Author Archives: ernie

Retirement Planning Services

Have you ever taken advantage of a retirement planning service a financial adviser offers? My adviser wants to sit down with me, review all of my finances, and assess whether I am ready for retirement and what steps I need to take, if any, to ensure that there is less risk and a higher probability that we will be comfortable in retirement. His offer certainly intrigues me, and I, like most people, would like to know the answer to this question: Am I ready for retirement?

At the same time, I am reluctant to share all of this personal information with someone I trust but who is not family. I do not even share this kind of information with my family other than in broad terms. We discuss details with my spouse and when I can get her to listen. We do not share these details with our kids. It is just too personal, and I am not sure I want someone trying to sell me more and more products to know all my financial details.

Retirement Planning Services – Too Personal

Having mentioned all of this, we do have a detailed spreadsheet, which I have discussed with my wife. It plots all of our investments, the income they will generate, and the growth they should average over the next ten years. It also takes into account all of our income from pensions and investments from our savings.

We are focusing on living off of our income and not touching our principal, which is a pretty good strategy. We wonder when we should begin using our principal and enjoying it. As long as we are comfortable, I would prefer to wait and not touch our principal just yet.

Develop Your Own Strategic Investment Plan

Speaking of strategy, I have developed my own investment strategy. I reviewed it with my investment adviser to get his thoughts and guidance. We kept it to one-half page to keep it manageable. I keep it at the strategic level rather than discussing specific stocks unless there is some action we want to take on this stock.

We discuss this strategy twice a year and update it accordingly to ensure it is current and reflects current conditions. Implementing this strategy is up to me with the help of my adviser. I do not feel that I need to go beyond that in terms of sharing financial information.

We wonder if other readers have this same approach to investments and retirement planning services. A review is a good thing; however, we do not feel it is appropriate to share everything with your adviser. This is personal, and we wonder how other people feel about this approach. If nothing else, ensure you have an investment strategy and plan. If you are not the type to do your plan, having someone else do it for you with all your input might be a good thing.

Let us know what you think about retirement planning services. For more about retirement costs and planning, click here.

6 Retirement Surprises

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We live with our parents for approximately 25% of our life. Then we are working for about 40% of our lives. The remaining time we are on this earth is spent in retirement. This is the time when our pensions and our savings are most important to ensure that we have the quality of life that we have always wanted. There are many things that can get in the way of attaining and keeping the quality of life that we want to have in our retirement. 6 Retirement Surprises are discussed in the following material.

Six Retirement Surprises

Here are 6 retirement surprises that we all need to pay attention to during retirement and also when we are planning for our retirement.

Live within your means

We have all of this extra time to spend and sometimes people plan trips etc that they have been waiting for until retirement. They may buy a new car and they may spend a lot of money upgrading their homes all of which eats into their savings and as their savings decline, there is less income from the savings to help them with daily expenses. Plan your major expenses and make sure that you are living within your means to enable the quality of life that you desire as you get older.

Budget changes

If you do not have a budget, you should. Once you have a budget, living within that budget is important as mentioned above. But sometimes there are changes to your budget that are needed to reflect additional income as well as additional expenses. We suggest updating your budget at least once per year to assess your ability to live within your means and make sure you have sufficient income to live on.

Health changes

Health issues can creep in at any time. From heart attacks to strokes, diabetes, and on and on. Most people will have some form of health insurance to cover them. However, there is the deductible and most only cover up to 80% of the health bill for hospital stays, etc. Even 20% of $200,000 is $40,000 which is a substantial amount to cover. If you or your spouse needs to go into a home to have cared for the bill for this can be high as well. Even at $3000 a month or $36,000 a year, this is a substantial amount that needs to be covered.

Inflation

For the past 20 years, our governments have been able to control inflation and keep it in the manageable range of 1 to 3%. Some countries have experienced far higher levels of inflation. We can only hope that where we live will remain in the 2% range for the foreseeable future. Even 2% over 20 years adds a hefty increase to your daily bills. This is something that should also be planned for.Â A 40% increase over 40 years is substantial.

