Fears that baby boomers havent saved enough for retirement are constantly dominating headlines, but theres also the flipside of that problem that can also be a financial disaster: outliving our savings.

According to a recent study by Ernst & Young, almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlive their financial assets if they attempt to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. Finding the right spending balance and developing a financial plan leading up to and in retirement is an arduous process and often requires assistance from a professional.

When choosing a financial expert, its important to check their credentialsbut where do we begin looking? To help boomers find a pro to help evaluate and plan their retirement picture, The American College launched The Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) credential will help advisors master retirement income planning. I had a chance to speak with Director of the New York Life Center for Retirement Income at The American College David Littell, who is in charge of designing the program curriculum. Here is what he had to say:

Boomer: What is the Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) credential and how will it help advisors with retirement income planning?

Littell: The RICP is an advanced professional designation for financial advisors who assist clients with retirement income planning. It helps advisors address the specific tasks, such as when to retire, choosing a claiming age for Social Security benefits, how to elect company sponsored retirement benefits and how to convert assets into sustainable income during retirement. The program provides advisors with a comprehensive planning process, to help them create customized plans to meet their clients specific retirement goals.

Boomer. Whats included in the coursework consist and who is getting this designation?

Littell: Students are required to take three, college-level courses. The courses are online, self-study courses, followed by completion of a final exam at a testing center.

The first course (HS 353 Retirement Income Process, Strategies and Solutions) focuses on how to build a retirement income planwhat has to be considered, what steps are involved and what are some of the strategies and solutions to solve client problems. This course addresses new retirement risks like tax and legal issues that can undermine a plan, and some of the common approaches being used to generate income from assets.

The second course (HS 354 Sources of Retirement Income) reviews things like the Social Security claiming issue, distribution options from retirement plans, annuity products used in retirement income planning and building a retirement portfolio. The third course, (HS 355 Managing the Retirement Income Plan) begins with important retirement decisions including choosing appropriate Medicare and other health insurance options, addressing long-term-care needs and housing decisions. It also addresses retirement portfolio management and issues that arise as clients age.

To earn the designation students must also satisfy a three-year experience requirement, ongoing CE requirements and abide by the Colleges ethic pledge.

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Why Planning for Retirement is So Hard, and What to Do About It

By Susan Tompor

Many Baby Boomers head to work each day and wonder, "So what's the number?"

How many more years do they need to keep working? It turns out that if many of us could just keep working until age 70, we could be OK in retirement, according to a new study.

Sure, 70 isn't the magic number that most people want to hear. Even so, knowing any number might be reassuring, if you're worried that you'd never be able to stop working.

"My intention was to make people feel better," said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

After the Great Recession, more people fear the idea of retirement. But Munnell said many people will be able to retire - if they work a bit longer. "It's better to stay with your full-time job if you can," she said.

The trick is to delay dipping into savings as long as possible.

Munnell, a retirement expert, spoke to me by phone. I had to bring up a topic that's near and dear to many salaried auto retirees. What about those lump-sum offers?

A lump-sum payment in retirement is being offered to salaried retirees at General Motors and as early as August to many salaried retirees at Ford. (Not yet to hourly folks, but some say that could happen one day, too.)

She didn't mince words, calling the idea "terrible." She said she's hoping that retirees "don't fall for the trick" of accepting a lump sum.

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Working until 70 could ease retirement finances

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32gOfOQcXNc

04-07-2012 14:15 - Cornwall Ontario Councilor Andre Rivette on Fitzpatrick Retirement PT 2

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Cornwall Ontario Councilor Andre Rivette on Fitzpatrick Retirement PT 2 - Video

Working a second, part-time job is a common way to pay down credit card debt or address unexpected bills. But today some middle-age savers are taking a second job for a different reason: to help boost lackluster retirement accounts.

"I see that more and more," says Mike Sena, a certified financial planner in Canton, GA. Sena has multiple clients who are putting the money from a second job into their retirement account because they feel they haven't saved enough to this point.

"For many people, retirement is still ages away and they say, 'I'll have time to take care of it,'" Sena says. But his clients with second jobs are opting to play catch-up in their 40s and 50s in hopes of not having to work past their retirement age.

David Bakke, 45, began working part-time at a restaurant nine months ago with a straightforward savings goal: $500,000 for retirement. Bakke makes $48,000 in his full-time job in the financial services sector, and earns about $1,000 a month after taxes from his restaurant job, which he invests in a mutual fund.

He also contributes 7 percent of his salary to a 401(k) plan and opened a Roth IRA five years ago. He tries to max out his annual contributions to both accounts.

"Working a side job is important to me because my previous level of contributions to my retirement savings would have left me short when I reached retirement age," Bakke says. "I used to simply set aside what I could for my retirement savings and hope that I would have enough money. However, after investigating my situation, I've realized that such an approach was not viable."

