10/16/2012 7:00 PM ET

By Ashlea Ebeling, Forbes.com

Successful retirees know how to adjust to life after work, a new book maintains. The process starts with the right attitude and good planning.

In retirement, you must be reborn or face withering away. That's the premise of the new book "The Retirement Maze," which explores tactics to help retirees on the path to a new and improved retirement. It looks at who would benefit from taking a "bridge" job and why it's important to build non-work-related friendships before retirement. It also recommends that retirees have more sex. Seriously.

"When you retire, you're going through a major life change; you have to reorient yourself to figure out who you are," says co-author Dr. Louis Primavera, 68, a psychologist and former marriage counselor and now dean of the School of Health Sciences at Touro College. Co-author Rob Pascale, who retired at age 51 after 31 years in corporate market research, floundered at various ventures, including importing produce, before returning to social science and working on the book.

It's not a typical "rah-rah book that tells you how great retirement is" (Primavera's words) or a personal finance book, but instead a book about how folks adjust to retirement overall, for better or worse.

The authors reviewed existing retirement literature, surveyed 1,500 retirees and 400 pre-retirees online, did in-depth in-person interviews and reflected on their own experiences. Their conclusion? You have a better chance of success if you're mentally ready to leave the workforce and have a well-thought-out retirement plan.

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Avoid a depressing retirement

NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Prudential Retirement, a business unit of Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU), today announced four new plan sponsor client wins: NETGEAR, Upstate New York Power Producers, Inc., Norcal Beverage and Stone Bridge Cellars.

We are delighted to have these companies as new clients and we look forward to preparing their participants for their Day One of retirement, said George Castineiras, senior vice president, Total Retirement Solutions, Prudential Retirement. Prudential Retirements continuous service improvements and product innovations are the crucial elements that are important to intermediaries and new clients.

NETGEAR, a San Francisco-based global networking company that delivers innovative products to consumers, businesses and service providers, joined Prudential on June 1. Marte Werner from NWKGroup, was the advisor to the $25 million deal. The defined contribution plan has more than 300 participants.

Upstate New York Power Producers, Inc., based in Wallingford, Connecticut joined Prudential on August 27. The 401(k) plan has roughly 175 participants and $20 million in assets under management.

West Sacramento, Calif.-based Norcal Beverage, the largest independent co-packer of teas, chilled juices, waters, and energy drinks west of the Mississippi, joined Prudential Retirement on May 1. The company, which also manages delivery for the nations largest brewery, the largest beer importer, and the largest West Coast craft brewery, along with several smaller boutique breweries, has $19 million in plan assets and roughly 500 plan participants.

Norcal Beverage was impressed with Prudential Retirements plan participant Web site and the level of customer service the firm could provide, said Terri Erwin, corporate human resources director. David Loeffler, first vice president and investment officer at Roseville, Calif.-based Wells Fargo Advisors, was the advisor to the deal.

Stone Bridge Cellars, which operates as Joseph Phelps Vineyards, a Saint Helena, Calif.-based producer of up to 80,000 cases of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and dessert wines a year, joined Prudential on May 1. The plan has roughly 144 participants and $9 million in assets under management.

For any recordkeeper to be considered, we require an open-architecture investment platform allowing us to select institutionally priced investments without any limitations, completely transparent expenses and competitive service and technology offerings, Rick Wedge, managing director at San Francisco-based Pensionmark and the advisor to the deal, said.

Pensionmark also takes the time to understand our clients culture as best as possible to help guide the vendor selection process, Wedge continued. Educating a diversified work force was a key deciding factor in the selection of Prudential Retirement.

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Prudential Retirement adds four new plan sponsor clients

By John Reeves | More Articles October 15, 2012 |

Investing great John Bogle, founder of The Vanguard Group and champion of the index fund, believes our nation's retirement system is headed for a serious train wreck. Anyone who looks objectively at the evidence would have to agree with him.

I recently examined several outstanding research studies on the state of retirement savings in America, and here are some of the alarming facts that I discovered:

These are just some of the facts that are included in the studies referenced above. For more detail, I'd encourage you to read the studies in their entirety.

One big takeaway is that many Americans are saving far too little for their retirement. And many of those individuals who are saving are making costly errors that result in poor investing returns. Bogle believes that our society tends to be wired for short-term thinking when it's long-term strategies that are most needed right now in tackling this retirement crisis.

