Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 6, 2020 -- A new study focussed on the financial issues that retirees should really be concerned about, and then it measured what they actually worried about. The results are interesting - it seems like many people are downplaying the risks that should concern them, like how long they will live, and instead concentrating on issues that are less worrisome, such as market risk.
In "How Well Do Retirees Assess the Things They Should Worry About", the researchers used a host of data from various sources to measure 5 areas of concern for anyone in retirement. Then they ranked those risks in order:
Actual Financial Risks
Longevity. The worry should be that you will live longer than expected and run out of funds.
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Published on July 6, 2022
Comments 4
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 29, 2022 -- More than a few retirees on Social Security turn down work that they would like to do. The concern is that their benefits will be reduced, thus making the effort not worthwhile. To help people understand how work might affect your Social Security benefits, here are the facts to help you decide the best course of action. But the good news first - over the long term, working has no negative impact on your benefits, and might even help.
Reached Full Retirement Age - no problem!
If you have reached your Full Retirement Age (FRA) - 66 if you were born in 1954 or before, gradually reaching 67 for those born in 1960 or later - there is no impact. You can work and earn as much as you want and it will not affect your Social Security benefit in any way.
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Published on June 28, 2022
Comments 4
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 18, 2022 -- The last two and half years have provided an amazing ride for homeowners In almost every part of the U.S. Most sellers probably had to fight off buyers willing to pay far more than the asking price, and ended up with a buyer the same day they put it on the market. For renters, it wasn't such a great period, with rents high and hard to find. In 2019 the NAR median sales price of a home in the U.S. was $274,600. Two years later, that price has risen to $368,200, a 34% increase, certainly one of the most meteoric rises in history. The Census Bureau reported a similar increase in the average price of a home, now at $570,300. Those double digit increases put a smile on many people’s faces, but is it time to think change is a coming?
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Published on June 17, 2022
Comments 25
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
May 31, 2022 -- Many of America's most hated companies are the cable, internet and telephone giants - Comcast/Xfinity, Century Link, Sprint, etc. People dread calling these behemoths for customer service, because they know they will get into a never-ending telephone tree that make it very difficult to speak to a human being. They also don't like the bills that come along with telephone, cable and internet service. The bill starts out looking reasonable, but after you add in the modem and cable box rental fees, broadcast and sports fees, and 6 different kinds of taxes, the total tab can easily approach $300/monthly. Adding more sports packages and HBO can send it north of that. And of course, every year the bill goes up. For retirees on a budget, these bills can become just too much.
After talking with friends your editor decided to cut the cord - or at least 2 of the cords - home phone and cable. Here is how he did it.
Alternative to cable TV
There are several good alternatives to cable TV.
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Published on May 30, 2022
Comments 14
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 27, 2022 -- Of all the current demographic generations, Gen X is the one most worried about its retirement, according to a research study from the SOA Research Institute. They are the folks born between 1965 and 1980, and are the next demographic group to start retiring. Gen X came immediately after baby boomers (1946-1964), but before Gen Y/Millennials (1981-1996), and then Gen Z. Gen Xers are currently between the ages of 42 and 57.
The SOA study researched a number of questions about their retirement preparation and feelings about financial security.
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Published on April 25, 2022
Comments 2
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 3, 2022 — For many people entering retirement, the holy grail is to find a state where their hard earned money won’t get taxed. When it comes to the 8 states that have no income tax, that's easy: nothing will be taxed at the state level: not Social Security, pensions from any source, distributions from 401(k)s and IRAs, or interest, dividends, and capital gains.
But of the remaining 43 states and District of Columbia, a complex patchwork exists. Each state seems to have a unique approach to taxation, levying taxes on some of these items completely or partially, while exempting others. Finding out which states tax what can be confusing, made more difficult because every retiree brings a different package of earning sources to the party. Because the states frequently change what is taxed and what is exempt, it is best to check state websites and or your accountant before basing any decision on this information, which should be used as a survey rather than a definitive guide.
8 states with no income tax
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Published on April 2, 2022
Comments 16
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 23, 2022 - A worrying study by the University of Michigan’s Retirement and Disability Research Center found that many workers tend to overestimate how much they will receive in Social Security retirement benefits. That is concerning because that overconfidence has a negative impact on how much people save getting ready for retirement. About half of the survey takers noted that they wished they had done a better job of planning. Note that about half of Social Security recipients rely on it for at least half of their income. The average Social Security retirement benefit in 2022 is $1658 monthly. The maximum is $4194 (for someone who takes it at age 70).
Among the findings in the study:
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Published on March 22, 2022
Comments 8
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
February 15, 2022 -- Everybody knows some things about Social Security, the benefit that changed retirement for the good when it was signed into law in 1935. Unfortunately, some of the items many people think they know either aren't true, or are just plain wrong. This misinformation could have a serious and negative impact on the decisions they make, and their ultimate retirement well-being. One of the sources used in this article are the results from our 2020 Social Security IQ Quiz , where we looked at the answers that people tended to get wrong the most.
How many years you work doesn't really affect your Social Security benefit that much.
Only 49% of people who took our 2020 quiz got this answer correct. The choices for how many earning years are used to calculate your benefit were 25, 30, or 35 – and the correct answer is that Social Security calculates your benefit on your highest 35 earning years (adjusted for inflation). While that might not seem that important a detail, it is, because every year you had no earnings counts as a zero!
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Published on February 14, 2022
Comments 17
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
January 16, 2022 -- A significant number of workers underestimate their financial needs in retirement, and that includes calculating how much they will receive from Social Security. As a result they often retire too early and start taking their Social Security before they maximize their benefit. The end result is that they face an income shortfall in their retirement years. A new study from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research has concluded that taking a non-traditional job late in one's career can help retirees avoid a serious shortfall in replacement income, and thus have a more comfortable retirement. Replacement income is defined as the ratio of a worker’s retirement income to pre-retirement income.
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Published on January 15, 2022
Comments 4
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
January 5, 2022 -- With inflation going up and just about everything getting more expensive, retirement is getting even more difficult than ever. So the beginning of the year seems like a great time to come up with some ideas to help everyone spread their income a little further, possibly even increasing it, and not forgetting to have fun and enjoy life.
Some of the best ideas we have ever seen have come from Topretirements Members. Two previous articles (see Further Reading at end) generated over 200 Comments with many great suggestions. So in this article we provide some broad based tips, then encourage you to go over the Comments already made and mine them for things that could help improve your budget outlook.
Nextavenue.org recently profiled a couple, Joan and Steve Reid, who retired and moved from the affluent New York City suburb of Pearl River, N.Y., to Vero Beach on Florida's East Coast. They had a very limited budget, $30,000, most of which was from Social Security and some small pensions. By attending to the basics the couple was able live surprisingly well in a great Florida town. We love their attitude, shown best by a quote from Joan: "We are not rich except in friendships, our art, our families and our souls" .
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Published on January 5, 2022
Comments 11
