Making Your Retirement Assets Last

Just reaching retirement can and will be a struggle for some people.  However the notion of outliving your assets could be much larger issue facing potential retirees.

With savers continuing to be punished in this low interest rate environment that the Fed has created, it is harder and most likely riskier to find the yield that people seek when they begin their retirement years to live off of.  Couple that with the rising costs of health care and people living longer lives, that spells a lot of concern for individuals putting together retirement plans.

There are things that people can begin to do now as this WSJ article points out.  But first and foremost is that people should begin to plan now rather than continuing to put it off.  We have discussed this very topic throughout the past two year which is the fear of doing anything which paralyses people.  Rather than taking that first step people do the worst thing which is nothing at all.  Most people's financial future depends upon them taking a proactive approach to their retirement funding because companies and government aren't going to do it for you.

As the old saying goes, "don't put off until tomorrow that which you can do today."  Full article here

• Recent calculations from the Employee Benefit Research Institute show that roughly 44% of those born between 1948 and 1978—baby boomers and Generation X—won't have adequate retirement income, and that is assuming interest rates go back up in 2014. 
• Retirees should map out a budget for necessities—include everything from housing to food, transportation, health expenses and utility bills—and set aside a chunk of a portfolio for these costs.

• With 70% of people over age 65 running into some type of health problem that could necessitate some form of long-term care, it's a big expense that many retirees initially forget about in planning, says Robert Stammers, director of investor education for the nonprofit CFA Institute.
• Critics say long-term-care policies can be pricey and may have limits on the benefits they pay out, so retirees need to make sure they understand what they are getting before buying. The average annual cost of such a policy for a 57-year-old single individual is about $1,900, while a couple of the same age would pay about $2,500, according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, an industry trade group.