The only way to pass a TIAA-CREF account beyond the current generation requires that you elect not to annuitize. You must instead elect the Minimum Distribution Option, because that avoids the conversion of the account into a premium. The first benefit, assuming that this comports with your values and resources, is that you will have responsibility for your own financial destiny. To underline the point, you have rejected the safety net of a lifetime annuity and have chosen instead to take distributions at your own pace, subject to the governmentally prescribed minimum. (more…)

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In developing a retirement plan there are several factors to consider in addition to the amount you need or want to save.

1. Income Taxes.

The above discussion did not take into consideration income taxes. You might have to save more if you have to pay income taxes on all or part of your retirement benefit or your contributions. Distributions from qualified employer plans are always subject to retirement income tax. (more…)

There is an old adage that says “numbers don’t lie.” So when it comes to figuring out how much money do you need to retire, you need to understand basic math, a few retirement concepts, and some financial retirement concepts. This is where you may wish you had paid more attention to your high school math teacher. (more…)

These strategies can help recover lost income and/or assets following one or more of the life events described above. These strategies can also be used by late savers to make up for lost time and to prepare for a comfortable retirement.

Increase Contributions to Tax-Deferred Retirement Savings Plans. The 2001 tax law increased annual contribution limits for IRAs and employer 401(k), 403(b), and Section 457 plans, at least through 2010. Just a 1% increase in the amount of pay diverted to savings can result in thousands of additional dollars at retirement. Americans contributed an average of $3,514 to 401(k) plans in 2001 (Opdyke and Higgins 2002). The maximum plan contribution limits are $12,000 in 2003, $13,000 in 2004, $14,000 in 2005, $15,000 in 2006, and higher amounts adjusted for inflation thereafter. (more…)

The conventional approach to pension asset management and asset allocation in retirement assumes that one pool of invested pension assets should be regarded as a single portfolio (although possibly with multiple investment managers) having a single level of risk tolerance and acting as an offset to a single pool of pension liabilities. However, the estimated magnitude of the pension liabilities is something less than precise and establishing investment objectives to meet such an uncertain target is not easy. Some corporations have met this problem by making distinctions among the liabilities and offsetting each pool of liabilities with a separate portfolio with appropriate risk and return objectives. (more…)

Issues around retirement income planning are the most obvious. The traditional “three-legged stool” of retirement income planning—Social Security, pension income benefit, and income from personal savings and investments—is increasingly unsteady. Social Security faces a funding crisis in the first half of the twenty-first century because soon there may not be enough workers paying into the system to support those receiving its benefits. Social Security income lifts more than one in three older persons out of poverty—more than 60% of them women. It is by far the single most important contributor to financial security in old age in America. (more…)

Tax law changes also provide workers age 50 and older the opportunity to make additional “catch-up” contributions, above the maximum amounts listed above, to Roth and Traditional IRAs and to employer salary deferral plans. IRA catch-up contributions are $500 for 2003–2005 and $1,000 for 2006 and after. Catch-up contributions for employer plans are $2,000 in 2003, $3,000 in 2004, $4,000 in 2005, and $5,000 in 2006, with amounts adjusted for inflation in 2007 and after. Older workers who take full advantage of the increased contribution limits and catch-up contributions will save significantly more than those who invest in taxable accounts or limit their contributions to pre-2002 tax law limits. (more…)

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…)

In this part, we describe the various distribution options that are avail able for the withdrawal of your TIAA-CREF accumulation after you have retired. The rules governing almost all of these options originate in the Code. Again, we will try our best to describe them in nontechnical terms.

The transition from a working environment to retirement poses financial as well as emotional challenges. (more…)