Month: September 2016

Five Years Before and After Retirement Can Make or Break Your Golden Years When retirement begins is nearly as important as the value of retirement’s assets. Sequence of returns is retirement’s #2 risk, right behind the #1 risk longevity. Preparation and realistic expectations about assets may extend their duration and avoid depletion. It’s often said that “timing is everything,” and that’s nowhere more relevant than retirement’s planning before the retirement’s Red Zone. Similar to football’s red zone – the 20-yard distance from the goal line where strategy and execution can result in a score – the five years on...

The “Measure Twice, Cut Once” Approach is Universal in Retirement Planning Union workers are eligible for retirement sooner than many workforce sectors. Potentially long retirements and science-based longevity create additional demand on resources. Workers considering retirement are tasked with education and execution of benefits typically handled by administrators. Union workers known for an “early to rise” work ethic would be wise to apply that same urgency to their retirement planning. The reasons are many, but of primary relevance is their relatively young retirement eligibility age, often only 55, and the resulting demands on the resources needed to support increasingly...

Retirement Portfolios Benefit from Annuities’ Predictability Retirees seeking safety beyond Social Security and pensions are increasingly turning to annuities. Advanced age is accompanied by an appreciation for predictability over rates of return. Annuities are multi-dimensional in meeting retirees’ concerns. Uncertainty drives three common and worrisome aspects of retirement planning: How long will life last? How far will the money take us? How will the stock market – so integral in the asset accumulation phase – perform in the distribution phase? Since retirement doesn’t include a crystal ball, investors can enjoy an element of certainty by adding a fixed income...