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Saving enough by age 65 to ensure that you can maintain your standard of living through a long retirement has become increasingly difficult. Consider just this one fact. Current retirees receive close to 70% of their retirement income from Social Security and defined-benefit pension plans, while today's workers will probably only receive one-third of their retirement income from those sources (Source: Ibbotson Associates, 2007).
Perhaps you are a stay-at-home parent, or your spouse is a professor on an unpaid sabbatical. Maybe your spouse decides to take time off to write a book. Even though you are not working, you still need to consider retirement plans. A spousal individual retirement account (IRA) allows a nonworking spouse to contribute to an IRA, even though the spouse has little or no earned income. Here are the basics:
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are usually viewed as retirement planning vehicles. But with increased contribution amounts and the ability to roll over 401(k) balances to an IRA, many IRA owners are finding they won’t use the entire IRA balance for retirement. Thus, IRAs are increasingly becoming major estate planning tools. When used for estate planning, the goal is to extend the IRA’s life as long as possible so that beneficiaries can benefit from the tax-deferred (for traditional IRAs) or tax-free (for Roth IRAs) growth. How can you accomplish that?
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 contained a provision allowing nonspouse beneficiaries to roll over funds from an employer pension plan to an inherited individual retirement account (IRA), starting in 2007. This was viewed as a significant development for nonspouse beneficiaries, who would be able to extend distributions from employer pension plans over their life expectancies rather than the typical five-year period imposed by most plans.
Continue reading "Asset Transfers by Nonspouse Beneficiaries" »
Although Roth 401(k) plans became effective on January 1, 2006, they are just now starting to gain momentum. Originally, Roth 401(k)s were scheduled to expire after 2010, so companies were not willing to start a plan that would expire after a few years. However, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 made Roth 401(k)s permanent.
The tax laws regarding withdrawals from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are complex. To avoid unnecessary penalties and to ensure you withdraw the funds efficiently, here are the basics:
A general retirement planning rule of thumb indicates that you’ll need 70% to 80% of your preretirement income. Many estimates now indicate that may be too little for those who want to live an active retirement lifestyle. But when you realize how much you need to save to ensure your retirement income last for what could be decades, it’s tempting to question whether you really need even 70% of your preretirement income.
Continue reading "How Much Retirement Income Will You Need" »
When planning for retirement, it's important to understand the difference between Roth IRA accounts and traditional IRA and 401K plans.
Continue reading "Comparison of Roth IRAs and Traditional Tax Deferred Plans" »
When a surviving spouse is the sole beneficiary of a traditional IRA, he/she has the option of treating the inherited IRA as his/her own (or roll it over into his/her own IRA) or remaining the beneficiary on the account. Which option to choose largely depends on the surviving spouse’s age:
Continue reading "How Surviving Spouses Should Handle IRAs" »
Finding a way to live decades in retirement without worrying about running out of money can seem like an overwhelming task. That goal depends on many variables and assumptions, including your life expectancy, your retirement age, your lifetime earnings, your retirement expenses, retirement income sources, your investment rate of return, and future inflation. If you’re wrong on even one of those variables, funding your retirement could be in danger.
Continue reading "Don't Withdraw Funds From Your Retirement Account" »
Most of us have grown up in an era when the dream is to retire as soon as possible — age 65 or sooner. In fact, almost half of men retire at age 62 and half of women retire at age 60 (Source: Financial Planning, September 2007). But if you haven’t retired yet, a whole host of trends make retiring at age 65 seem difficult:
To enjoy your retirement without financial worries, make sure you have enough money saved when you retire. However, that calculation can be a daunting task, since a variety of factors affect your answer and inaccurate estimates for any factor can leave you with way too little in savings. Some of the more significant factors include:
Continue reading "Factors to Consider in Retirement Planning" »
During your working years, your emphasis was to accumulate as much as possible for retirement. But as you near retirement age, you need to start thinking about how to withdraw those funds to maximize your income. To help accomplish that, avoid these mistakes:
Continue reading "Common Mistakes With Retirement Plan Withdrawals" »
For years, we’ve heard that Social Security benefits are at best modest and should not be counted on as our only source of retirement income. Sometimes, it’s even suggested to completely forget about Social Security benefits when planning for retirement, because changes in the system will probably be necessary when the huge number of baby boomers start retiring. But the fact is that Social Security benefits are a very valuable benefit, especially since benefits are adjusted for inflation annually.
