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Retirement Advice for Middle-Income Preretirees
Tweet Share on Facebook November 30, 2010 CommentMiddle-class folks who are getting ready for retirement will likely need to accept longer careers to improve the quality of their lives in retirement, according to a series of advisory profiles of representative middle-income preretirees prepared by the Society of Actuaries (SOA). Middle-income preretirees will also be vulnerable to unexpected retirement expenses, particularly for long-term care. Here are details of three SOA profiles for middle-income preretirees: a couple, a man, and a woman, all age 60.
[See Finally, Retirement Help for the Rest of Us.]
There are common SOA assumptions underlying the profiles:
• Retirement age and the age of taking Social Security are both 66.
• Current income includes earned income, Social Security benefits, defined benefit pension income, required minimum distributions, and investment income.
• Financial assets are assumed to be 75 percent tax-qualified (401(k)), and 25 percent after-tax savings.
• Social Security benefits are based on a single wage earner, with recognition of spousal benefits.
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Progressive Budget Fix Spends Now to Spur Growth
Tweet Share on Facebook November 29, 2010 CommentPresident Obama's deficit reduction panel is set to issue its final report this week, triggering proposals from other groups as well. Our Fiscal Security, a partnership of Demos, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Century Foundation, issued its progressive Budget Blueprint Monday. It highlights the sharp differences between liberal and conservative approaches to closing the nation's enormous budget gap, and differs sharply from the draft proposals issued nearly three weeks ago by the co-chairs of the Obama commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.
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Finally, Retirement Help for the Rest of Us
Tweet Share on Facebook November 29, 2010 Comment (2)Americans need more retirement planning and investment advice than ever before. We are increasingly responsible for our own retirement investments, courtesy of the move away from traditional pensions to self-directed retirement accounts. We are still trying to recover from the life-altering decline in investment values that occurred in 2008 and 2009. Despite a surge in printed and online "help" from employers, retirement plans, and investment professionals, most of us have not gotten direct help. According to survey after survey, we don't know enough about investments and personal finance to make good decisions on our own.
[See the 10 Best Places for Single Seniors to Retire.]
There are roughly 110 million middle-class households. According to financial planning research, at most two million, or about 2 percent, receive financial planning services. The Society of Actuaries (SOA) hardly sounds like the group that would be riding to the rescue of the other 108 million. Think again. Actuaries specialize in analyzing and understanding the financial consequences of risk. What better skills could you have in fashioning and executing a successful financial plan for retirement?
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Encore Careers Combine Innovation and Giving Back
Tweet Share on Facebook November 19, 2010 CommentAdvice for older people going back to work is dominated these days by economic considerations. No wonder. This sickly recovery still feels more like a recession. Job one for many people, including older Americans, is keeping home and hearth in one piece.
Yet there is a parallel universe where millions of older Americans are pondering their futures in different ways. They are wondering how they can give something back to a society that has helped them become comfortable and scratched most, if not all, of their material itches. America may be facing an uncertain future, but people who came of age in the 60s and 70s have had a pretty terrific run.
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Why Washington Must Be Put on a Tough Allowance
Tweet Share on Facebook November 17, 2010 CommentResponse to last week's draft report from the co-chairs of the Obama deficit reduction commission is very disappointing. In a giant game of chicken, everyone agrees that deficits must be cut but no one wants to go on the cutting board themselves. Increasingly, I am convinced, Washington should be treated as a child, with citizens playing the role of parent. And what this parent needs to do, quite simply yet profoundly, is to put its child on an allowance. This is not an allowance that leaves wiggle room. Such discretionary power is what got us into this mess.
[See the 10 Best Places Reinvent Your Life in Retirement.]
Washington includes elected officials and, of equal importance, a literal horde of business and social-policy special interest groups. Last week, the decibel level of the whine factor from this unelected, cause-driven constituency was turned up full blast. I share the sentiments of Peter Orszag, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office. He is talking here about Social Security but his comments apply more broadly: "It's too bad their proposal has been greeted with so much criticism, especially from progressives—who really should look at it as an opportunity to fix Social Security without privatizing it."
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Wii Sports Click with Seniors' Groups
Tweet Share on Facebook November 15, 2010 CommentJoe Riccobene doesn't know his approximate Wii bowling average. He knows exactly what it is—268. And he knows he has bowled 27 perfect games. Not too shabby. You may never have heard of Joe's bowling team, the SAS Strikers from the St. Andrews Estates South retirement community in Boca Raton, Fla. But bowlers at scores of other retirement communities know about the Strikers. Joe, 75, has led the team to three straight national titles and has been individually honored as bowler of the year by the National Senior League (NSL).
[See the 10 Best Places for Single Seniors to Retire.]
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7 Medicare 2011 Enrollment Tips
Tweet Share on Facebook November 12, 2010 Comment (7)This year's enrollment period for 2011 Medicare coverage extends from November 15 to the end of the year. There are lots of changes in the various insurance programs that collectively make up Medicare. Experts say it's well worth the time to make sure your 2011 coverage remains the best deal for you.
There are four "letter" parts of Medicare: A is for hospital services, and B is for physician, out-patient, and equipment costs. Together, parts A and B make up basic Medicare. Part C is for Medicare Advantage insurance, which includes A and B and, for most plans, prescription drug coverage. Part D is for stand-alone prescription drug coverage. There also are a dozen Medigap policies that cover, to varying degrees, things that aren't covered in basic Medicare. Some Medicare Advantage and Medigap policies include vision and dental coverage, which is not provided in basic Medicare. If you want to supplement basic Medicare, you would chose either a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medigap policy.
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Alzheimer's Research Efforts Need Volunteers
Tweet Share on Facebook November 10, 2010 CommentIf there is any good news about Alzheimer's, it's that the growing awareness of this unforgiving disease is moving it onto center stage as a major global health concern. With aging populations surging in most countries, the numbers for projected victims of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia have become alarmingly large. So has the healthcare price tag of caring for them.
Along with a higher profile comes a more ambitious research agenda. Currently, there are roughly 140 clinical Alzheimer's studies and research trials, according to the Alzheimer's Association. These efforts easily could absorb 50,000 participants. And should a drug prove promising in a trial, it could spawn a rush by pharmaceutical companies to launch a large wave of new trials as quickly as possible.
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10 Must-Have iPad Apps for Seniors
Tweet Share on Facebook November 8, 2010 Comment (7)The Apple iPad can be a wonderful way to connect older users to the digital world. Without more devices like the iPad, the nation's fastest-growing demographic group—people over 65 and over 85—will not participate as online devices become society's dominant means of communicating.
As with Apple's iPhone, the appeal of the product is not only its hardware but the seemingly endless flow of clever and useful software applications, universally known as "apps." These can be easily downloaded and automatically installed from a connection to Apple's iTunes store. Most cost a few dollars, and many are free.
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How to Find Your Best Place to Retire
Tweet Share on Facebook November 5, 2010 Comment (4)Figuring out the best place to live in retirement is easy. Tell me if my kids are going to get married, when that will happen, where they will live, whether they will have children, and if we'll be getting along well with them when this miraculous astral alignment occurs. Then I can tell you where I will live in retirement. Until then, the field is wide open.
[See 7 Costs to Eliminate Before You Retire.]
My ground rules might differ from yours. They differ from my wife's, too. My list includes only places in the United States. Warm climates once played a strong role in my preferences, but not as much today. So many sun-kissed economies have been devastated by the recession and housing bust that they simply are not attractive. Basking by the pool in a neighborhood of foreclosed homes is not my idea of idyllic.
