Aging

Get A Handle On Retirement

December 20, 2017 By Twila Van Leer

The future is a murky place. No crystal ball has yet been invented that will tell you exactly what financial realities you will face in retirement. Today’s Millennials, GenX-ers and Baby Boomers are all approaching the zero hour with lots of questions. So many variables! Marriage, babies, divorce, bills, bonuses, job changes and the country’s shifting economy all play into the equation.

Without offering a rigid, one-size-fits-all solution, here are some ideas that you might consider as you contemplate the end of your working years:

Those in their 20s and 30s are at the entry end of careers, often straddled with student debt, credit card debt and high living expenses. Nevertheless, now is the time to start thinking about retirement savings. It comes faster than you’d suppose.

Consider saving 15 percent of your pre-tax income. Sounds like a lot. But that is the figure experts in the field say is necessary to have a health retirement.
Take advantage of ”free money” such as employer-sponsored 401k programs, which often offer a matching contribution to expand the benefit. If that seems too high a goal now, put whatever you can into a work-sponsored savings option or into personal savings. Look into profit sharing options if your employer takes this approach to helping employees to a healthy retirement. If you have to start small, plan to add a percentage to your savings each year until you reach the 15 percent goal.

Plan and budget conscientiously, not haphazardly. Keep your must-have expenses at a level not more than 50 percent of your take-home pay. Some items, such as housing, food, health care, transportation, child care and debt, can’t be avoided, but they may be flexible. Study your own circumstances and determine if there are places to cut, even if it means a little temporary sacrifice to make it work. Turn down the thermostat in winter, up in the summer, to save on heating and cooling. Buy groceries and clothing when they are on sale and brown -bag it to work. Minimize eating out.

Try to have three to six months of essential expenses in a savings account in case of an extended emergency. Think of a contribution to this fund as a monthly expense, not separate from other “musts.” After you have this three-to-six-month cushion, save for short-term expenses that pop up unexpectedly. Consider having these savings taken from your paycheck and deposited in separate accounts automatically.

Especially if retirement is some decades in the future, it gives you time to ride out the inevitable rises and falls in the stock market. Stocks have traditionally produced higher long-term returns than bonds and cash, despite the volatility.

Keeping a balance between accounts where retirement withdrawals are taxable and those where withdrawals in retirement are taxable and those where withdrawals are tax free can help manages taxes when you are living on that retirement income.

An annuity is one way to create a simple and dependable income stream that is guaranteed for as long as you or your spouse lives.

Since Social Security may be a significant factor in your retirement, make the most of the government’s program. The longer you wait to take out Social Security, the higher your monthly benefit will be. For instance, in a very simple example, a person retiring at 62 may receive $1,200 per month, while one who waits until age 66 to retire will receive $1,600. If you wait until age 70 in this scenario, the monthly benefit will be $2,112 per month. The average life expectancy for a woman now is 89 years.

Married couples should look at a number of options that would maximize their retirement income through Social Security. Divorced persons also may be able to claim a former partner’s benefit, if it is larger than their own.

Although there are many variables in trying to determine how much you need to have to live on after retirement, there is a general sense that between 55 percent and 80 percent of the amount that you earned is necessary. While some expenses you have routinely paid while working, such as savings, taxes and insurance, you may find that out-balanced by new expenses such as health care, travel and new insurances.

If you are coming close to retirement, make a detailed budget to see how your money will need to be re-directed. Check your expected expenses against all potential sources of income. Personal finance experts advise that you plan to withdraw not more than 4 percent to 5 percent of your retirement assets per year, adjusted for inflation.

It is essential to have an estate plan with clear directions about who is to inherit your estate when you die. Planning goes beyond a will. You may need expert advice to help you plan distribution in a way that will help your heirs to pay less in taxes, fees and potential legal expenses.

When retirement is a considerable way down the road, it is easy to minimize the importance of budgeting and saving and chafing to have to part with money you could spend making life better in the here and now. But thousands of elderly Americans who are now scratching their way through retirement will tell you that it is worth it.

Long-Term Care Costs Complicate Retirement

December 4, 2017 By Twila Van Leer

When retirement looms and you have to give serious thought to your changing personal finances, don’t forget to add the potential costs of long-term care to the mix. It’s a fact that many retirees will at some point need long-term care, but too few people facing the end of their working careers make that reality part of their planning.

It’s rare that a family does not have one or more parents, spouses or even children suffer debilitating illness or injury. In one way or another, it’s a problem that virtually every American family faces, said a spokesman for the SCAN Foundation, which researches such topics.

Among people aged 65 today, some 70 percent will need long-term care before they die, according to U.S. government studies. In many cases, the need will not be for medical care, but for assistance with such daily tasks as bathing, food preparation, shopping and other necessary chores. Often, these needs arise after a medical event, such as injury in a fall or a major illness.