In order to better understand this crisis, we've put together series of articles that take a deeper look at the important challenges facing our retirement system. In "5 Huge Myths About Social Security," Ilan Moscovitz examines our widely misunderstood Social Security system. In another commentary, Sara Murphy explores the question of whether 401(k) plans are a failed experiment. Finally, in a concluding commentary, I put forward some ideas for possibly improving our overall retirement system. We hope you enjoy the series!

To read all of the articles in this series, click on the following links:

More here:
17 Frightening Facts About Retirement Savings in America

I have about $700,000 and plan on retiring soon at age 62. How can I make this money last at least 30 years? -- Steve, Vevay, Ind.

Making sure your money lasts isn't your only goal for retirement. Presumably, you also want to be able to draw enough from your savings to live relatively comfortably the rest of your life. And I assume you would like to have some flexibility about how you tap this nest egg, so you can fund not just regular living costs but unexpected expenses and the occasional splurge.

I mention this not to quibble, but because understanding that you actually have several goals is important when deciding how to manage your $700,000 stash.

If making sure you didn't outlive your nest egg were your only consideration, you could simply put your entire 700 grand into an immediate annuity, a type of investment that gives you a monthly check the rest of your life. As long as you're prudent about how you go about it -- sticking to highly-rated insurers, spreading your money among enough companies to assure you're fully covered by your state's insurance guaranty association -- you could sit back and collect $3,600 a month, possibly more, for as long as you live.

But you would also give up something -- namely, access to your money. Once you buy the annuity, you can no longer dip into your stash for emergencies and such. You receive only the monthly payments. And unless you buy an immediate annuity with an inflation rider -- which usually means accepting an initial payment that's about 25% less than one without inflation protection -- the purchasing power of your monthly check will decline throughout retirement.

Such shortcomings are why putting your entire stash in an immediate annuity probably isn't the right way to go.

There's another option, however, that can give you the flexibility you need, plus a good shot at inflation protection. Just invest your 700 grand in a relatively conservative mix of stock and bond funds -- say, 50% stocks-50% bonds -- and withdraw the cash you need each year.

To increase the odds that your money will last at least 30 years, you could follow what's commonly referred to as the "4% rule" -- that is, withdraw 4% of your nest egg's value the first year of retirement, $28,000 in your case, and increase that amount by the inflation rate each year to maintain your purchasing power.

Although the probability can vary depending on the assumptions you make about inflation and investment returns, there's roughly an 80% chance your money will last at least 30 years if you follow this regimen. Plus, you would have the opportunity to dip into your stash for extra cash should you need it.

But this approach has drawbacks, too. One is that while your chances of running out of money too soon are low, they're not zero. There is still a meaningful risk. That's especially true if your investments take a big hit early in retirement. In that case, the combination of investment losses, plus withdrawals could so deplete your portfolio's value that your nest egg could run dry well before 30 years.

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How to Make Your Retirement Savings Last

LAFAYETTE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Sitzmann Lavis White, LLC (dba SLW Retirement Plan Advisors), a retirement plan advisory firm, is pleased to announce that John Negrete has joined as a Retirement Plan Advisor.

Mr. Negrete came to SLW from M Advisory Group (formerly Cal-Surance in Torrance, CA) where he served as a Retirement Plan Advisor for many of their qualified plan clients. John specializes in provider due diligence, fiduciary oversight and employee communications related to 401(k), 403(b), 457 and other qualified plan types.

We are thrilled to have John join the team, said Nathan White, Managing Principal of SLW. Johns strong communication skills and first rate experience with a well-respected firm in Southern California will be a tremendous value to our growing clientele. Also, John will bring an enhanced focus on marketing which will allow us to expand into multiple markets throughout the West Coast. We couldnt be happier that he has made the move.

Mr. Negrete graduated from the UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts. He maintains his FINRA 7, 66 and California Life Agent licenses and is also fluent in Spanish. John, his wife Kat, and son Johnny will be relocating to Northern California next month.

About SLW Retirement Plan Advisors

SLW Retirement Plan Advisors (SLW) is a retirement plan advisory firm based in Lafayette, CA. SLW is a Registered Investment Advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and focuses on Qualified and Non-Qualified plans in multiple plan markets. As a leader in fiduciary risk governance, investment due diligence and plan benchmarking, their technical proficiency are unmatched nationwide. For more information, please visitwww.slwadvisors.com.

