When you approach your golden years or nearing retirement time, perhaps you start wondering the benefits and disadvantages of tax deferred savings plans. There are many types of tax-deferred savings plans in the market. Employee Retirement Plan 401k retirement savings offers a high maximum contribution limit and protects the possibility of interest rates over time. If you leave your job before retirement age, you may need to pay taxes and pay fine at the time when you roll your money into an IRA. (more…)

If we boil things down to a simple two-part equation, retirement planning is all about managing inflows (income) during your earning years and outflows (expenses) during your retirement years. Of course, retirement means different things to different people at different points in their lives. Rather than a static state, retirement is a dynamic state, changing with life events, financial events, and even your own education as you learn more about concepts and products. The more information you absorb, the more comfortable you feel in being an active participant in the retirement planning process. Your plan for accumulating assets for retirement has to take all of this into account and be flexible enough to adapt to all kinds of changes. (more…)

A Roth IRA is the reverse of the traditional IRA, though limits on the amounts you’re allowed to contribute are identical. Unlike with a traditional IRA, you can’t deduct your contribution on your income taxes. However, your money in a Roth IRA grows income tax free and you can withdraw from it income tax free, which for many people can prove an even better deal. (more…)

Most people would never build a whale of a 401k without being encouraged to save. And it’s not your mom or dad ordering you to put money away this time. Your employer encourages you to join its retirement savings programs and even sweetens the pot by making contributions on your behalf. Once you sign the necessary paperwork, your contributions are invested automatically each payday. The money is put away before you get your hands on it. (more…)

If you’re one of the “Baby Boomers,” you’re probably giving serious thought to retiring and become a full time retiring baby boomers, if you haven’t already retired - and if you have already retired, you may be wondering if you’re going to be able to afford to stay retired.

Today’s economic crisis complicates the situation considerably by increasing the following retirement risks: (more…)

Analyses of retirement income adequacy and retirement income planning often focus on people age 65 and over because the overwhelming majority of workers have retired by this age. Thus it is possible to look at the sources and level of income available to people over 65 to get some sense of the standards of living that are achievable in retirement.

An elderly unit is a family in which at least one person is 65 years of age or older. 44 percent of the elderly units were receiving some pension income. (more…)