Tag: retirement

You can never plan too soon for your later years in life, I tell all my clients, because our later years tend to sneak up on us sooner than we think.

In my ongoing six-part series on financial planning, I am covering almost everything a couple needs to know on the subject, but were too uniformed to ask.

This second part is no exception: What you should expect your financial advisor and/or his/her team of advisors. And, as I cautioned you in my first installment, it is important that after your advisor(s) asks you questions that you continue to ask questions for clarity and a complete understanding of how to plan for your "golden years."

In continuing on in the six-part series on financial planning, part three addresses the review of one’s portfolio—what you should expect from your financial advisor as he/she goes over it with you—and what you should have prepared and ready in the way of paperwork prior to a meeting with them.

A quick review: The first installments in this series covered questions you should come to expect your financial advisor to ask you when taking you on as a client in order to become familiar with your financial situation. In the second segment, I discussed what questions you may want to answer as you go about planning for retirement.

The way retirement is supposed to go is that you scrimp and save for decades while you are working, and then you get to enjoy years of luxurious, worry-free leisure.

But here is a little tip: Fun does not just happen. You have to budget for it.

According to new data from Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, 77 percent of retirees have hardly planned at all for their first five years of leisure activities. Two-thirds of those surveyed for the "Leisure in Retirement: Beyond the Bucket List" report have not budgeted for any travel.

CHICAGO (REUTERS) - Denial is not just a river in Africa. It also is a powerful driver of how Americans think about their prospects for a secure retirement.

A new survey of retirement confidence published in March 2016 confirms that many workers lack realistic plans for making ends meet in retirement. It also suggests there is a disconnect between Americans' confidence about retirement and their actual preparations to ensure a comfortable one.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A couple of years ago, Emilie Hunt had to go to the emergency room with a stomach virus. The bill took a huge chunk of money out of her savings, more than $800, and kept her from saving for a couple of months.

"I'm really bad at planning for unexpected expenses," she said. "And instead of cutting other expenses, often the first money I cut is what would go into savings."

Americans worry a lot about retirement.

Will their savings hold out? Will Social Security still be around? Will healthcare costs gouge a great hole in their finances?

What many of them may not be aware of, though, is that if handled correctly their life insurance policies could play a role in making retirement a little more secure.

One of the big tricks for having a successful retirement is to make sure you have enough cash flow to pay your bills and still be able to enjoy life. Few people have pensions any more. Social Security only helps so much.

In a nation that debates nearly everything, this topic creates almost no disagreement. Americans aren’t saving anywhere near enough for retirement, setting the stage for a potentially dreary time ahead for many when they reach the closing act of their lives. In fact, a study by the Economic Policy Institute found that almost half of American families have no retirement-account savings at all.

While the widespread-savings shortfall is a given, a consensus is trickier to find when it comes to advice on just how much of your weekly salary you need to stash away if you want your retirement to be secure.