Category: Retirement Planning
July 7, 2016 -- If you have been curious about how your plans for retirements stack up with other baby boomers, look no further. The almost 1200 community-minded members who responded to last week's "How Much Do You Expect to Receive in Retirement" survey have answered your question. We will report on the results in 2 phases; Part 1 concentrates on the "Where You'll Move" questions in the survey. In Part 2 we will explore the renting vs. buying, financing, and 55+ appropriate construction topics - as well as a summary of of the over 500 comments made about your plans for moving in retirement. Here is the link to the consolidated article of all results to the survey - Members Will Retire Out of State and More.
One thing we do know for sure, Topretirements members are far more
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Published on July 7, 2016
Comments 7
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 10, 2016 -- This is Part 2 of the results from last week's "How Much Do You Expect to Receive in Retirement" survey. In this installment we will report on the questions having to do with renting, financing, 55+ design features, and general comments about finding a place to retire. Here is where you can see the results from Part 1. Here is the link to the consolidated article of all results to the survey - Members Will Retire Out of State and More. The bottom of the article contains links to all 11 of our previous survey reports on a variety of topics.
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Published on July 9, 2016
Comments 0
Category: Retirement Planning
July 13, 2016 -- If you have been curious about how your plans for retirement stack up with other baby boomers, look no further. This article will let you compare your plans and dreams with the 1200+ community-minded members who responded to our recent "How Much Do You Expect to Receive in Retirement" survey.
The 11 questions in that survey asked how far you might move, where you intend to retire, whether you would prefer to rent or buy, financing plans, as well as your interest in a home designed for 55+ living. We also provided a space for you to tell us in your own words about your plans for moving in retirement. More than 500 people did, and there is a link to every one of those interesting comments at the end of this article. Note that last week we published these results in 2 separate articles, this article basically combines those into 1, although today's includes 3 separate groups of comments not included before.
Highlights
One thing we do know for sure, Topretirements members are way more
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Published on July 12, 2016
Comments 99
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 20, 2016 -- The oldest baby boomers, those born in the first post WWII year, are turning 70 this year. To which the IRS is probably saying, "Happy Birthday Boomer", because the U.S. Treasury is about to get billions in tax presents. That's about to happen because Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from your retirement funds are required in the year you turn 70 and 1/2. To do the math for you, if you were born in 1946 and your birthday is prior to July 1, you will be 70 and 1/2 in 2016.
If that describes your situation, you must start taking your annual Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your IRAs and 401(k)s. This year (the year you turn 70 and 1/2) you could wait until April 1, 2017 to take it, but if you do you will also have to take your 2017 RMD by December 31, 2017.
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Published on July 19, 2016
Comments 5
Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
July 20, 2016 -- The decision on when to start taking your Social Security retirement benefits is a very personal matter. Our members report a wide range of answers - from "as soon as I can" to "waiting until the maximum age of 70". This article will give some highlights from a recent survey by Nationwide Insurance on how 50+ adults feel about those Social Security decisions, particularly after they have made them.
The Nationwide Retirement Institute Consumer Social Security PR Study polled 3 different groups: people who have been retired 10 years, those who have
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Published on July 19, 2016
Comments 43
Category: Baby Boomer Retirement Issues
Note: This is a followup to the Reunion Survey and results article we published in 2015. In that poll we found an even split between those looking forward to their 50th reunion, and those who said they either had no plans to attend, or were undecided. Many who said they would not come based their decision on bad memories or a need to move on from those days of old. Here is the link to the original article, Baby Boomers Look Forward to Their 50th Reunions with Optimism and ...
— July 26, 2016. Your editor just had the pleasure of experiencing his 50th high school reunion. And, for how he felt about it, he agreed with the 62% in our previous survey who rated their reunion experience as
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Published on July 24, 2016
Comments 18
Category: Retirement Planning
July 26 , 2016 — A recent study of those who are about to retire vs. people who have already retireed reveals a sobering fact - pre-retirees tend to dramatically underestimate when they will retire. That underestimate is huge - between 5 and 7 years. While it displays a healthy desire to keep working, it does not appear to be realistic, given the experience of those who have retired before them.
The main finding of the study is that in the USA actual retirees saved, on average, 28 years for retirement. Pre-retirees, however, say they will save for 35 years, 7 years higher. To some extent the higher figure reflects caution and better savings intentions. But for most of them, the study concludes, it is wishful thinking.
The survey, “Future of Retirement – Generations and Journeys” was done by HSBC and covers many other retirement issues. While some people are happy to retire before their planned start date, many are not. A big reason why is that missing out on years of work means more meager retirement savings, 401(k) balances, Social Security payments, and pension payouts. And that usually results in a retirement that is not as financially secure as planned.
Many reasons why you might retire sooner than you think
This is not the first study that reports people tend to retire sooner than they say the plan to (see Further Reading below). The reasons for earlier than planned retirement are often beyond
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Published on July 26, 2016
Comments 21