Continue reading "The Value of Your Social Security Benefits" »
When converting a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) to a Roth IRA, transferred amounts must be included in income if taxable when withdrawn (e.g., contributions and earnings in traditional IRAs and earnings in nondeductible IRAs), but are exempt from the 10% federal income tax penalty. Your adjusted gross income (AGI) cannot exceed $100,000 in the conversion year, excluding any converted amounts.
With limited resources for saving, which is the more important financial goal — saving for your retirement or saving for your child’s college education? While many parents want to pay the entire cost of their childrens' college educations, the reality is that there are a variety of ways to pay for that education — personal savings, financial aid, and loans. Unfortunately, there are not similar options for your retirement. No one is likely to loan you money if you have not saved enough for retirement. You may want to maximize your retirement savings, realizing that there are ways to use those savings to help with education costs. How can that strategy help when it comes time to send your child to college?
Originally, 401(k) plans were viewed as a supplement to defined-benefit plans. Since it was presumed that employees would have their basic retirement income needs covered by Social Security benefits and employer-provided pension benefits, they were given significant responsibility in 401(k) plan decisions, such as deciding whether to participate, how much to contribute, which investments to select, and how to take withdrawals.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 contained a provision allowing nonspouse beneficiaries to roll over funds from an employer pension plan to an inherited individual retirement account (IRA), starting in 2007. This was viewed as a significant development for nonspouse beneficiaries, since they would be able to extend distributions from employer pension plans over a longer period. However, recent guidance by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) indicates that this provision may be difficult for nonspouse beneficiaries to implement.
Starting in 2010, all taxpayers, regardless of the amount of their adjusted gross income (AGI), can convert a traditional individual retirement account (IRA) to a Roth IRA. Before 2010, your AGI cannot exceed $100,000 to convert, not including any income resulting from the conversion. Amounts converted must be included in income if taxable when withdrawn (i.e., contributions and earnings in deductible IRAs and earnings in nondeductible IRAs), but are exempt from the 10% early withdrawal penalty.
Approximately five years before you want to retire, thoroughly reconsider your retirement plans and make sure all significant financial pieces are in place. Once you retire, you probably won’t have the option of going back to your pre-retirement job. So, before you retire, consider these points:
How can you ensure that you will have sufficient funds to last your entire retirement? So many of the variables used to calculate this amount seem uncertain. What is a reasonable rate of return for your investments over the long term? How long will you live, knowing life expectancies are increasing? How much can you count on from Social Security and pension plans? If you are concerned about running out of money during retirement, you need to be very conservative with your assumptions. Some tips you may want to consider include the following:
Continue reading "Make Conservative Assumptions About Retirement" »
For most of your working life, you have looked forward to the day when you can quit your job and start enjoying retirement. But in the face of longer life expectancies, uncertain Social Security benefits, declining pension benefits, unknown inflation rates, volatile markets, and low retirement savings, can you really afford to retire at a relatively young age and spend decades supporting yourself without a job?
Continue reading "Benefits of Moving Gently into Retirement" »
One of the most critical factors in determining how much you need to accumulate by retirement age is how much annual income you’ll need in retirement. But if that retirement date is years or decades away, it may be difficult to come up with a reasonable estimate of your income needs. Most people will want a standard of living in retirement similar to the one they’re living before retirement, so simple rules of thumb, like 70% of preretirement income, may not give you an accurate estimate. Follow these tips to estimate how much you’ll need:
At least annually, you should thoroughly review your 401(k) plan. Some of the items you need to review are your goals and objectives, contributions, allocation strategy, and more.