Not working forever

While some of us may plan to work well into our 60â€™s and beyond the reality is that many of us will not be able to work due to health issues. Availability of work is another factor. We have seen some 80-year-olds still working. They are probably for the money and also for the social part of the job. However, as soon as your health goes or as soon as they downsize it is much more difficult to find a job unless it is a minimum wage job.

Volatile markets

The last 30 years have seen really volatile markets. In 2008 the market dropped by 50% and has since come back and exceeded the levels pre-2008. If you need to withdraw money from your savings plan or your retirement when the market is down. You are actually eating into more of your capital than may have been planned or budgeted. Accounting for these changes is necessary to ensure that you will have a retirement plan that lasts.

Retirement portfolio to match your expenses

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I have heard many seniors talk about how they are living on a fixed income. Inflation is increasing and making their income not go as far as it once did. They worry about whether they will have enough money to do some of the things they want to do. They are getting older and must live at the same level of Retirement portfolio income. When many of these people complain about being on a fixed income they are actually receiving a small increase every year. This is an increase in their pensions which usually have a small inflation increase every year.

Most feel that these small increases are clearly not enough. They worry that inflation will really overtake them. Some are used to salary increases when they were working that increased their salaries faster than the inflation rate. Those types of salary increases are long gone. But that is no consolation to the many seniors who live on a fixed income even if there is a small increase every year. The bottom line, we all need to evaluate all of our expenses. Reduce where we can to counter the effects of inflation.

Increase Your Income

One way to gain increases in your income most years is to invest in dividend stocks Focus on those that increase their dividend every year. They should also have a growth component in their stock value. Although there are no guarantees, these stocks pay a dividend so you do have income from your investments. If you invest in the right companies, you may get an increase every year. In fact, some companies have a record of increasing their dividends for many years. This is an enviable record and can be an important component of a retirement portfolio.

With dividends increasing every year your income is increasing. If the stock does well the value of the stock will also increase. When it comes time to sell your investment to be used as part of your retirement, you will be selling a stock that has also increased in value. This will help deal with the increasing inflation that we all know is there and will continue for many years.

Retirement portfolio – Avoid Cashing in Your Principal

Consumers who are retired and living off of pensions may find that they can live on the pension income they receive and also the income they generate from their investments without having to touch their investment principal. If this is the case, they are in an excellent situation to live into their late years without having to worry about having enough money to live on. In fact, your investment adviser can calculate the income rates and the rate of seniors may want to withdraw their money to ensure they can enjoy it in this situation.

Many people are not in this position. This is one of the reasons we urge people to save for their retirement regardless of whether they have a pension or not. It is an additional safety margin in case your pension is not as large as expected or inflation is much higher than anticipated.

5 reasons not to contribute to your Retirement Plan

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There are 5 reasons not to contribute to your Retirement Plan, however always have a plan for how you will survive financially in retirement. Many people may find this amazing, but there are some good reasons why you should not contribute to your retirement fund in the opinion of the writer. Give it some thought and then make your own decision. You may also want to chat with some other people such as your family or your investment adviser or banker. It should be someone who will give you an unbiased opinion.

If you do not invest in your retirement because one or more of the reasons below apply to you, make sure that you solve these issues and then get started investing in your retirement. You do not want to end up retiring with no retirement fund. It is very important to save for retirement, but sometimes in the short term there are more important issues to resolve.

5 reasons not to contribute to your Retirement Plan or

No emergency fund.

Everyone should have an emergency fund to get you through those times when you are not working for any reason whether it is because you have been laid off or have health issues. An emergency may also include a major emergency repair, it may include a major health issue or some other thing that you really need to have an emergency fund for. Once you have at least 6 months of take home pay saved up, then you can look at some other issues such as retirement savings.

No match in contributions to your Retirement Plan from employer.

Many employers will match contributions as an additional benefit and also as an incentive for employees to save for their retirement. If your employer does this then you definitely want to take advantage of it. If they do not have such a program then there is no incentive to participate in this particular program other than perhaps convenience. However most advisers would recommend that you keep your retirement savings independent of your employer.

