Single life annuity—or “One-Life Annuity,” as it is called in TIAA-CREF’s documentation—guarantees that you will have income for the rest of your life. Given the size of the monthly payment, it benefits those who have not had an opportunity to accumulate large retirement accounts and run the risk of outliving their assets. The one-life alternative seems obviously appropriate for single people who either do not wish or are not in a position to pass retirement assets on to heirs or charity. They also do not have another person for whom they want to provide an income after their death. (more…)

If a person with a 401(k) plan dies, the tax implications for the beneficiary depend on whether or not the beneficiary is a legal spouse. If the beneficiary is a legally married spouse, then he or she may roll over the total amount of the decedent’s account into an IRA with no tax implications except applicable estate taxes. No distribution must occur; the surviving spouse can maintain the funds in an IRA until April of the year following the year in which he or she turns 70 1/2—the age at which withdrawals from retirement accounts become mandatory. (more…)

It doesn’t matter how much money that people could have, we all won’t ever be truly comfortable and secure enough for retiring. This is because we are unable to estimate the amount of money we will need in retirement. The single most frequently asked questions I get has to do with retirement. Particularly, everyone is questioning how much money to retire they have to have for retire comfortly and securely.

If you put your money in simple Certificates of Deposit for your retirement investment, a realistic rate of interest for these types of retirement accounts is an average of 6 percent. Assuming an inflation rate of 3 percent, you would have to put $30, 000 gained back into your principle of bonds and CDs, so that you will get the same sum of money each year after inflation.

In most parts of the US and with the average lifestyle of retires, this isn’t enough money to retire. The benefits are easy to understand–the reduce the interest rate, the lower your monthly payment and total cost of buying a home. When you have twice the amount in principle (2 million dollars instead of 1 million dollars), then you would be earning $60,000 a year after inflation. Let’s say you again no longer have a mortgage to pay, have a million dollars to invest earning an average of 6%, and need $60, 000 a year to live (and you need to increase this amount by 3 percent every year for inflation). Do you need more or less than $60, 000 a year to live in retirement? So this scenario is not a good retirement investment advice you will follow trough.

To make calculating even more difficult, it is unlikely that you will invest all of your retirement money in bonds and CDs. Let’s say after two years in retirement, you lose a large percentage of your investments from typical market volatility. This may force you to return to the work force in your silver light years.

Furthermore, you will have to expect unstable bills into your retirement calculations, such as periodic medical bills, an unusually expenses along life, a new car every decade or so, possible assisted living, and so on. You will likely need more income than anybody can reasonably predict, especially since it is nearly impossible to guess how long you will live with any accuracy and reliability.

Therefore, I hope I have convinced you to seriously think about how much money is needed when heading off retirement. And try to never touch your investment principle and always factor the rate of inflation, otherwise you may run the risk of not having sufficient money in retirement particularly if you live a very long life with a lot of medical bills. And if you are very conventional with your investments and way of life requirements, then you will need a minimum of two million dollars along with a home that is already paid to retire.

The short response to the question, “How much money do I need to retire?” is “It depends”. If there is a lack of money, you’ll need your cost savings to supplement them. If the sum required is greater than 4 %, then you definitely probably need to save more or push back your own retirement time. Every scenario differs from the others and unique.

Having decided that a corporation can afford and should offer some type of employee benefits plan, the next step is to determine what type of plan or plans the company should adopt.

Employee benefit plans that provide some form of deferred benefits (that is, benefits deferred until after the employee retires) fall into two broad categories. A defined contribution pension plans provides an individual account for each participant and benefits are based upon the amount contributed by the company, or by the company and the employee, to that account, together with the investment results of the account. (more…)

Americans are increasingly become aware and responsible for their retirement wealth. Many of us are know that the prospect of living with social security income and a employer pension plan is reduced dramatically and not attractive. More and more pensioners and retirees are less put trust on traditional sources of income; saving for retirement and work part time are seen to be more attractive. But the condition for future pensioners and retirees will be getting worsened. Given the desire to build a large nest egg for retirement was the need to build a replacement income. (more…)

Among the variety of retirement plans you can pursue, some qualify for tax deferral by the regulations of the federal government, and others don’t. The federal government passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulation in 1974. This legislation and its requirements determine whether a retirement plan offered by employers or an employee organization (such as a union) qualifies for tax deferral of investment and interest until retirement age. (more…)

Facts - women live longer than men, a woman can expect to spend the last 10 years of her life alone, women divorced after 50 will not remarry, second marriages fail 60% of the time, women may take 10 years to regain her predivorce financial status, women care for their children but they will also be the caretakers for their parents, by 2010 it is estimated that women will control the majority of the wealth in the US. So no matter who makes the financial decisions for your family now - all women should prepare to be their own financial planners, wealth managers and decision makers towards the end of their lives. (more…)