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Your Retirement

What Will Be The Future Age of Retirement?

What Will Be The Future Age of Retirement?

With the unstable market and low interest rates, the average retirement age of individuals undoubtedly will increase. The key question is really the extent of this increase. According to Robert Benmosche, chairman of American International Group (AIG), the ages will have to be 70 to 80 years old in order to make pensions and medical services more affordable. Considering that this is over a decade longer than historic averages, his commend has certainly raised some eyebrows across. Only time will tell if his prediction is...

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5 Timing Rules You Need To Understand About IRAs

5 Timing Rules You Need To Understand About IRAs

Owning an IRA would be a simple process if only the tax code was flexible to adjust for missteps. However, the tax code is not at all friendly so we need to be very aware of the timing issues that most often cause the most problems. Fortunately, Robert Powell was nice enough to document the 5 most important timing issues that we must be sure to keep in mind before we take any actions which could cause unfortunate consequences. Here are the five timing rules...

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The Accumulation Phase is the Missing Link

The Accumulation Phase is the Missing Link

Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group With respect to income and retirement planning, there are 3 phases of life. The introduction phase, the accumulation phase, and the preservation phase. The second phase, the accumulation phase, is the phase of life where you accumulate funds to retire (working years of life), pay off as much debt as possible, and try to achieve the best quality of life you can. This is the phase that is destroying the American dream of retirement. Most of us grew...

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The Benefits of Lifetime Income

The Benefits of Lifetime Income

Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group Today the traditional pension plan, or defined benefit plan, is a dream from the past. Outside of state or federal government jobs the pension is pretty much nonexistent. According to Forbes a 2010 survey by consulting firm, Towers Watson, found that between 1998 and 2010, the proportion of Fortune 100 companies offering pension plans fell from 67 percent to 17 percent. Instead, employees today count on their deferred compensation plan for retirement, which is causing their retirement age...

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Fear and Greed on Wall Street

Fear and Greed on Wall Street

Written by: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group A recent article on www.Money.Cnn.com titled “Fear and Greed Index” illustrates an accurate description of what is happening on Wall Street. Because of the recent volatility stemming around Greece and the Euro, and unemployment domestically, the fear gage for investors is all the way in the red. This means that investors as a whole do not put much faith in the outcome of their investments. Bottom line, volatility is becoming a normal event investors are unwilling to tolerate...

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5 IRA Timing Rules That Can Derail Your Retirement

5 IRA Timing Rules That Can Derail Your Retirement

You have surely heard the saying that “Timing is everything”, but you may not have heard it in reference to IRAs. An article posted by Robert Powell with the above title highlights 5 important timing rules that you need to consider when developing and executing your retirement plan. Here are the five timing issues that seem to generate the most problems: 1. The age-55 penalty exception 2. The five-year rule for 72(t) payments 3. The five-year rule for Roth IRA conversions 4. Five-year rule for...

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Healthcare Costs for Retirees Rise Again

Healthcare Costs for Retirees Rise Again

According to a report released by Fidelity Investments released last week, a 65 year old couple retiring in 2012 will spend at least $240,000 in healthcare costs during their retirement (this is on top of their Medicare benefits). Compared to the forecast given last year of $230,000, this update represents a 4% increase. Further, this expenditure forecast does not even include long-term care, over-the-counter medications, nor most dental care expenditures. Given this significant and growing amount, it is very important to ensure that your retirement...

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Do You Discuss Health Care With Your Financial Advisor?

Do You Discuss Health Care With Your Financial Advisor?

Knowing that health care is such a large cost driver in retirement, why do so few pre-retirees discuss health care with their advisors? A recent study from Nationwide Financial states that almost half of high-net worth Americans who are close to retirement say that they are “terrified” of what health care costs may do to their retirement plans. However, only 38% say that they have not discussed retirement health care costs with their advisors. This survey also revealed that respondents who were 55 or older...

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Insurance You Can Live Without

Insurance You Can Live Without

Although owning insurance often gives us a certain peace of mind knowing that we have protection against unforeseen events, some plans are simply not worth the costs to insure. Jeanette Pavini posted a great article which describes some insurance policies which are often not in our best interest to purchase. She provides a list of things that we should stay away from and also includes others that we should really pursue. In summary, here are the highlighted items. Skip – Pet insurance, home warranty, extended...

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Long Term Care Costs In Your Area

Long Term Care Costs In Your Area

One key item in retirement planning which is difficult to assess is the expected costs of long term care.  Fortunately, statistics are available for us to use as a guide in our personal planning.  The statistical guide that I would like to highlight in this blog came from Northwester Mutual.  They put together this fantastic table which breaks down the average cost of long term care by each state and even many major cities.  Further, they broke down long term care into these three segments:...

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