You are swimming in debt.

Paying off your debt especially high interest debt can save you a great deal of money. If your loan is 10% interest, then when you pay off this loan you are reducing the interest that you pay and effectively paying yourself 10% in interest savings. Right now you cannot even come close to that level of income on any investments that are safe enough for a retirement account.

You are afraid of future tax increases.

If you are expecting your income to rise over time, you may not want to avoid putting money in a retirement fund. This applies when withdraw it later and you are in a higher tax bracket. This probably does not apply to too many people.

High management fees.

Look for plans that have low management fees. If your current plan has a lot of management fees you may want to consider investing elsewhere . This is a decision that you need to discuss with your investment adviser.

Retirement Planning Websites

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There are lots of retirement websites available online. The vast majority of them are trying to sell you something. All of the banks and financial institutions have sites that discuss retirement plan options. They have calculators and much more. All investment advisers also have web sites that discuss the various options they offer. They extoll the virtues of saving and investing. We want to say at the outset we are not trying to sell anything to you at all.

In fact, we would like to hear from people about what they think about some of the posts on this website. We are retired and we read a lot about various issues associated with retirement and try to apply them to ourselves. When we learn about these issues, we write about them and put our own thoughts on the issue. These posts reflect our opinions and we hope it spurs readers to give them some thought about planning for retirement. It is not an easy subject. It can be complex especially when bankers and financial advisers are trying to sell their products. These include bonds, mutual funds, or their stock plans to you inside a tax-deferred retirement plan.

Wealth Management and Large Companies

They have very large divisions of people who are totally focused on helping you with your retirement planning. In return, they want your investments so they can collect fees for their services. They are making a lot of money off of their clients. We sometimes wonder about how much they are helping the customer. While helping themselves to your money through fees and commissions on trades and management fees.

We like to use web sites that have tools for tracking investments. Also for projecting these investments into the future for planning purposes. We look for the lowest fee structure for trades. We want to avoid paying someone to manage our money and get paid even if there is a loss. They should be risking something as well as us.

Retirement Planning Websites – Be Careful with Personal Information

There are literally thousands of retirement planning websites available and they want you to enter information into them. Be careful about what you provide. They may be able to track your investments and they may be sending you sales-related information often. Some sites do provide useful information. While others send information that is really veiled sales advertising. They want some of your business that you have been planning.

We use a spreadsheet that tracks our investments, estimates income, and estimate the value of our investments out 10 years or more. We know exactly where we stand at any time relative to our investments and our planned retirement. There is no need to update a website and we do not need to set up a meeting either to estimate our income. For us this is the best way to manage our retirement planning. It is our way of making sure that we have more than enough money when it comes time to retire.

Do You Have a Retirement Vision?

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Many people who are not retired ask me what I do with my time now that I am retired. I actually have a hard time answering the question. My days are full of different tasks, hobbies, a small part-time business, exercising, and managing our investment portfolio. I jump from one to the other. Also, I don’t hesitate to accept impromptu invitations. I meet for coffee with friends, lunch, or even a beer at the pub.

Finding a Purpose

But the real question is not how do I fill my time, but rather what is my vision for the next 10 years and how will I feel about how I spent the last 10 years of my life. What I do know is that I do not want to work for a company, punch a clock, or answer to a boss. So going back to work is out of the question. Fortunately, I have enough money for retirement so this gives me a lot of freedom.

Do I want to be well known for having volunteered and help a lot of people? Do I want to be known for a low golf score because I went golfing every day? Or do I want to be able to say I traveled a lot and went to many different places? There are a thousand questions and everyone has different questions and interests. Some people will say that all they want is to be near the family and help out as much as they can.

Retirement Vision – More than Money

Most people will focus on making sure they have enough money to retire, however, how can you answer that question if you do not have a vision. If your vision includes going on a lot of expensive trips, then your retirement funds better are rich enough to allow you to enjoy this kind of lifestyle otherwise there will be some disappointment.

