in how satisfied you will be in your career. But the reality is that working in certain industries will give you a higher chance of earning a higher income. Sit down and do an honest assessment of your chosen field. Do you have the ability or potential to strike it big in your current profession? Will a career change be better for you economically and emotionally? Carefully balance your interests, desire, and economic realities as you assess your career situation.

Avoid costly investment mistakes. Some investment moves are simple and logical to make, such as avoiding expensive investments. Others, like having the stomach to stay the course at times of crisis, aren't so easy. Those who arm themselves with investment knowledge will be the best equipped to stay invested when times are rough, because they likely prepared themselves mentally for stock market dips before they happen.

Have a retirement plan. A retirement plan allows you to prepare a retirement savings and investing strategy. This plan will also let you know whether you are on the right track, potentially helping you sleep better at night because you won't be worrying needlessly about how you are progressing. Getting a plan started is actually easier than you might think. The hardest part is making the commitment to get one going. However long you end up taking for this task, it sure beats spending countless hours not knowing what to do.

David Ning runs MoneyNing, a personal finance site that shares money moves you can make to significantly increase your chances of having a comfortable retirement. He likes to share simple changes that anyone can make, such as picking the best online savings account and figuring out whether a 0 percent balance transfer credit card makes sense.

See original here:
5 Prudent Life Choices for a Secure Retirement

After watching their retirement funds get pummeled by the financial crisis at the same time the cost of college tuition continues to rise, many parents are faced with a difficult choice: contributing towards their childrens education or funding their retirement.

According to a recent study conducted by Allianz Life Insurance, one in four people are reducing or cutting off contributions toward their childrens college education. The study also reported that 25% of U.S. households are contributing less toward their childrens college education or have stopped altogether, while 44% of respondents have not started saving at all. Only 15% have cut back their spending on other things to keep saving/paying for their childrens college educations.

Jim Briggs, co-founder of ReducingCollegeCosts.com explains that families saving for college face a different reality than they did before 2008.

Most families that we deal with are now taking a really hard look at the cost of educating their children and trying to get that down to the lowest common denominator, he says. But when you get right down to it, given a finite amount of assets and income, its how do you take what the family has and maximize their return on those for both retirement and education.

So whats more important, parents retirement or childrens college? The answer, according to most experts, is retirement.

In a perfect world, youd like to move forward on two fronts, and while there are plenty of difficult decisions around investing a limited amount of money, this isnt one of them, says Michael Kiley, CEO of Security Benefit. When it comes to saving for your child's education or saving for your own retirement, you have to put the kids second.

Experts also advise parents to remember that there are loans available to fund collegethats not the case with retirement.

Jeff Rose, certified financial planner and author of the blog Good Financial Cents, explains that parents are often willing to sacrifice their future plans to avoid putting the burden of financial responsibility on their kids.

It's in my belief that eventually it'll all circle back around that they'll have to be dependent on their children, because they didnt have adequate retirement savings, he says.

Involve the whole family in the process. When deciding what schools to apply to, students and parents should make realistic, informed decisions together about what they can afford, says Briggs.

More:
Saving for Tuition vs. Retirement: Which is More Important?

I've been wrestling with the issue of how to structure a solid retirement for about ten years, since I was in my early 50s. I've looked for all the simple answers and easy outs, but haven't found anything along those lines other than to win the lottery, or inherit a small fortune.

Since I don't even play the lottery, and my count of rich uncles is zero, I've had to come up with a more realistic plan. It's not as exciting as the rich-uncle option, but it's a lot more reliable.

A blueprint for nailing down a realistic retirement and securing your financial future is to build a stool with these three sturdy legs:

1. Plan to work in early retirement. If you like your job and can keep it through your late 60s, you're in a good position. Don't blow it. Stay on the job. My dad kept his job until he was 71, even though he took a pay cut in his last few years. The extra dollars he earned and the savings he didn't have to spend made a big difference in his lifestyle over the next 20 years. Unfortunately, these days, many of us don't have that option. We're shown the door at 62 or 60, or even in our 50s.

You need a big nest egg--over $1 million--to support yourself for 30 or 40 years. But if you earn some income in your early retirement years, when you're still young and healthy enough to work, you will not only supplement your current cash situation, but also stretch your future assets. Once your career is over, there's no shame in making less money, or doing less prestigious work. Take a part-time job at the mall or your local government, or turn your cooking or handyman skills into a paying proposition. If you make just $20,000 a year, that's roughly the equivalent of having another half million dollars in the bank.

2. Live below your means. In our younger years, many of us live beyond our means, especially if we buy a house, maintain two cars, and support our children. Once the kids are out the door, it's time to reassess your needs. Set a goal to live on 20 percent less than your income, instead of 10 percent more.

