MARCH-APRIL-MAY, 2015

Working in retirement: fantasy or reality?

by Steve Vernon, FSA

To work or not to work? That is the retirement planning question. My first post takes a closer look at this modern-day riff on the famous line in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," where Prince Hamlet laments about life's unfairness but reflects that the alternative (not being alive) could be worse.

My next post on the topic of working in retirement examines good news for late-life career changers; most people who make such changes succeed, and the post offers tips based on their experience. My last post on this topic goes in the other direction and discusses a survey of retirees who recommend that you "retire as soon as you can."

Please keep reading for this issue's helpful articles and stories.

Your employer can boost your retirement income

Here's some good news for employees who have a retirement savings plan at work: Retirement plan sponsors can boost participants' retirement incomes 5 to 20 percent by offering a formal program of retirement income in their 401(k) plans, according to a recent paper by the Institutional Retirement Income Council (IRIC), a nonprofit think tank. Even if your employer doesn't take this helpful step, savvy investors may be able to reap the same benefits by doing their homework. Read here for details.

Should you insure your retirement income?

Retirees and pre-retirees considering the various types of insurance they'll need during retirement should include on their checklist insuring part of their retirement income. But how much of your retirement income do you really need to insure? It depends on how likely it is that an unexpected event would cause a financial hardship for you. Read here for some guidelines.

For women, retirement is even riskier

Just 14 percent of women in the workforce are "very confident" in their ability to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, and 54 percent plan to retire after age 65 or not at all. Those are two of the telling facts from "Women and Retirement," an insightful new study from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. This post shares tips for helping women prepare successfully for retirement.

Needed: better disclosures for pension cashouts

Are you eligible for a lump-sum pension cashout from your employer? Then you should be interested in the results of a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report's title, "Participants Need Better Information When Offered Lump Sums That Replace Their Lifetime Benefits," does a good job describing the GAO's conclusions. Read here for valuable insights if you're offered a pension cashout.

A promising trend in taking Social Security benefits

Not all news is bad when it comes to Social Security benefits. A recent study of claims data shows that the percentage of workers turning age 62 who start Social Security benefits at that age has declined significantly since 1996.

Why is this good news? Most retirees will be more financially secure in retirement if they can enjoy the higher Social Security income that results from delaying the start of their benefits. Read here for details.

Can your retirement survive a financial shock?

Most U.S. workers will experience at least one disruption to their retirement savings during their lives, a shock that could set back their retirement considerably. That's the conclusion of the 2015 Financial Disruptions Survey conducted by TD Ameritrade (AMTD). This post shares tips for surviving such a shock.

American savers leaving $24 billion on the table

Americans are saying "No, thanks" to an average of more than $1,300 each year that their employers want to contribute toward their retirement savings. That adds up to more than $24 billion each year that's going down the drain. Read here for tips on boosting your retirement savings through employer-sponsored plans.

7 pillars to successful aging

"It's no accident that I've reached age 88 in great health," says Bill Zinke, who recently launched Enrich Life Over 50, a grassroots movement that was inspired by what Zinke calls the "greatest gift of the 20th century: the addition of 30 years to the average lifespan."

Zinke notes that he has average genes but has taken good care of himself. He asserts that you'll increase the odds of a prosperous retirement -- and a great rest of life -- if you adhere to his seven pillars of aging successfully that are

summarized in this post.

How to improve dying in America

By many measures, how people die in America has plenty of room for improvement, whether it's boostingquality of life at the end for the individuals and their families, reducing costs, or even extending life. That was a panel's consensus after an address at Stanford University by Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and author of the bestselling book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters at the End. Read here for helpful insights into this important issue.

Where should you live after retirement?

The best place for you to live when you retire depends on a number of personal factors that are most likely unique to you -- ones that don't necessarily show up in popular stories in the media on the best places to retire. The upshot? When it comes to deciding where you'll live after you retire, a recent report prepared by Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, a think tank focused on aging, concludes that you'll want to follow your own compass. Read here 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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Money for Life

Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck

My latest book 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!

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.

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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