Everyone needs to rethink their retirement strategy in the new economy. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Smartest 401(k) Book You’ll Ever Read—a comprehensive, no-nonsense, and timely guide for retirement.
The book America needs now more than ever—a just-what-you-need-to-know guide to retirement financial planning written in a simple, straightforward, and easy-to-follow style. The book covers a wide range of concerns for retirees from investing during retirement, pensions, social security, withdrawals, annuities, reverse mortgages, estate planning, insurance, healthcare, and the impact of working during retirement.
It appears that people’s biggest concern is that they will outlive their money. Other than robbing a bank, do you have one suggestion that will help pretty well anyone?
While much depends how much people save and how smartly they invest before and during retirement, I recommend getting a fixed annuity (also known as an immediate annuity) from one of the low cost providers like Vanguard or TIAA-CREF. With an immediate annuity, you give the insurance company a lump sum and they give you monthly, quarterly or yearly checks for the rest of your life or longer, at your option.
Who can people rely on for advice about saving for retirement?
An advisor whose focus is on asset allocation (the division of a portfolio between stocks, bonds and cash) and who recommends investing only in a globally diversified portfolio of low cost stock and bond index funds. Sadly, the vast majority of traditional brokers and financial advisors would be disqualified from consideration based on these criteria.
Many people’s portfolios were decimated by the market crash and they don’t think they can now afford to retire. What should they do?
Hard times require hard decisions. There is no magic bullet – as some investors duped by the likes of Bernie Madoff will now attest. But anyone can dramatically boost their retirement nest egg by working an additional three or four years. One study showed that these added years of employment increased retirement income by a staggering 25%.