You don't need a three bedroom home with a good school system anymore. If you can sell your house, you can buy or rent a smaller place in a town with lower real-estate taxes. If you can't downsize your home, you can downsize your transportation fleet. Maybe you can get along with one car instead of two. You certainly don't need a boat or an ATV anymore. You probably don't need to spend as much on clothes. Maybe you can skip the expensive vacation trip and take a staycation instead, taking advantage of the parks, festivals, and local theater groups around your hometown. You don't have to downsize everything, just enough to give yourself a solid cushion.

3. Invest in some risky assets. When my dad retired he could put his savings in a bank, collect 5 percent interest, and live off the proceeds. But today, with banks paying less than 1 percent, that's no longer an option.

You need to swallow hard and invest some of your savings in the stock and bond markets. Assuming your nest egg is less than $1 million, focus on low cost, no-load mutual funds. Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, and other companies offer plenty of highly rated stock and bond funds that will produce some income, along with the possibility of growth over time. One good alternative is a hybrid fund, like Fidelity's Asset Manager Fund (FFANX) or Vanguard's Wellington Fund (VWINX), that carries a mixture of stocks and bonds. Yes, there is some risk. But if you suffer a paper loss you can afford to sit tight as long as the other two legs of your stool are solid.

Tom Sightings is a former publishing executive who was eased into early retirement in his mid-50s. He lives in the New York area and blogs at Sightings at 60, where he covers health, finance, retirement, and other concerns of baby boomers who realize that somehow they have grown up.

See more here:
The New 3 Legged Retirement Stool

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Americans are very concerned with two national issues affecting their goals for retirement: the solvency and ability of Social Security to provide enough money and incurring medical expenses they cant afford, according to investing company Scottrade, Inc.s 2012 American Retirement Study. As a result, more Americans are seeking out income-generating holdings.

While Americans waning confidence with the future of Social Security is nothing new, it is compounded this year with an emerging concern of covering living expenses during retirement. This general worry had dipped from 2010 to 2011, but in this years sixth annual study significantly more Americans responded that they are either extremely concerned or very concerned with three factors:

Americans general concern with having enough money for retirement hit a six-year high. More than half, at 57 percent, reported they are either extremely concerned or very concerned with this issue, up from 47 percent in 2011 and 56 percent in 2007.

As a result, the majority of Americans, at 56 percent, think generating income during retirement is more important today than it was a year ago. The reason, according to 67 percent of those respondents, is simply an expectation that the cost of living during retirement will be more expensive. This is leading 38 percent of all survey respondents to structure their portfolio to include income-generating investments.

An investors confidence to take control of their financial future starts with investment education, said Kristin Grupas, Scottrades assistant director of customer education.At Scottrade, we empower our clients by offering a variety of free investing resources, including more than two-dozen investing seminars presented at our 505 branch offices nationwide.

Through these small group presentations, our associates educate self-directed investors and traders on everything from the basics of using Scottrades online trading and investing tools to advanced topics, such as generating income through the covered call option strategy.

While the majority of survey respondents over the age of 55 strongly agreed that given the opportunity to do it over, they would have started saving for retirement at a younger age, roughly a quarter said they would have become more educated about planning for retirement. Learning from their regret, more Americans, at 35 percent, expect to seek out information to learn more about retirement planning in 2012, compared to 28 percent in 2011. When looking at the responses by generations, the younger groups Gen Y and Gen X led this educational drive with 40 percent and 44 percent, respectively, stating they will seek out information in 2012.

Scottrades easy-to-use online trading and investing tools, said Grupas, coupled with its diversified offering of investment products and services help self-directed investors and traders set a course for financial success.

In addition to face-to-face meetings and classes, Scottrade offers many online resources to its clients through its free education center, the Knowledge Center, to help them make better-informed decisions. Components of the Knowledge Center include:

Read the original:
Scottrade Research Uncovers Trend: Income During Retirement A Growing Necessity

Americans continue to be stressed about their retirements, according to the 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), a major annual survey of employee expectations and retiree realities. Since the 2007-08 recession, retirement confidence has hovered for several years at or near the lowest levels recorded by the RCS since it began in 1990. Last year was no different.

[See 10 Steps to Fine-Tune Your Retirement Plan.]

For people still working, slightly more than half were either very confident (14 percent) or somewhat confident (38 percent) they would be able to retire comfortably. For people either retired or at least 65 years old, the picture was a bit better: 21 percent said they were very confident of a comfortable retirement and 42 percent said they were somewhat comfortable.

When the RCS asked them about their confidence in paying for basic necessities in retirement--a lower financial threshold than being comfortable--71 percent of workers (26 percent were very confident and 45 percent were somewhat confident) and 80 percent of retirees (32 percent were very confident and 48 percent were somewhat confident) said they were.

The RCS is co-sponsored by two Washington organizations: the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonprofit research organization, and Matthew Greenwald & Associates, a market research firm. It has become the retirement benefits' version of the annual State of the Union message. And for most of those years, the message has not been very uplifting.

Americans save too little money and do not do a good job of planning for retirement. These are the averages. Broken down by income levels, more affluent workers do a better job, no doubt in large measure because they can afford to. Older workers also do a better job, for the obvious reason that they are beginning to see the retirement beast at the end of their employment tunnels.