Last year he saved $12,000 for retirement. His goal this year is $20,000, which he expects to reach with his current contributions to the Roth, 401(k) and mutual fund. Without the extra job, he calculates that he'd only have about 65 percent of what he needed to enjoy a "decent" retirement.

A divorced father of a 5-year-old son, Bakke says that taking on another job caused other areas of his life to suffer at first, as he was able to spend with less time with his son and almost no time with friends. But he says he's since learned new time-management techniques that give him more free time, which he's written about as a contributor to the site MoneyCrashers.com.

Before retiring, Sena recommends to his clients that they have no consumer debt. He also suggests that they set aside 10 to 15 percent of their income for retirement annually before they consider paying down their mortgage or funding their children's college tuition.

While many retirement savers may be behind on their goals, only a fraction will have the work ethic needed to take on a second job to make up the gap. But for Bakke and others, the peace of mind that comes with a healthy nest egg is enough to make the extra hours worth it.

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Working a second job to save for retirement

Mark Ramprakash is expected to announce his retirement from first-class cricket on Thursday.

The former England batsman, scorer of 114 first-class hundreds, played in 52 Test matches and 18 one-day internationals.

It is understood that, at the age of 42, Ramprakash has decided to call time on 25-year career which began with Middlesex and has concluded at Surrey following his switch across London 11 years ago.

Ramprakash, thought likely to prove the last man in cricket history to make 100 first-class hundreds, was dropped by Surrey for the first time as he struggled for his best form at the start of this season.

He has scored 35,659 runs in 461 first-class matches since his county debut in 1987, and more than 13,000 in limited-overs cricket.

Ramprakash never managed to carry his prolific domestic run-making into international cricket, averaging only 27.32 in Tests - little more than half his productivity in county cricket - with two centuries and a career-best 154 against West Indies in Bridgetown.

His other century came against Australia at The Oval in 2002.

In county colours, he topped 1,000 runs in 20 separate seasons and three times made more than 2,000 - in 1995, 2006 and 2007.

An unbeaten 301, for Surrey against Northamptonshire at The Oval in 2006, was his first-class career-best.

Ramprakash is to hold a press conference at The Oval on Thursday, when it is anticipated he will confirm news of his retirement.

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Ramprakash poised to announce retirement

Imagine that this is the last day of your career. You roll into the office, have a brief chat with HR while you fill out all the necessary paperwork, and station yourself right beside the coffee machine to share the good news with everyone as they walk past the cafeteria.

You take an extra long lunch with your closest working buddies and have a great time because, for the first time ever, you don't care about walking past the boss's office after running a little late. Then you back up all your personal files and web bookmarks on the company laptop and start making your rounds to personally thank all those at the workplace who have truly helped you over the years.

However, it will only be possible to have this sort of relaxing last day of work if you have made the necessary preparations for retirement. Here are a few activities soon-to-be retirees should do before they call it quits:

Figure out a game plan for drawing down your assets. It's surprisingly common for folks to retire without a plan, which includes how they should efficiently draw down the nest egg they've spent decades building. Creating and following a solid plan will not only allow your assets to last longer, but it will also allow you to sleep better at night because you will be more confident in how much you can spend without depleting your savings too quickly.

Start living on your projected retirement income while still employed. One of the most accurate ways to test drive retirement finances is to start living on your projected income in retirement while you still have earned income. This way, there's still room to make changes and adjustments if theres a need.

Don't forget about Social Security. One major source of income after you no longer get a paycheck is going to come from the government in the form of a Social Security check. Monthly payments increase for each year you delay claiming between ages 62 and 70. Make sure you do the calculations to determine the best age to sign up for your personal situation.

Consider doing major home repairs. Many older homes can probably use a newer roof, more energy efficient windows, a kitchen remodel, and other repairs. If any of these major expenses are due in the near future, you might want to do them before you retire. These types of projects usually go over budget, which could throw your retirement estimates into disarray.

Consider refinancing or applying for a home equity line of credit. I think the psychological benefit of being debt free far outweighs the potential excess return you could get by leveraging your assets after you retire. But if you must, consider refinancing to lower your finance charges or applying for a home equity line of credit for potential emergencies while you still have a job. Once you quit, it will be difficult to qualify for loans.

Make sure you are aware of your retirement plan vesting schedule. The retirement account at your employer likely has some type of vesting schedule that restricts the portion of the employer match you can keep based on your years of service. The last thing you want to find out after you hand in your resignation letter is that you could have been eligible for a bigger chunk of your employer match if you only worked for another month.

Look into your tax situation. Once you no longer receive a paycheck, it also means that Uncle Sam is no longer getting a periodic tax payment from you. A smaller tax bill will certainly help your retirement finances. However, some folks may need to start paying estimated taxes throughout the year, and the penalties for not paying could be steep.

