| Boost Your Social Security Payout by $100,000 or More
by Steve Vernon, FSA
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Welcome to my April-May newsletter. For regular readers who are used to hearing from me every month, I want you to know that you didn't miss my newsletter last month. I was very busy giving workshops in April, so I'm sending one newsletter for April and May.
This month's bulletin continues with posts from my ongoing series, 16 Weeks to Plan Your Retirement. Let's begin with Social Security, the foundation for most people's retirement security. The following seven posts will help you learn the basics along with some smart strategies that can help you maximize your lifetime Social Security payouts.
Social Security spouse benefits - the rules of the road
Can you work while collecting Social Security benefits?
Boost your Social Security payout by $100,000
How married couples can earn more Social Security benefits
Six questions to ask your financial advisor about Social Security
Please continue reading for this month's selection of helpful articles on retirement planning.
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A guide to the working retirement
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Work during your retirement? That might sound like an oxymoron, but it really depends on how you define "retirement." It's indeed an oxymoron if you adhere to the traditional definition of retirement as not working, but it may not be if you define retirement as being happy, fulfilled, and financially secure. And since many people will need to work in retirement to make ends meet, it's really not a question of if, but rather how. Here are three posts on working in retirement from Week 6 of my retirement planning series:
A guide to the working retirement
How to find work (after retirement)
How to find work you enjoy in retirement
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The best ways to generate lifetime income
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How much retirement income can you get from your 401(k), IRA, and other savings? That's a critical question as you piece together your various sources of retirement income, which also include Social Security, pensions, and the salary you'll earn from continued work. Surveys show that many people struggle with the difficult task of generating lifetime retirement income. This post will help you tackle this challenge. Welcome to the topic of Week 9 of my retirement planning series.
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The best investments for generating retirement income
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Suppose you've done a good job investing and accumulating money in your IRA and 401(k) plan, and now you're trying to decide how to best invest those assets to generate retirement income. Which investments might work best for you at this stage of the game?
The answers depend in part on how you plan to turn your savings into income, as discussed in the posts above. My first post from Week 10 of my series discusses how to invest for a paycheck in retirement, while the second post offers information on the best ways to buy annuities. The third post talks about how to determine the amount of risk you're willing to take with your retirement savings.
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The secret that will make -- or break -- your retirement
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Many people overlook their living expenses when planning for retirement, but a good review -- and some strategic changes -- might allow you to afford to retire. A post from Week 11 of my 16-week series on retirement planning covers general strategies for managing your living expenses in retirement, while information I offer in Week 12 suggests 10 ways to reduce your housing costs. |
Spending from your portfolio in retirement
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Here's an argument for spending down your principal in your golden years, rather than just living off your portfolio income, from fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Larry Swedroe. |
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Why I'm selling stocks
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Fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Allan Roth recently reduced his stock exposure. It's not because he knows what's going to happen in North Korea or what the Fed is going to be doing with quantitative easing. Take a look at his very good reasons for rebalancing his portfolio.
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Big market drops happen more often than you think
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It seems like every crisis we experience in the markets is a "once in a lifetime" crisis. Other common phrases are "unpredictable," "never seen before," and "unprecedented." When those statements come up, the most appropriate phrase to use in return would be "ignorant of financial history." Read here for an insightful post from Larry Swedroe on that topic.
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Retirees and debt: How to avoid the worst traps
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Don't gamble with your retirement!
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A recent PBS documentary exposed real problems with some 401(k) plans, but there are even bigger challenges to address. Read this post for details. |
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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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Recently Released
Money for Life
Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck
My latest book, published in October 2012, answers two of the most important financial questions you'll ever face:
How much money do you need to retire?
How can you generate reliable income from your retirement savings that lasts for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live and no matter what happens in the economy?
Addressing these questions is one of the most critical challenges facing the retirement industry today.
Money for Life is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book that outlines specific action steps and includes illustrations and graphs to reinforce the main points. It describes in simple terms the three methods you can use to generate a "retirement paycheck" from your retirement savings. It explains the pros and cons of these methods, as well as their many varieties and permutations. One critical element is the amount of the retirement paycheck you'll be able to generate, which can vary widely depending on the method you choose to generate retirement income.
This new book is available in both print and e-book format. It complements my other published works on retirement planning -- my book, Recession-Proof Your Retirement Years; my DVD, The Quest for Long Life, Health and Prosperity; and my retirement planning website, Money for Life.
Please see my website for details on all of my books and DVDs.
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Welcome to
Our Newsletter!
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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.
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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 is a Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity, 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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| © 2013 Steve Vernon/
Rest-of-Life Communications
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