If retirement is on your calendar for 2014, it’s time to answer some critical questions. Among them:
What will your budget look like?
Does it make sense to downsize to a smaller home sooner rather than later?
How will you fill days that were once occupied by a 9-to-5 job?
Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.
A recent report by the Stanford Center on Longevity compared the RMD, which uses invested assets to pay you a retirement income each year over the course of your lifetime, to five other retirement income generators. The Stanford report shows that the RMD (required minimum distributions) is one of several credible ways to generate retirement income, each having their pros and cons.
Read the full article by Center on Longevity Research Scholar Steven Vernon at CBS MoneyWatch.
One of the worrying trends in the labor market in recent years has been a decline in the percentage of Americans working or actively looking for work. There have always been a large portion of the working-age population considered to be not in the workforce. These may include stay-at-home parents, full-time college students, or retired persons. But the relative number of these folks has been increasing for about a decade, as the more of the workforce enters retirement age. That trend accelerated during the recession, likely due to a weak economy encouraging more people to stop looking for work altogether.
But according to a new paper released today from Gary Burtless and Barry P. Bosworth of Brookings Institution, we shouldn’t blame older workers for this trend.
Read the full article at Time.
A Stanford Center on Longevity study describes the roadblocks to obtaining accurate financial fraud estimates – victims are often reluctant to speak up – and suggests ways to improve the national tracking of such incidents.
“Without accurate and reliable estimates of fraud,” wrote Martha Deevy, director of the Financial Security Division at the Stanford Center on Longevity, “it is difficult to understand what works or does not work to protect victims from harm.”
Read the full article at Stanford Report.
Social Security, Medicare and retirement accounts will all change in modest but important ways in 2014. And for the first time, retirees too young to qualify for Medicare will be guaranteed the right to buy private insurance via their state’s health insurance marketplace. Here’s what to expect for your retirement benefits next year.
Read the full article at U.S. News and World Report.
Conventional wisdom suggests that you shouldn’t retire with any debt.
But Americans are seemingly ignoring that advice, according to a new research report from the Michigan Retirement Research Center.
Read the full article at MarketWatch.
A troubling new study, Race and Retirement Insecurity in the United States, reveals that America’s retirement crisis is particularly dire for blacks and Latinos.
Read the full article at Forbes.
Detroit and Illinois aren’t the only ones stealing earned benefits. The idea is to avoid tax hikes and service cuts.
Read more at Salon.
Many argue it’s best to own a home in retirement instead of renting one. But there are exceptions.
Read the full article at MarketWatch.