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A Checklist for Retirement

The Saudi Public Retirement Fund (SPRF) is considering raising the retirement age for government employees from the current 60 to 65, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported yesterday. Female employees will still be put on obligatory retirement when they complete 20 years in service, said Fatima bint Muhammad Al-Ali, director of the female section in the fund. She pointed out that new changes in the regulations of the fund, which are soon expected to be approved by the concerned authorities, would include enabling inheritors to receive both the pensions of their deceased father and mother. Now, they should choose only one of the two pensions. Al-Ali said putting women on early retirement to provide job opportunities to unemployed Saudi women is not a successful policy. This solution, according to the studies and researches of the fund, provide only a limited number of vacancies, she said. She criticized the policy of early retirement and said it would lead to a disruption in productivity, especially in the sectors of health and education. The solution to the problem of unemployment among women is not by putting working women on early retirement but by creating more job opportunities particularly in the health and educational sector and also by improving the standards of university graduates through preparing them for the labor market, she said.

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Retirement age may be raised to 65

The past four years have seen layoffs, raise freezes, eliminated bonuses, foreclosures, upside-down mortgages, increased college tuitions, soaring gas prices, expensive groceries, wildly high credit card rates, and more. It's no wonder American household budgets have suffered.

When incomes aren't keeping up with living costs, and expenses are mounting, some savers may start to consider desperate measures, including taking money out of their retirement plans before reaching retirement age. Accessing 401(k) funds prior to retirement is tricky and sometimes confusing. Money can be removed in the form of a retirement plan loan or a hardship distribution. When considering any of these options, it's important to recognize all of the consequences, including which options are accompanied by stiff IRS penalties.

Hardship distributions from 401(k)s are subject to a 10 percent IRS penalty and regular income tax. The IRS gave you special tax benefits for contributing to your retirement plan, and they want to incentivize you to use the money for retirement, not before. To be allowed to take a hardship distribution, you must show you have an "immediate and heavy financial need" and you'll most likely have to prove you meet certain criteria. You can only withdraw enough to meet your need. In many cases, your employer may be required to stop your contributions to the plan for a specific amount of time as well.

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) cannot offer loans, but the IRS is less stringent about 401(k) retirement plan loans. The maximum amount a participant may borrow from his plan is 50 percent of the vested account balance or $50,000, whichever is less. An exception to this limit is if 50 percent of the vested account balance is less than $10,000; then, the participant may borrow up to $10,000. Take note: Plans are not required to offer this exception, so check with your plan document for specifics. It's also important to keep in mind that while you likely made pre-tax contributions to your 401(k), you'll be making after-tax payments to repay your loan, which significantly increases the cost of the loan.

Such 401(k) hardship distributions and retirement plan loans shouldn't be a first consideration when you need money. Most financial professionals would tell you that damaging your retirement savings efforts in order to procure a one-time cash injection isn't worth it.

The truth is that it's almost always a poor choice; but every financial situation is unique. If 401(k) account dollars will just provide a temporary stopgap before you ultimately run out of money, leave your 401(k) alone. However, if you need the cash to put yourself on much better financial ground and a one-time withdrawal or loan will solve your financial fix, it may be reasonable to consider the possibilities.

Before taking either a 401(k) hardship distribution or a retirement plan loan, I'd suggest considering the alternatives below:

--Budgeting and trimming: Create a monthly budget if you don't already have one. Trim the fat from your budget to get extra dollars each month.

--Ask for a better debt deal: Banks and credit card companies may be willing to reduce your interest rates and lower your monthly payments. Oftentimes, they have repayment plans available to help you work out of debt at a reasonable rate.

--Get another job: Make some extra money with a part-time job.

Link:
Should You Tap Into Your Retirement Funds Early?

(MoneyWatch) Continuing our look at how to assess your future retirement income, let's turn our attention to "systematic withdrawals," which are one of three ways to generate a paycheck from what you have stashed away. Note: In previous posts, I've called this method "managed payouts," but the term "systematic withdrawals" is more descriptive and won't cause confusion between the term "managed payout fund" used by some mutual fund families. For more background on the three methods, you may want to review my recent post, "My four favorite ways to generate retirement income."

Financial planners and writers will often tell you something along these lines: If you invest in a portfolio balanced between stocks and bonds, withdraw four percent each year for retirement income, and give yourself an annual raise to account for inflation, there's a roughly 90 percent chance that your money will last for at least 30 years. Hence, the justification for the so-called four percent rule.

My four favorite ways to generate retirement income Retirement income scorecard: Interest and dividends IRAs and 401k: 3 ways to generate retirement income

Method #2: Systematic withdrawals

The four percent rule is actually a good starting point for considering an appropriate withdrawal rate. But if you fall into one of the following two categories, you might want to consider withdrawing amounts of lower than four percent:

-- If your retirement investments are actively managed and incur investment expenses of more than 50 basis points (0.50 percent), over the long run you may fall short of the net rates of return that justify the four percent rule.