The costs of such care can quickly outstrip what has been saved for retirement. A person who is 65 can expect to incur $138,000 in long-term care costs, according to a 2017 Bipartisan Policy Center report. Other studies determine that few people in the 40-year age range have included provision for such care in their retirement plans.

The AARP, which serves people 55 and older, has a long-term care calculator that shows average costs for different types of services by state and metropolitan region. The most expensive is nursing home care, which now averages $97,000 per year, according to a 2017 survey conducted by Genworth Financial. Assisted living facilities average about $45,000 per year. Adult Day Care centers charge an average of $70 per day.

Too many people facing retirement believe that Medicare will pay for such services. But the federal medical program does not pay for nursing home stays or non-skilled living assistance, which make up the majority of the services needed to care for the elderly. More than 50 percent of those who need these services end up paying out-of-pocket, according to the Policy Center report. The figure rises to 70 percent for those who have more severe long-term needs. Saving are quickly depleted.

Many of the elderly are forced to turn to state Medicaid, programs that supplement health care costs. Rules vary from one state to another, so a review of what your own state provides should be part of your retirement planning. You may be required to spend down your savings to qualify.

Only 11 percent of older Americans have private long-term care insurance. Premiums are prohibitively expensive for most people, the Policy Center said Insurance companies have found that their estimates of how lucrative such policies would be were not correct and the number of companies offering the policies has declined dramatically.

Bottom line: Begin early to look realistically at your retirement provisions and don’t get caught flat-footed when the time comes. If you begin early to purchase long-term care insurance, your premiums will be lower. But you must consider how tight your retirement income will be post-retirement if you expect to continue to buy the insurance when it is most likely to be needed.

Ready for Retirement?

November 10, 2017 By Twila Van Leer

Saving for retirement is getting harder. Not many Americans are accumulating the amount of money the experts say they will need to tide them over the remainder of their lives, and the U.S. Congress is taking steps that complicate the process further.

The idea is circulating in D.C. that the tax breaks associated with 401(k) savings should be curtailed. As our representatives look for ways to adjust taxes, that idea is still on the table.

Most Americans facing retirement become painfully aware that they will need a substantial amount of savings as well as Social Security payments to get by. The cost of health care is a bug-a-boo for too many as they age and general inflation takes a swath out anything that is set aside for the future. Here are some things to consider:

About half of Americans have a retirement account such as a 401(k) provided by an employer or and Individual Retirement Account (IRA), according to the Federal Reserve.

Not all jobs offer the 402(k) option. Only 35 percent of low-income working households have the job savings plan or anything similar that automatically sets money aside for retirement. For high-income households, the figure is about 80 percent, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The average savings of most households that have a savings account is $60,000, but there is a wide range on both sides of the average. The typical household headed by someone under 35 had savings of only $12,300 last year, if they had savings at all. The savings cushion ranges from $403,000 at the top to a median of $25,000.

Millennials have more tucked away than their parents did at the same age, Compared with 1989, when a family headed by someone under 35 had just $7,500, today’s family in the same age group has $12,300, after accounting for inflation.

The age at which individuals can qualify for Social Security is rising. Sixty-six is now the threshold for receiving full retirement benefits. The figure is slated to go up slowly until it hits age 67 for those born in 1955.

The average life span is increasing. A woman at 65 can expect, on average, to live another 20.6 years. For men, the figure is 18 years. Retirement income has to last longer for most Americans.

Projections for health care costs are scary. A 65-year-old couple will need some $275,000 to cover medical needs through retirement, according to Fidelity. That doesn’t take into account nursing home or long-term care if necessary.

Fewer companies are offering formal retirement plans for employees. Only 13 percent of private-sector workers were enrolled in such a plan in 2014, says the Employee Benefit Research Institute. In 1979, the figure was about triple that number at 38 percent.

All of these factors suggest a more careful analysis of your prospective retirement income, with adjustments if necessary.

Ways To Maximize Investment Earnings

October 4, 2017 By Twila Van Leer

It’s a sad statistic. Barely 8 percent of college students who responded to a survey regarding personal finance management could have received an A for doing it right. And in a 2014 survey among adults, only 18 percent showed top grade knowledge in personal finances.

It isn’t all that hard. One financial expert and University of Chicago professor reduced the basic elements to fit onto an index card.

To help, here are seven steps, compiled by Suzanne Woolley, to get you into the groove and keep you there:

First, save early and automatically. Some companies now enroll new hires directly into the company 401(k) so they are saving automatically. Others wait until the employee opts in on his own. If you can, save up to the maximum allowed by the employer so you get the benefit of their declared match. Many companies start to chip in when the employee savings reach 3 percent of their earnings. The benefit is that the money is withdrawn before you get a chance to see it, so you don’t miss it.

If your company does not offer a 401(k), start a savings account elsewhere, but aim for an automatic withdrawal of funds. Even a small amount, faithfully put aside, will grow over time. Try to find an option that offers the best interest. The idea is simply to make saving a habit.