Delaying retirement savings is a common problem. Even though we know it’s best to start saving for retirement at a young age so our savings have long periods to grow and compound, it’s difficult to find money to save when we are getting established and raising families. Thus, it’s easy to postpone saving, waiting until your children are grown to start saving significant sums for retirement. However, if you wait until your 40s or 50s to start saving, it can be very difficult to save a large enough portion of your income to ensure adequate savings for retirement.
Continue reading "The Dangers of Delaying Retirement Savings" »
If you leave your employer, one of your major decisions is deciding what to do with your 401(k) funds. Your worst option is to take a distribution, pay taxes and a penalty on it, and then spend the money on something other than retirement. By taking a distribution, you use your retirement funds and forego any further tax-deferred growth on those assets. In addition, you may incur a large tax bill, since withdrawals are subject to ordinary income taxes and a 10% federal income tax penalty if you are under age 59 ½ (55 if you are retiring). Do not make the mistake of thinking it is just a small amount and will not make much difference for your retirement. Over the long term, even a modest sum can grow to be a significant amount.
After working 40 or 50 years, you could find yourself retired for another 20 or 30 years. To support yourself without a job for 20 or 30 years, you should probably be planning for retirement during your entire working life. However, your concerns and strategies for retirement will change as you age. Consider the following tips from your 20s through your 60s and beyond:
Continue reading "Retirement Planning Throughout Your Life" »
If you are planning on winning the lottery, don't bother reading this. For the rest of you, however, it is never too early to begin planning for a comfortable retirement. Given the new economic realities of retirement planning, building up a nest egg is a top priority. No longer can you rely on the government or employer-provided pensions to carry you through your retirement years. The long-term viability of the Social Security system is uncertain, given the crush of aging baby boomers who will begin retiring after 2010.
Continue reading "Retirement Planning: Are You Scared or Prepared?" »
When determining how much income you will need after retirement, it is typically expressed as a percentage of your preretirement income. Thus, if you earn $75,000 per year and estimate you’ll need $70,000 after retirement, you need 93% of your preretirement income. Rules of thumb estimating how much is needed range from 70% to over 100% of preretirement income. Since the amount needed is dependent on your lifestyle after retirement, you should thoroughly analyze your situation to decide how much you will need.
When your retirement date is only a couple of years away, you should start taking steps to ensure a smooth transition from a working life to retirement.
Inflation has been tame for so long that it’s easy to ignore it when planning for retirement. However, even inflation of 2% or 3% a year, over a period of many years, can seriously erode the purchasing power of your funds. At 2.5% inflation, $1 today will be worth 78 cents in 10 years, 61 cents in 20 years, and 48 cents in 30 years. To combat the effects of inflation on your retirement income, consider these tips:
Ark 252 announced this week the introduction of the first micro-payment IRA Account. Called the Daily IRA, the account allows investors to invest as little as $1.00 per day into an IRA mutual fund account.
One of the most critical decisions regarding Social Security benefits is deciding when to start those benefits. The age for full Social Security benefits is increasing from 65 to 67 for individuals born after 1937. You can still elect benefits at age 62, but the permanent reduction in benefits is higher.
Continue reading "Should You Elect Early Social Security Benefits?" »
For many people, retirement accounts, including 401(k) plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), are their most significant assets. While you may think you’ll need every bit of money in those accounts for your retirement, what would happen if you die at an early age? You should include them in your estate plan so heirs inherit them with minimum estate and income tax effects. Some strategies to consider include:
Continue reading "Estate Planning for Retirement Accounts" »
Effective January 1, 2006, 401(k) plans now have the option to offer Roth 401(k)s. The Roth 401(k) is patterned after the Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA) — contributions are made from after-tax earnings that grow tax free and qualified distributions are withdrawn tax free. However, there are also some significant differences between Roth 401(k)s and Roth IRAs:
How much will you need to live a comfortable retirement? It's a question that can't be answered without giving serious thought to how you really want to spend your retirement.
The distribution rules for inherited Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) generally make it advantageous to separate accounts for each beneficiary, which can be done during your life or by December 31 of the year following your death. If you plan to leave an IRA balance to several beneficiaries, consider splitting each beneficiary’s share into a separate account during your life. Why is it important to have separate accounts?
