4 ways to tell if you’re financially ready for retirement

Do you have enough money to retire? That’s not an easy question to answer, but there are some ways to tell if you’re on track. Experts like to use the following methods to determine if you have enough to fund your desired lifestyle.

Crunch the numbers. Map your projected income — from personal assets, earned income, pensions and Social Security — against projected expenses. This is perhaps the most accurate way to determine whether you’re financially ready. But it will require more than a weekend of number crunching.

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Damian J. Sylvia 

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Millennials' new retirement number? $1.8 million (or more!)

Millennials have more than enough financial worries. Now they can add about 2 million more to their list. That's how much many might need to save to retire.

Older Millennials — those born in the early 1980s — will need about $1.8 million salted away to maintain their standard of living in retirement while younger Millennials — those born in the late 1990s — will need upwards of $2.5 million, according to various studies, estimates and experts.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

Getting Workers to Save More for Retirement

Saving for retirement should be simple arithmetic — the longer your money has to grow, the more money you should have when you stop working. But saving today for a distant tomorrow isn’t so simple, and has a great deal to do with how people think about money.

Sean Furlong, the director of finance and administration at Gilman School, a private secondary school in Baltimore, said he realized that while teaching a business class.

He was teaching students, he said, “but then I realized I wasn’t teaching my faculty and staff.”

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Fewer of Us Save, More Are Confident of Retirement. Are We Crazy?

The retirement confidence of Americans has come a long way since the recession. The percentage of workers either very or somewhat confident that they will be able to afford a comfortable retirement now stands at 63 percent, up from 51 percent three years ago and 49 percent in 2011.

But it isn't because of a surge in the number of people who are saving, according to the 26th annual Retirement Confidence Survey released today by the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Retirement Plans Take Different Tack on Money Funds

People saving for retirement in workplace 401(k) plans may soon see changes to the lowest-risk choices on their investment menus.

The adjustments—which have occurred already at some plans but are under consideration at many more, consultants said—are in response to new rules for money-market mutual funds that will take effect in October. “Prime” money funds that buy both corporate and government debt will be required to charge redemption fees if they are swamped by withdrawals amid market turmoil. They also will be required to set up procedures to suspend redemptions in some cases.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

3 steps to avoid running out of money in retirement

The majority of Americans don't think they are saving enough and are worried their savings won't last as long as they do.

Only 31 percent of workers who participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457, are "extremely confident" or "very confident" that they will not outlive their money — and the rest aren't so sure, according to a new survey by BlackRock.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

Great Places To Follow Your Passions In Retirement In 2016

Do you have a long neglected passion–or a new one–you’re keen to spend more time on during retirement? Then consider choosing a place to retire where you can pursue with gusto the leisure time activities you enjoy the most.

To help you scout out potential locales, Forbes offers a new edition of our chase-your-bliss list: 25 Great Places to Follow Your Passions in Retirement In 2016.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road 

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How to know when you have enough money to retire

How much is enough to retire?

One of the most frequently asked questions when we meet with potential new clients looking to retire is, "How do I know if I have enough?"

Our response is always the same: "Enough to do what?"

One of the most important tasks when planning and thinking about retiring is defining what this next chapter of life is going to mean for you.

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Damian J. Sylvia

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Retirement Crisis: Are We There Yet?

A flurry of studies out in recent days reveal a dramatic split between pre-retirees (nervous, not planning enough, eager for help from their employers) and the retired (things are fabulous for us, mostly).

“It’s a story of two retirements,” said Marcy Keckler, vice president of financial advice strategy at Ameriprise, whose firm released the research report Pay Yourself in Retirement: How Retirees and Pre-Retirees Plan Their Retirement Income, based on its poll of 1,300 Americans between age 55 and 75 with at least $100,000 of investable assets.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How much retirement income do you really need?

The common wisdom about how much income Americans need in retirement may not be so wise, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The GAO, which reviewed 59 studies and reports on retirement income and interviewed retirement services firms and financial planners as part of the study, found that recommended target income replacement rates typically ranged from 70 to 85 percent of your pay just before retirement.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

Best and worst U.S. states for retirement

When it comes to deciding where to put down roots for retirement, Americans have an embarrassment of riches within their own borders. From Florida to Arizona to Hawaii, figuring out where to call home is limited only by your desires and your budget.

But how to decide?

In its latest survey, Bankrate.com used six criteria to determine which states are the best and worst for retirees: cost of living, taxes, health care, weather, crime and residents' overall well-being. And the results produced some surprises.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How to Pay School Loans and Save for Retirement at the Same Time

The best time to start saving for retirement is as soon as possible. By saving in your early 20s, you give your nest egg extra time to grow, potentially shaving years off how long you need to work.

But before setting aside money for retirement, most feel the need to retire student loan debt. That’s easy to say but harder to do for millennials exiting college these days. Many are in the same boat as Nolan Grace, a 24-year-old who graduated from Purdue University with “very significant” loans. “It’s the biggest weight on my life right now,” he says.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755