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John Negrete Joins SLW Retirement Plan Advisors

If you remember the slogan, This is not your fathers Buick, read on.

As a baby boomer, the life you live in your later years is also not going to be your fathers retirement."

Baby boomers face a different reality and environment in which their parents retired, and it's going to be tougher for many boomers to enjoy a similar standard of living post work life.

The chart below comes courtesy of the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College, and is based upon national data going back to 1983. Each line represents a different year and illustrates the amount of assets owned by various age groups compared to their income. As you might expect, at younger ages people have less accumulated wealth than their older counterparts. However, by age 60, the wealth-to-income ratio has increased to roughly four to one.

The chart emphasis that over the past 25 or so years, the pattern of wealth accumulation has been extremely stable- except in the most recent survey. As you can see by the dashed line, in 2010 wealth accumulation was lower across virtually all age groups, illustrating the impact of the severe recession. The steady high unemployment rates forced many people to draw down retirement savings and other accounts prematurely because they simply needed the money.

In addition, there was also a huge decline in the value of two significant assets classes: residential real estate and stocks. Compare how high the wealth-to-income ratio was in 2007, when both stocks and, to a larger degree, home prices were soaring. A year later, both markets went bust and so did the wealth people thought they had accumulated--as illustrated in the 2010 line.

The wealth-to-income ratio is a good predictor of how much income someone can replace once they retire. The fact that Americans at every stage of life are accumulating assets at a below-average rate is a trend CRR labels particularly alarming.

Here's the problem: Even if the wealth-to-income ratio at retirement age gets back to where its been historically--roughly four to one--the Center for Retirement Research warns that future retirees are still going to be in trouble. Changes in several factors have made financing todays retirement more expensive than in the past and as a consequence, the retirees of today and tomorrow really need to be entering this stage of their lives with significantly more wealth than previous generations, not less.

Senior CRR research economist Anthony Webb, says the danger is that pre-retirees today may figure, Ive accumulated about the same amount [of assets] as my parents and theyre OK, so Ill be OK.This is a false logic. Your parents may have been OK, but youre going to live longer, face lower interest rates and have higher health-care costs.

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Retirement Risks are Rising for Boomers.. and Beyond

(MoneyWatch) With average U.S. life expectancy still rising, if you look after your health it's quite possible you might live into your late '80s or beyond. As a result, people who retire in their 60s could be retired for at least two or three decades. That should be a good thing -- except if you run out of money in your 70s or 80s!

If you're like most baby boomers, you haven't put enough away in retirement savings to maintain your current lifestyle, so you'll need to squeeze as much income as possible from what you did sock away. And unless you'll be receiving significant benefits from a traditional pension plan, which provides a lifetime monthly income, you should be certain to manage your retirement savings so you don't outlive it.

Unfortunately, research suggests many people simply "wing it" when it comes to retirement planning and drawing down their savings. They simply withdraw what they need for living expenses and hope the money lasts.

Hope is never good strategy! If you spend your retirement savings without planning, there's a good chance you'll go broke in your retirement years.

Let me instead introduce you to a better strategy to draw down and invest any type of retirement savings you have, whether a straightforward savings account with no special tax features; a 401(k), 403(b), 457 or cash-balance plan; or a traditional or Roth IRA.

Don't spend savings

When it comes to living off your retirement savings, the most important strategy you can adopt is this: Don't spend your savings!

Can that be right? Absolutely. The concern is that after immediately after retiring, you'll have accumulated a tidy sum to spend during retirement. It'll look like a lot of money, and you may think you can easily afford to buy that boat or take that expensive cruise you've been dreaming about. You might start spending your retirement savings on the things you've been planning for and pull out whatever you think you need to cover daily living expenses.

If you're not careful, you'll exhaust the balance in your retirement accounts before too many years have gone by. You may have plenty of years to live, but you'll be broke and faced with some hard choices, such as returning to work, drastically scaling back your living expenses or moving in with your kids.

Instead of spending haphazardly, what you should do is consider your retirement savings as a monthly retirement income generator. Spend no more than the amount of your paychecks. Since most of us already live paycheck to paycheck during our working lives, adhering to this financial discipline when we retire shouldn't be too hard. If you plan your spending in retirement, there's a good chance you won't go broke.