-- If you're married, both you and your spouse are healthy, and you retire in your early to mid sixties, there's a good chance that one of you will live for more than 30 years.

If either of these statements applies to you, you may want to consider payout rates on your retirement income of 3 or 3.5 percent.

In addition, there's a point of view emerging from some financial analysts, such as Dr. Wade Pfau, that the analyses supporting the four percent rule are based on a period of U.S. history that may have been a remarkably good time for stock and bond returns. It may be that future returns on stocks and bonds won't be able to support a four percent withdrawal rate. If you believe this, you may want to use a lower withdrawal rate.

In spite of the above thoughts, you might consider a higher withdrawal rate if you're willing to accept some chance of running out of money before you die, or if you're willing to curb your withdrawals down the road if your investments sour. In short, setting the appropriate withdrawal rate is both art and science.

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Retirement income scorecard: Systematic withdrawals

Each day brings new challenges that threaten us, and the Internet often resembles an enormous social megaphone with the volume cranked all the way up. So it's understandably hard to square this persistent outpouring of threats and unhappiness with the reality that the inhabitants of planet earth are living longer than ever before and inflicting less physical violence on one another. What if, God forbid, these turn out to be the best of times?

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So it is with the torrent of negative retirement news. Bad as things often look, people will continue to retire, and many of them will enjoy terrific lives in their later years. They will join millions of other Americans who have managed to do the same. What are their secrets? Here, culled from research studies and retirement experts, are 10 essentials for a successful retirement.

1. Planning. Successful retirements rarely happen by accident. They require planning, and it should begin well before retirement begins. Younger people do not need to have any detailed plan for their later years. Heck, many probably don't know what they'll be doing next year. But they should set up tax-favored retirement investments, contribute enough to trigger the top employer match, and place their money in stable and safe investments. Older people should begin in their 50s to ask questions about the adequacy of their retirement funds. They also should attack some of the big retirement issues: where they want to live, how they want to spend their time, and the like. At whatever age retirement becomes financially viable or physically necessary, they should have a more detailed plan and ways to achieve it.

2. Budgeting. Most people overestimate their retirement income and underestimate their retirement expenses. Well before the regular paychecks stop, many successful retirees will have taken a hard-nosed look at their retirement income and expense needs. Expense budgeting is crucial. Once the income and expense sides of your personal ledger have been completed, you can see if there's a gap that needs to be closed. Most likely, it will be closed by trimming expenses. Many experts say it's a good idea to look at your locked-in sources of retirement income--Social Security and traditional pensions--and match this amount to your fixed expenses: mortgage, utilities, insurance, fixed debt payments, operating expenses for your car, and basic household costs for food and other necessities. Then, look at the likely income stream from your investments and use those funds for discretionary spending on vacations, restaurants, and the like. This way, if returns on your investments don't fare as well as you thought, you won't have to eat into your investment accounts to pay expenses. When markets recover, you can resume your spending.

3. Homework. Retirement is many things, but a life of leisure usually must be preceded by a lot of homework. This is particularly true when it comes to healthcare costs. The average 65-year-old couple will spend more than $250,000 on out-of-pocket healthcare during the rest of their lives--the single largest unknown expense for most people. Medicare was complicated enough before health reform was enacted. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the law, anyone planning to retire in the next several years should spend time understanding how it will affect them. Other questions you should answer include: how healthy is the economy of the area you're thinking of choosing for your retirement home; what are the state and local tax rates in that area; what are state estate taxes like; do you have a good approach to spending down your assets in retirement, and what is the best strategy for you about when to begin claiming Social Security benefits?

[See Can You Manage Your Future?]

4. Realism. None of the planning, budgeting, and homework you do will provide the basis for a successful retirement unless you're realistic in your assessments and assumptions. Most people, for example, actually retire several years before they earlier said they would. Likewise, they say they will continue to work well past their 65th birthday. Careers do seem to be trending longer since the recession, but there is still a mismatch between plans and actions. Be honest with yourself.

5. Balance. The key to a lot of good things in life is a sense of balance. Successful retirements involve a good balance between expectations and reality. This doesn't mean sacrificing your dreams. It does mean road-testing your dreams to see what it would take to make them possible.

6. Health. No surprise here. Good health is the "knock on wood" wish of every retiree. What's different today than a generation ago is the widespread recognition that good health is no accident, but the probable result of good diet and exercise habits. These habits need to start now, not when you're 70 (although it's never too late to begin). It's been proven that strenuous exercise, with heavy weights and sweat-inducing cardiovascular workouts, can help even people in their 80s and 90s. Investing in good health is as important as socking money away in retirement accounts.

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10 Must-Have Retirement Needs