Continue reading "Consider Splitting Your Individual Retirement Account (IRA)" »
Have you given much thought to retirement lately? Don’t make the mistake of thinking about what you would like to do when you retire, and ignoring how you’re going to finance that retirement. Start planning now, following these key steps:
With tax planning, the goal typically is to delay the payment of income taxes. Thus, it can be difficult to understand why it might make sense to convert a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to a Roth IRA, which results in the current payment of income taxes.
Defined-benefit pension plans have been on a steady decline for the last couple of decades, while defined-contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans, have increased dramatically. In fact, defined-benefit plans have declined from 148,096 plans in 1980 to 56,045 in 1998 (the last year data is available), while participation in defined-contribution plans has tripled during the same period. (Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, October 2004.) In 2003, 44 million individuals were covered by defined-benefit plans, but 27 million were retirees — only 17 million were active workers (Source: Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Services, January 31, 2005.)
For the vast majority of workers, a 401(k) plan may be the only retirement plan offered by employers. If you won’t receive a traditional pension benefit from your employer, will a 401(k) plan be enough to fund your retirement?
Your 401(k) plan’s ultimate size is primarily a function of two factors: how much you contribute, and how much you earn. Of course, you know you should contribute the maximum amount possible ($14,000 in 2005 plus a $4,000 catch-up contribution for individuals over age 50, if permitted by the plan). But what steps should you take to maximize your returns? Consider these tips:
As retirement age approaches, it’s usually a good time to reassess your life insurance policies, since your needs may change then. With your children on their own and no earned income to replace, you may no longer need a large life insurance policy. Especially if your insurance premiums are high, you may be tempted to cancel the policy, take the cash surrender value, and enjoy retirement. Before you do so, make sure there aren’t other uses for your life insurance policy. Some possibilities include:
Continue reading "Reevaluate Your Life Insurance at Retirement" »
It’s probably one of the most important decisions you’ll make when you retire — how much to withdraw annually from your retirement assets. Take out too much every year and you may have to seriously reduce your standard of living late in life or even deplete your assets. Take out too little and you may unnecessarily reduce your standard of living so you won’t enjoy your retirement.
Continue reading "Deciding On A Retirement Account Withdrawal Rate" »
The Social Security Administration automatically mails Social Security statements to all workers age 25 and older who do not yet receive benefits. The statements arrive annually, approximately three months before your birthday, and contain the following information:
Accumulating the funds necessary to support yourself during retirement, a period that could easily span 20 to 30 years, is no easy task. But how much you need to accumulate is directly tied to your expected expenses during retirement. Go through your expected retirement expenses on an item-by-item basis. The key is to look for ways to reduce your expenses without reducing your standard of living. Consider these items:
After retirement, you’re likely to find that your retirement savings include several different vehicles, which might include: 401(k) plans, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), profit-sharing plans, and taxable investments designated for retirement. When withdrawing funds, you need to decide the order in which to tap those accounts. Withdrawing your funds in the most tax-efficient manner can add years to their life, thus increasing your lifetime withdrawals. Typically, you’ll want to consider this strategy:
Unless you’re close to retirement age, whether you can count on your Social Security benefits to help fund your retirement is a concern.
Not so long ago, most working people wanted to retire early. Then came the sharp declines in the stock market. All those assumptions about how much you could earn on your investments and how long your money would last no longer seemed assured. The prospect of retiring at a young age and depending on your investments for income for decades was suddenly a scarier thought. With many retirement portfolios significantly lower than at the market peak, should you even think about retiring early?
Continue reading "Should You Even Think About Early Retirement?" »
Many assets, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs), life insurance policies, and annuities, can have
beneficiaries designated to receive the asset after your death. Make these selections carefully, since they typically override any provisions in your will. Consider the following points:
Continue reading "Selecting Beneficiaries for Life Insurance & Retirement Accounts" »
Continue reading "Can You Count On Your Company's Defined-Benefit Plan?" »
Continue reading "When Should You Start Your Social Security Benefits?" »