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How to avoid going broke in retirement

How much should you save for retirement? The true answer is that no one knows. However, Barbara Friedberg is sure of one thing -- those who start their retirement planning and save early often will end up in much better shape than people who begin saving in their 40s or later. Retirement planning in your early years of life will save you from facing financial hardship during your retired years.

However, the lecturer at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University and editor in chief of BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance.com says do not worry if you are among the procrastinators -- all hope is not lost.

What is the correct amount of money that people should save for retirement on a percentage basis? Should it be 10 percent, 15 percent or 20 percent?

In general, it is best to save as much as possible and even more importantly to start as soon as you begin working. If a young adult starts her retirement planning in her 20s, she does not need to save as much as a person who starts saving in her 40s.

For example, Jill starts investing $300 per month in a diversified all-world stock index fund at age 25. She continues to invest the same amount per month until age 65. Over the 40 years, she invested a total of $144,000 and at age 65, she amassed $770,000. Assume an average rate of return of 6.9 percent over the 40 years.

If Jill earned $45,000 at age 25, then that $3,600 per year was only 8 percent of her salary. As her salary grew, the percent of her salary invested was even less than 8 percent.

Consider Jack, who didn't start investing until age 40. Assume Jack earned $60,000 per year and decided to save 15 percent of his salary, or $9,000 per year, for retirement. He invests in the same diversified all-world stock index fund as Jill. For simplicity's sake, assume he continues to save $9,000 ($750 per month) until age 65. The total amount Jack invests is $225,000. At age 65, Jack's retirement savings equal $598,025.

Jill invests less money, starts earlier than Jack and ends up with more wealth in retirement. The best retirement strategy is to start young. Start later, and you need to save a lot more than those who begin earlier.

Longevity risk -- the risk of outliving your money -- is a big issue for people about ready to retire. Companies now are offering their former employees a choice between a lump sum and a regular pension check. Companies hope the lump sum offer is accepted so they can offload the longevity risk. Who should bear this risk?

The companies who initially offered the pensions are under a social (and usually legal) contract to uphold their obligation.

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Early savings could pay off later in retirement

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Transamerica Retirement Services today released a new white paper titled, Creating an Education Policy Statement, that showcases the education policy statement as an important element of retirement plan fiduciary management. The Education Policy Statement is a natural extension of the Investment Policy Statement and, while not required by ERISA, is a key component of administering a plan and measuring ongoing performance. The Education Policy Statement provides structure for the plans employee education efforts, sets parameters and establishes measurement benchmarks to gauge progress and the success of education programs.

American workers are grappling with a high degree of uncertainty when it comes to planning for their retirement. This white paper outlines how plan sponsors and financial advisors can establish a plan to help educate employees to improve their retirement readiness, said Stig Nybo, president of pension sales and distribution for Transamerica Retirement Solutions. At Transamerica, we are committed to empowering plan participants to retire with confidence, and helping plan sponsors enhance their educational efforts is a step toward that goal.

Financial advisors who offer an Education Policy Statement to clients position themselves as credible resources to help plan sponsors and their participants better prepare for a comfortable retirement.

Tackling the retirement readiness challenge head-on, this white paper details the key ingredients of a well-crafted Education Policy Statement for retirement plans, boiling it down to five key elements: Clear plan purpose; plan objectives; education goals; measurements and benchmarking; and well-defined roles and responsibilities.

For more information about creating an Education Policy Statement, along with an annual employee education plan and a campaign calendar of events, call Transamerica Retirement Services at (888) 401-5826, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

About Transamerica Retirement Services

Transamerica Retirement Solutions Corporation (Transamerica or Transamerica Retirement Services), which is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, designs customized retirement plan solutions to meet the unique needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. Transamerica has more than 17,0001 retirement plans totaling more than $20 billion1 in assets. For more information about Transamerica, please refer to http://www.TA-Retirement.com.

1As of December 31, 2011.

TRSC 6362-1012

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Transamerica Retirement Services Promotes Importance of Education Policy Statements for Retirement Plans

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsvo0YUtRDA

13-10-2012 10:46 Brandi Hitt follows the famous shuttle as it reaches end of retirement tour.

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Space Shuttle Endeavor to Reach Final Resting Place; Retired Ship Makes Way Through Los Angeles - Video