SEPTEMBER, 2010
Long-Term Care Advice From an Olympic Gold Medal Winner
by Steve Vernon, FSA
Olympic gold-medal swimmer Wendy Boglioi recently talked to me about her family's struggle with providing long-term care for both of her parents. As a result of her experience, she has two compelling pieces of advice to share with boomers.
 
This column wraps up a series of posts that I've written on addressing the threat of high bills for long-term care.  This is an important challenge that I urge everybody to consider in their retirement planning.
 
September has been a particularly robust month for helpful blogs and articles on retirement. Please continue reading for this month's selections.
Health Care Costs to Rise Sharply in 2011: How to Cope

Deflation you say? Not when it comes to your health insurance costs. A new survey of big business says it expects health insurance costs to rise nearly 9 percent in 2011, and employees will be "asked" to share some of that pain. This could be the year to give a high-deductible plan with an HSA a serious look.
 
Read here for more details in this excellent post by fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Carla Fried.
Why Buy-and-Hold Isn't a Good Strategy
Many passive investing proponents pitch buy-and-hold as the best strategy. While I'm generally a fan of passive investing and buy-and-hold strategies, this post by CBS MoneyWatch blogger Larry Swedroe offers reasons why that isn't enough and adds some important refinements to these strategies.



Should You Trust Your Broker? No, and Here's Why
You and your broker have different interests. They have to sell things to make a living. The more they sell, and the more expensive the products, the better off they'll be. Like any other salesperson - for shoes, cameras, advertising or high-tech medical devices - moving products is their job.
 
Read this great article from CBS MoneyWatch blogger Jane Bryant Quinn to learn helpful tips for the best way to deal with brokers.

Calculate Retirement Income With a Simple Online Tool
Generating a lifetime retirement income from your retirement nest egg is one of the biggest challenges facing boomers. There are many approaches to figuring out how much to draw down each year from your retirement savings, ranging from buying an immediate annuity to doing it yourself. Let me show you how one actuary did this for his own retirement. 
 
In the first post, I describe his approach, and in the second post, I take his program for a test drive. It turns out this simple approach provides similar results to more sophisticated methods.
5 Warning Signs of Bad Investing
Do you see yourself as a great investor or feel you have hired a great money manager? Then you might want to see if any of these warning signs apply to you. If they do, it's time to take action.
 
Fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Allan Roth provides an insightful list for reining in your investing emotions. It's an important topic, given that dysfunctional investor behavior is one of the biggest barriers to successful investing.

Social Security May Tighten Do-over Rules
The Social Security Administration is pushing to tighten a loophole that allows beneficiaries to increase their payments by thousands of dollars annually through a "resetting" of the date when benefits begin.

Under Social Security's rules, workers can file for benefits as early as age 62, but they receive higher monthly payments if they wait until their full retirement age - currently 66. About half of Americans file at 62, but in most cases, it's a costly mistake.

Read here for this recent column by Mark Miller on the loophole rules that first appeared on his website www.retirementrevised.com.
What Women Want vs. Reality
A large percentage of women (and to a lesser extent men) are basing their retirement plan on working longer. That makes plenty of sense in theoretical terms, but reality shows it could end up being a dangerous retirement strategy.
 
Read here to find out why in this excellent post by fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Carla Fried.

Don't Let Alzheimer's and Dementia Spoil Your Retirement
Dementia and Alzheimer's disease are giant monkey wrenches that can disrupt the plans you have for enjoying your retirement years, as well as drain your retirement savings. Read here for my favorite tips to help prevent this from happening to you.

Diet Disaster: Failing the Fruit and Veggie Test

Americans are paying premium prices for diet plans, but there's a cheaper alternative for those who can pass the fruit and vegetables test.
 
CBS MoneyWatch blogger Kathy Kristof provides excellent advice for saving money now on your grocery bills. What's more important, though, is how much healthier you'll be and how much money you'll save down the road on medical bills if you follow these tips.

 
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Thanks for your interest, and stay tuned for future newsletters that explore how to best live the rest of your life.
 
Best regards,
 





Steve Vernon
Rest-of-Life Communications

P.S. If you think this newsletter will help a friend, please pass it along.
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Just Released

The Second Edition of

Recession-Proof Your Retirement Years

Simple Retirement Planning Strategies That Work Through Thick or Thin

I've updated this popular book to include investment results through the end of 2009 and the latest changes to Social Security.  I've also added about 20 pages of content to cover topics that readers have requested.  It's still short--under 100 pages--so it's easy to follow and easy to finish.  And it still provides a step-by-step program to build reliable sources of retirement income that cover your living expenses and strategies to address the threat of high medical and long-term care expenses.  The book is available for bulk purchase by employers and other organizations, or for individual purchase.  Please see my website for details on all of my books and DVDs.

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Welcome to
 Our Newsletter!
We fulfill a need for trusted, practical strategies that you can use to plan your rest-of-life (aka retirement).  We rely on the latest research and analyses, and we'll keep it simple!  And that's all we provide; we don't sell insurance, investments or health products, so we can "tell it like it is."

Here's an archive of past issues.
 
Hour Glass & Money

Steve Vernon has spent 35 years as a consulting actuary, helping large employers design and manage their retirement programs.  Now he's president of Rest-of-Life Communications, where he specializes in providing unbiased, trusted information about retirement.  He also consults to Mercer's US Retirement, Risk and Finance business, and writes a regular column for CBS MoneyWatch titled Money for Life.

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For information on keynote addresses, workshops or presentations on retirement issues, visit Steve's website at www.restoflife.com, or email him at steve.vernon@restoflife.com

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