Start by listing some of the things that you would like to do during retirement. List what you think will make you feel that you accomplished something in 10 years’ time. List those things that you want to be remembered by. Test your lists against your financial resources to make sure you have sufficient funds to accomplish those items on your list. If not you may have to begin setting priorities and decide which ones you want to consider keeping and those that you may have to downsize or abandon.

Huge Challenge

This is by far the biggest challenge that you will have as you plan for retirement and even if you are currently in retirement. It is never too late to take on this challenge of developing your own retirement vision.

Do You trust Your Real Estate Agent

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Most real estate agents are honest and ethical and this post is certainly not a slight against real estate agents. However we recently came across a situation that we wanted to pass along to our readers that really suggests that all consumers should pay attention to and avoid if possible. In our opinion it borders on the less than ethical side of the business, although we cannot and are not suggesting that it is illegal by any means. We are just not sure that the agent does not have the best interests of the seller in mind. We would appreciate your opinion on this situation.

Offer to Purchase by Real Estate Agent

A friend of ours is selling their condo through a real estate agent. The market is slow and their unit has been up for sale for some time. Their agent has suggested they spend some money on upgrades to make their unit more attractive to potential buyers. Â Many buyers are looking for everything to be already completed so that they do not have to do any work at all to the unit when they move in.

If it does not sell in a few months she will buy it from them. Oh, and she is suggesting they lower the price. She is suggesting $20,000 in upgrades and lowering the price by $20,000 which is a net hit in the wallet of $40,000. Pretty steep in our opinion, and also a good deal for the real estate agent as well. She gets the property at a lower price and with many of the updates already completed which makes it easier to sell in the long run!

Does this sound suspicious? The agent cannot lose, if she sells the unit she gets the commission. If she buys the unit she gets the unit at a reduced price, it is upgraded and makes money. She also gets the commission when she eventually sells the unit.

Long Term Real Estate Prices

Real estate prices are on their way up in this area and over the next 6 months they are expected to increase by as much as 20% which is substantial. All the agent has to do is hold on to the property for a few months and she may make a 20% profit!

Would you take her deal? We don’t think they should! We think they should find another agent or take it off the market. Housing prices in the area are expected to increase by 20% this year. Who is making money on this deal? What do you think?

Everyone in situations like this must think for themselves. It is a good idea to look for advice from experts. However you really need to understand what the motivation is for each expert. Weigh that against the advice you are getting from them. If you are desperate, then maybe you want to take the deal. The deal closes and gives you the money you need from the sale of your property.

Balanced Life Style

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Everyone should think about maintaining a balanced life style. What does this really mean and why is it so important? It all comes down to maintaining your health over the long-term. This was explained to me by a senior manager who was providing some mentoring to me one day. I think that he thought that I was working too hard. He wanted to make sure that I maintained a balanced life style for myself and my family.

His guidance to me was based on the following. If you assume a basic work day is eight hours and you have 8 hours for sleep, then that leaves 8 hours for family and social activities. This is a pretty good balance if you can maintain this, since we all need on average at least 8 hours of sleep every day.

Balanced Life Style – Work vs. Personal Life

Now if work gets busy, maybe you are trying to get promoted and want to put in more effort. Chances are you are going to be at the office for more than 8 hours. Letâ€™s assume 10 hours for the sake of illustration. We still want to maintain our time with the family and with our social activities. After all this is part of the reward and is fun as well for most people. If we work 10 hours and play 10 hours, then that only leaves 6 hours for sleeping!

Now once and awhile is really not a problem for most people. You are tired the next day due to lack of sleep. But then you work a regular day and get a good nights sleep that next night. The problem creeps in when working 10 hours at the office becomes a habit, a regular occurrence. The amount of sleep you get on average gets a lot closer to 6 hours instead of eight.

Balanced Life Style – Considerations

Now with lack of sleep creeping in, people are making more mistakes. They do not operate machinery or cars nearly as well. They have accidents! In addition their bodies do not have as much time to recuperate. There is a greater chance of becoming sick which means time off the job.

This is some of the best advice that I ever received. Hopefully other people will read this material and they will change their life for the better. Stay healthy, spend time with your family and work smart at work to succeed in life. The company will not remember you. They will not care about you if you get sick and have to retire early or quit work altogether.

