How to Plan For Retirement Savings Income? Roth IRA Or Tax-Deductible? 401k Or Something Else?
People say a man is known by the kind of life he lives. Planning and securing funds for your retirement is the best investment you can make. Would you like to secure your golden years with complete financial independence or have an uncertain future? Have you started panning for your retirement? Have you put together a retirement plan? Is your retirement plan working? The common mistake most people make is to postpone their retirement needs for the sake of their present needs. You need to start planning for your retirement before age starts knocking on your door.
Read full version: How to Plan For Retirement Savings Income? Roth IRA Or Tax-Deductible? 401k Or Something Else?
Consider This When it Comes Time to Collect Social Security
In today's economic climate it has become increasingly difficult for many Americans to make ends meet. Particularly for those who are at, or nearing, retirement. Even if things are going OK for you and your family, if it is almost time for your retirement, you need to understand your options for maximizing your Social Security benefits. Unfortunately most people just sign up to receive their Social Security benefits without considering viable options for increasing their overall benefit stream. Here's a little-known way to boost your benefits. If a person and their spouse has reached full retirement age, but one of them is still working and plans to do so for a few more years, the working spouse can delay collecting their personal Social Security benefits until they reach 70, thus greatly increasing the amount of their monthly checks.
Read full version: Consider This When it Comes Time to Collect Social Security
A Life's Financial Plan
In the process of planing our financial future we should remember that investing is only one component of a larger personal financial plan. All of us need to keep our perspective and recognize that our long-term personal financial well-being depends on a number of important factors in addition to investments and investing. For this reason, all of us should develop a sound, well-rounded financial plan. A good comprehensive financial plan is an important document in our lives. If done properly in the beginning and modified as needed over time it serves as a guide when making the major financial decisions of our lives.
Read full version: A Life's Financial Plan
Making Wise Investment Decisions For Your Retirement
Are you an employee who is having trouble deciding whether to withdraw the funds you have raised with your previous employer now that you have started a new job? Or maybe you just want to leave your account as it is until you come to your age of retirement? Then you must start thinking about the concept of a 401k rollover. The 401k rollover to IRA, also known as an individual retirement account, might be your best option. It is very easy to accomplish and it is known as the best way to broaden your investment options, which can be especially important if you find that your current funds in your retirement account are not enough to meet all your future needs for retirement.
Read full version: Making Wise Investment Decisions For Your Retirement
The Stark Reality About Your Retirement
Retirement is a very powerful word in the world we live in. It is a promise that we can finally be free from our everyday shackles. Retirement can be seen in the same light as an extended holiday, free from the place where you were bound to spend most of adult live. This permanent "Holiday" sounds wonderful to those who had to endure the hardships of modern slavery in order to make a living - especially if this living is not true living but merely existing. There is a fast difference between these two! The fact to people associate their workplace with non-freedom (slavery) implies that they are being forced to do something that they rather would not be doing and that why we refer to it as "modern day slavery".
Read full version: The Stark Reality About Your Retirement
How to Get the Money to Retire
The idea of retiring is fabulous! The really great concept of retirement is that instead of working because you have to, you now no longer work because you have to. Imagine going month after month not having to worry bringing the money in, and actually having much more than what you need so that you actually SAVE. There are some really lucky people out there who are 'retired' this way. You can too. Even though there are people who are 'retired' like this, unless you have a plan to achieve these kind of goals, it might not happen. But let me ask you: Can YOU make enough Retire Money early?
Read full version: How to Get the Money to Retire
Retiring to the Philippines and Thinking of an Investment Portfolio?
Many retirees manage to live in their own homes off the income from an investment portfolio and do so quite comfortably. Others relocate to somewhere a little less expensive on a day to day cost of living basis. That way if the market takes a downturn as it has in recent years, they have more of a buffer or safety net to rely upon. To be honest, I never made a lot of money from my investments in the Philippines other than land and pigs. Unlike some, I never played the stock market because of the simple fact I didn't know what I was doing and I never had the money to lose.
Read full version: Retiring to the Philippines and Thinking of an Investment Portfolio?
Self Employed Opportunities For Retirees
If you're retired and relying on your pension or retirement savings to support your lifestyle then most likely you've taken a major hit over the last 2 years with the global crisis and financial meltdown severely affecting the savings of most retirees. So are there any self employed opportunities for retirees out there? Many soon-to-be retirees have also delayed their retirement because their golden nest egg is no longer as big as it used to be. To make matters worse interest rates across the globe are at their lowest in decades which does not help the situation.
Read full version: Self Employed Opportunities For Retirees
The Financial Crisis and Retirement - Should You Consider a Fixed Immediate Annuity?
What if you are a recent retiree, or about to retire, and your portfolio was devastated by the financial meltdown? You might not be sure that your remaining assets will return enough for you to live on. Besides going back to work, one option might be to buy a fixed immediate annuity. In fact, the financial crisis has created a sales boom for these insurance products. The largest issuer, New York Life, sold $425 million worth of contracts in the first quarter of this year - up 82% from the same quarter last year. Fixed immediate annuities are very simple.
Read full version: The Financial Crisis and Retirement - Should You Consider a Fixed Immediate Annuity?
Why Fiduciary Matters More Than Ever
Today, I attended a National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) study group revolving around ethics. Our guest speaker was Connie Nowland, who is the Market Conduct Examiner for the State of Utah Insurance Department. Mrs. Nowland shared many cases that intensify how proud I am to be a fee-only financial advisor who accepts a fiduciary responsibility to always act in the best interest of my clients. Everyone has heard these types of stories: the insurance salesman who convinced a couple in their 70's to take out a home equity line of credit on their paid-off home so they can purchase the annuity he was selling (the couple has now lost their home), or the annuity salesman who sells products with a 22-year surrender period attached to them, completely removing the liquidity from the investment.
Read full version: Why Fiduciary Matters More Than Ever