30% of workers in the US have withdrawn money from their 401k plan before retirement. That is the finding from a recent survey conducted by MetLife in an effort to learn more about employee benefits. That number should shock us all, considering the steep penalties that exist to keep people from taking money out of… Read More
Simple Ways to Improve Your Personal Financial Standing Today (as reported by Trent Hamm on www.thesimpledollar.com)
If you don’t have a 401k plan at work, start one today. That is just one of many things you can do to immediately make a positive impact on your financial prospects. Most companies with a certain number of employees will offer this kind of a retirement plan – many even offer some sort of… Read More
The Many Flaws of 401Ks (as reported by Stephen Schurr on www.thestreet.com)
401k plans are the new normal for retirement funding, with the majority of Americans counting on them to live the post-work life they desire. But these plans, as effective as they may be, are not always perfect. And there are certain things that you should look for as you evaluate yours. First, most 401k plans… Read More
High Cost of Healthcare in Retirement (as reported by Elizabeth O’Brien on www.time.com)
Knowing how much you need to save for retirement depends on a lot of factors – some of which are impossible to know before you actually get there. For example, it can be difficult to know how much money you are going to need for things like health care. Obviously you hope that Medicare and… Read More
Retirement Spending Advice (as reported by J. D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
How much money should you spend during retirement? That’s the question a lot of people have leading up to, and in the first couple years of retirement. The most important implication of retirement spending is whether or not it will last. The worst fear of most newly retired people is running out of money later… Read More
Retirement Spending (as reported by J.D. Roth on www.getrichslowly.org)
Knowing how much to save for retirement is difficult. Knowing how much to spend during retirement might be even harder. There are two key reasons for that: You don’t know how long you are going to live You need to decide what the money is for If you knew exactly how long you would live,… Read More
How Much Should You Be Saving for Retirement? (as reported by Matt Becker on www.thesimpledollar.com)
Do you know how much you should be saving each month to finance your retirement? If you answered no, you are in the same position as the majority of Americans. Lucky for us, Matt Becker recently shared a downloadable spreadsheet on his website, The Simple Dollar. This spreadsheet allows you to input your current age,… Read More
Behind in Your Retirement Savings? There’s Still Hope (as reported by Oliver Staley on work.qz.com)
A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research tells us that if you are behind on your retirement savings in your forties and fifties, all is not lost. You will still have time to make up much of the gap. The only catch is, you may have to work a little longer than… Read More
How Retirement has Changed (as reported by Tim Parker on www.investopedia.com)
There are a lot of reasons that financial experts have been raising the alarms lately about Americans’ lack of preparedness for retirement. Part of it has to do with the fact that several key retirement facts have changed in the last 20-50 years. Compared to 1960, we are living an average of nine years longer…. Read More