Mid Year Tweaks to Your Retirement Plan

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Gold is down significantly from the beginning of the year. Many people who are the so-called gold bugs have lost significant amounts of money as a result. Stocks are up a great deal. They are also volatile with quite wide swings. This volatility can unnerve many investors who depend on their savings for their retirement income. It might be time to make mid-year tweaks to your retirement plan. Monitor your retirement savings and make cautious adjustments to ensure that your plan is not jeopardized over the long term. Work with an adviser to ensure that you do not sell low and buy high. If you can live on income and not touch your principle, you will be sheltered from any of these wild swings.

Tweaks to Your Retirement Plan

Interest rates edging up over the past few months for loans and mortgages. Many people who did not lock in a mortgage interest rate before the rise are now wondering if they should put off buying a home. An increase of 1% can add hundreds of dollars a month depending on the size of the mortgage. Recently interest rates have settled down. Governments in North America are suggesting that they will remain low for the next year and a half.

The economy is slowly improving and for those people who have a job, life is tolerable. But if you do not have a job or if you are just making enough to pay the bills, retirement savings are something that you dream about vs. actually having. Let’s hope the slow economic improvement continues. It is better than drastic increases which can go down equally as fast providing for a lot of turmoil in people’s lives. Although frustrating for many people, a long slow improvement is actually better for everyone than a fast trip up and then down over the cliff.

Storm Clouds Brewing

Nevertheless, there are lots of storm clouds churning away. Europe is still unstable but making progress. China is slowing its growth forecast and even in the US, the slow economic improvement is a worry for many people. There have not been any major storms this year that affected the economy or the oil industry. But there have been a lot of smaller storms that have hurt people really badly, however not on the scale of some of the bigger hurricanes.

There is always something going on and with all that is currently taking place, it is time to review your retirement plan. You may need to make mid-year tweaks to your retirement plan if necessary based on a thorough balanced review. Tweak only if necessary to balance your retirement plan, reduce risk, increase income and make cash available when you need it. Check with your financial adviser to confirm you have a well-balanced retirement plan. Invest for the longer term and avoid reacting to short-term stimuli from outside sources on the stock market.

Ten Best Things to do in Retirement

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This is the list of the Ten Best Things to do in Retirement that we recently read and wanted to pass this along to our readers. Basically you can do something that keeps you busy and that you find rewarding or you can help people. Sitting around and doing nothing really does not help you or anyone else that matters. Why not make a contribution to society in some manner? Sitting around being bored is actually bad for your health and will actually shorten your life. Be active and do something that you enjoy and really get into your retirement.

Ten Best Things to do in Retirement

Get a job
Take up a sport
Volunteer
Start a business
Start a hobby
Travel the world
Take a year off work
Go south for the winter
Go to a camp for adults
Meet new friends of all ages

Get a job – a lot of people will take a second job after retirement. They make a little money to pay for the extras they want and to also replace the social life that they lost when they retired.

Take up a sport – there are lots of sports that retirees can participate in. Some are expensive such as golf, but others such as bike riding is relatively inexpensive.

Volunteer – helping other people is rewarding. It makes a contribution to society while adding some social activity as well to your life.

Start a business – starting a business is a challenge for many people. Some retirees miss the challenges that work gave them. Starting a small business is one way to replace that loss.

Start a hobby – that hobby you always wanted to pursue but never had the time is ready and waiting

Travel the world – if you have enough money traveling can be a wonderful pastime, provided that you have the budget available to travel in the lifestyle you prefer.

Take a year off work – instead of retiring, take a year off work to see if you are ready and develop some of the things that you will be doing during retirement

Go south for the winter – lots of people cannot stand the winter and love to travel south for the winter where they can golf and pursue some of the sports they enjoy in the summer.

Go to a camp for adults – we are not sure about this one, but you can pick a camp that caters to your interests and meet new people at the same time.

Meet new friends of all ages – take the time to meet new friends, everyone has a story to tell and many are really interesting to listen to.