[See How Spending Priorities Change as We Age.]

< p>Among the many charts and tables in the RCS, one topic has always held special interest. Each year, the RCS asks workers about what they expect to find in retirement. It then asks retirees a comparable set of questions about what they've actually found retirement to be like. There is a big gap between the two sets of answers. The reality of retirement is a lot more challenging than pre-retirees expect.

Taking a look at the differences between expectation and reality creates a compelling list of the things workers could be learning from retirees who have already walked a mile or two in their retirement shoes. Yet, the next year's RCS shows the same comparative gaps. And the next RCS after that. And so on. The RCS, to state the obvious, is probably not required reading in the lunch rooms of America's workplaces. Too bad.

[See Health: The Biggest Determinant of Your Retirement Security.]

Follow this link:
The State of the (Retirement) Union is Weak

iStockphoto.com/(ericsphotography)

Concerns about job security and piles of debt have left American workers more pessimistic about retirement than ever.

Only 14% of workers feel "very confident" they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, while 38% of workers say they are "somewhat confident" and 23% say they are "not at all confident," according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. The results have remained relatively unchanged since hitting an all-time low in 2009.

Many respondents said that saving for retirement has taken a backseat to more immediate financial concerns. About 42% of survey respondents said a lack of job security is the biggest issue they are facing, with only 28% of workers saying they feel very confident they will have a paying job for as long as they need it. Meanwhile, a whopping 62% -- nearly two-thirds -- of workers said their debt is a problem.

As a result, many workers barely have any savings, with about 60% of workers reporting total savings and investments of under $25,000 (excluding the value of their home and benefit plans). About 30% of these respondents said they have less than $1,000 in savings.

In addition, far fewer people are saving for retirement. The percentage of workers who said they were putting money away for retirement fell to 66% in 2012 from 75% in 2009. People earning less than $35,000 account for the majority of that decline -- most likely because they have either lost their jobs or are worried they may be out of work in the future, the report found.

"A lot of the people who have either lost their jobs or are worried about losing their jobs are trying to put a little money away for a rainy day and just don't have money to put into savings right now," said Jack VanDerhei, EBRI research director and co-author of the report.

Out of those who have started planning and saving, 67% say they are behind schedule. This is unchanged from 2011, but 12 percentage points higher than the 55% of workers who were behind schedule in 2005.

Medical costs are also a major concern, with only 13% of respondents reporting that they are very confident they will be able to afford medical expenses when they retire. Only 26% of workers are very confident that they will even have the money to pay for basic expenses.

While workers' lack of saving and confidence in their ability to retire comfortably is troubling, VanDerhei said it's good that people are becoming more realistic about their financial situations. In 2009, following the economic downturn, many workers clung to over inflated expectations about their retirement future.

See the original post here:
Retirement scare: 60% have less than $25K saved

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

A new survey says Americans confidence in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement remains at historically low levels in the face of job uncertainty and financial insecurity.

The 2012 annual Retirement Confidence Survey, released today by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) in Washington, and co-sponsored by the Principal Financial Group, finds only 14 percent of Americans are very confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement1. Workers with the most debt have the least confidence.

Current worries appear to overshadow long term planning. Forty-two percent of workers identify job uncertainty as the most pressing financial issue facing most Americans today. The percentage of those saving for retirement continues to decline, many report virtually no savings and investments and most workers have not even tried to calculate how much they need to save.

But the survey data show that retirement confidence levels are measurably higher (20 30 percent) among workers whove taken positive financial actions, including saving in an employer-sponsored plan, getting advice from a financial professional and calculating retirement savings needs.

Especially in an uncertain economy, having a plan and taking action helps Americans focus on what they can control and builds a realistic sense of optimism about the future , said Greg Burrows, senior vice president of the Principal Financial Group, long-time underwriter of the Retirement Confidence Survey. Working with a financial professional to set goals, and putting aside as much as possible, helps with short-term needs and paves the way for more security in the long term.

This is the 22nd annual Retirement Confidence Survey, making it the longest-running annual survey of its kind in the nation. Among other key findings available on the EBRI website at http://www.ebri.org:

Little savings: Many workers report they have virtually no savings and investments. In total, 60 percent of workers report that the total value of their households savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans, is less than $25,000.

Fewer saving: Two-thirds (66 percent) of workers report they and/or spouses have saved for retirement, a continuing decline from the 75 percent measured in 2009. Fifty-eight percent report currently savings versus 65 percent in 2009.

Workers expected retirement age: In 1991, 11 percent of workers said they expected to retire after age 65, and by 2012 that has grown to 37 percent.

Read the rest here:
2012 Retirement Confidence Survey: Job Insecurity, Debt Keep Retirement Confidence at Historic Lows

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Concerns about job security and piles of debt have left American workers more pessimistic about retirement than ever.