Second, expect financial emergencies. It’s a rare individual who gets through life without one – or more. Almost half of those surveyed in a Federal Reserve analysis said they couldn’t cover a $400 emergency without selling something or borrowing.. However, experts caution that saving for an emergency should not come before saving for retirement. Do what you must to meet both needs, if it means eating Ramen for awhile. The older you are and the higher your salary, the larger your emergency stashes should be. Emergencies such as job loss, which often means the loss of health care coverage as well, are devastating. You should have enough savings tucked away that you could continue meeting expenses for at least six months if at all possible.

Third, set an asset allocation. It’s an investor’s most important decision. A rule of thumb is that your allocation should equal your age. Consider your risk tolerance and then be aware that you won’t really know what it is until it has been tested. The risk tolerance varies from one individual to the next. The market always holds risks, but a bad market, especially when you are already in retirement, can be disastrous.

Fourth, keep fees low. With the current expectation that future stock market returns will be dampened, the drive to keep fees low is greater than ever. If you are using an adviser who receives fees and commissions if you buy the products he or she recommends, your returns are likely to be at least 1 percentage point lower each year, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The council estimated the cost of conflicted advise on IRA assets at about $17 billion per year. Keeping your investments simple and bypassing the advisers may save you money. Warren Buffet, in an annual publication, advised putting 10 percent of your money into short-term government bonds and 90 percent in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. The long-term results will likely be better than those attained under the advice of a high-cost manager, he says.

Fifth, if necessary, use an adviser who is a fiduciary. A clip from Last Week Tonight With John Oliver gives succinct advice: “Financial analyst is just a fancy term that doesn’t actually mean anything.” An adviser who gets a commission on an investment you make at his urging may be looking more to his own return than yours. Ask your potential adviser if he or she is fiduciary. If the answer is “no,” run, the clip advises.

Sixth, spend less than you earn. This basic, common sense advice seems unarguable. But some 23 percent of millennials and 19 percent of GenXers ignore it, spending above their earnings. No wonder they have no emergency fund. The end of every pay period is an emergency. Lifestyle creep – the tendency to spend more as we earn more – is a trap too many mid-lifers fall into. Saving really is easier than paying interest on a loan you have been forced into to take care of an emergency.

Seventh, maximize employee benefits. A career isn’t forever. The working years are when you need to build your retirement accounts. Financial Engines conducted a survey that showed only one in four employees had taken full advantage of their company’s 401(k) benefits. The survey was taken among 4.4 million participants at 533 companies. An average loss of $1,336 was experienced by those who failed to contribute the maximum their 401(k) allowed. That’s about 2.4 percent of annual income. Low salaries and budget constraints are the usual excuse given by employees who fail to make full use of the savings option, but even many employees in the upper reaches of the salary scale don’t do it. Most large companies also provide disability insurance as a benefit. If you choose to pay the premium, the tax-free provision could be big. Watch for changes in your employee benefits, such as the addition of flexible spending accounts, a health savings account or a commuter assistance program. Such perks lower the amount of salary on which you have to pay taxes.

A Living Trust Protects Assets

September 4, 2017 By Twila Van Leer

If you want to keep control of your assets while you are alive and set out guidelines for their distribution after your death, a living will may be what you need. Even if you need to make amendments over time, that can be easily done.

With a living trust, you can set specifics for all types of properties and have the flexibility to make changes as needed. For instance, you can name alternate beneficiaries if the individual you initially named dies. You can’t do that with joint tenancy or a pay-on-death bank account.

Compared with a will, a living trust does have some downsides. They are more time-consuming to establish and involve more ongoing maintenance. It is harder to modify them.

The usual cost of having a living trust prepared by a lawyer is about $1,000, but you can significantly reduce this cost by making your own trust. There are self-help tools to guide you through the process. Even if you create a living trust, you will need a simple will as a backup.

Age and wealth are the two most important factors in considering a living will. Greater wealth makes it more desirable to protect your inheritors from the inconvenience and cost of probate. The nature of assets also is important. If you own a small business or other assets that you don’t want tied up during probate, you are more likely to consider a living trust at a younger age. Although your expectation of dying is not immediate, you don’t want to risk having an executor obligated to report to a judge for a year or more.

The steps you should follow if you need to amend your living trust include: Locate the documents and identify the provisions you want to change.

Draft an amendment form or purchase one from a legal publishing store or office supply. Be sure all pertinent information is included, such as the name of the trust, the trust grantors, the trustees as named in the original document and the date it was created. Specify which article in the trust allows for amendments and which article you want to change.

Bring the trust grantors and trustees before a notary public and have all parties sign and date the amendment and specify who they are in the presence of the notary, who will then notarize the signatures.

Attach any changes you make to the original trust papers. Keep them is a secure place. If you filed the trust initially with your county records department, be sure you add any amendments as they are made.