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
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: 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: Retirement Planning
June 28, 2016 -- As we completed our latest Member survey (Where to Next?) it seemed like an excellent time to provide you with a rundown of all the surveys we've done in the past. Frankly, we think they contain an amazing trove of your collective wisdom - not only the insightful comments made in the surveys themselves but also the Comments made after we published the results. You can see the results of the Where to Next Survey at (see "Where to Next Results ".
To that end, here is a quick capsule of all these surveys (the titles are links to the entire reports). Even though some surveys were done as early as 2010, they still make for interesting and practical reading! One interesting thing we found while summarizing all of our previous surveys is how the basic results stay so close from survey to survey and year to year. For example
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Published on June 28, 2016
Comments 0
Category: Retirement Planning
June 22, 2016 — Where will you live in retirement? Will it be in your current home, or something completely new in a very different region? Would you ever consider renting? Please take this quick 10 question, multiple choice survey and let us know. We will use your responses to…
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Published on June 22, 2016
Comments 3
Category: Life Care or CCRC
February 27, 2016 -- One of the best pieces of advice we have heard about retirement is to take the long view, rather than just focusing on the early years. The long view idea is to find a place to retire where you can live the rest of your life - regardless of your health or ability to do various activities - without having to move again. And one of the best ways to do this is to choose a Life Plan Community (sometimes Life Care), which are also referred to as Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs).
Life Communities, of which there are about 2,000 in the U.S., combine the best of several worlds in one package. New residents typically live in a nice apartment or small home that isn't much different from what you would see in an active adult or 55+ community. There are extensive community facilities, amenities, transportation, and social and cultural programs. The campuses are usually quite compact - often you can walk to everything without having to
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Published on February 27, 2016
Comments 15
Category: Retirement Planning
Note: This is the third in our series of vital things you need to do once you retire. The first 2 installments include different things to think about, and also have some great Comments from our Members.
February 8, 2016 -- Well done, your long-awaited reward for years of hard work, struggle, and sacrifice is here. Now that you've actually retired, we have just a few more tasks to complete the process. Once you tick these off you can truly enjoy your retirement, knowing that you done most if not all of the important things you need to do to protect your family and heirs, not to mention make the most of this experience.
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Published on February 8, 2016
Comments 0
Category: Checklists
January 11, 2016 -- It can be daunting to think about planning for retirement. There is so much to consider, where do you even start? But what if all you had to think about was boiled down to a 3 x 5 index card? That is what we have done in the part 1 of this article. In part 2 we are going to show how you how to write your retirement action plan on an index card, complete with a sample.
Our hope is that once you have seen retirement planning simplified to the bare essence, you will give planning a chance. So
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Published on January 11, 2016
Comments 31
Category: Retirement Planning
October 21, 2015 -- Maybe the better question is, "Do you have a retirement plan". According to Richard Russo in a recent MarketWatch Retirement Weekly article, having a plan greatly increases your chances of success. So if you don't have one, now is a mighty good time to start. This article will explain what sorts of things should be in your plan, and how you can use it to help you achieve a successful retirement.
Russo, a senior financial adviser with Clarity Financial in Houston and author for Random Thoughts of a Money Muse, cautions that you shouldn't get uptight about your plan if it isn't working out exactly as you had thought. He says they are "extraordinarily imperfect... 20% science and 80% forecast (or art)". He believes you should start your plan 5 to 10 years in advance of when you think you might retire. If you do, you can greatly
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Published on October 20, 2015
Comments 27
Category: Retirement Planning
June 12, 2015 -- Oh, the things we say we are going to do in retirement. And if only we did them! We were inspired by a recent MarketWatch story, "Five Lies We Tell Ourselves in Retirement", which focused on lies people tell themselves on financially related aspects of retirement. We liked the idea enough we decided to create our own list of lies, but with a different focus - (mostly) non-financial fibs. This is our list - we encourage you to add
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Published on June 12, 2015
Comments 16
