Heartbreaking Reasons To Save Outside Of A 401k, 403b, Or IRA For Retirement

An advisor friend recently shared two frightening withdrawal requests from retired clients. The first was an $85,000 call for funds to cover rehab costs for an adult child. The lethal combination of depression and alcohol abuse contributed to suicidal thoughts, an inconsistent medication schedule, and a trail of hospital stays and doctor visits. The center treating this individual is among the few that address both mental health issues and addiction, which comes with a hefty price tag.

Continue reading article at Forbes.com.

Damian Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions

Retirement: The payoffs of an active lifestyle

Some people are planning ahead for their physical fitness in retirement just like they plan for their financial fitness, says one of the country's top national diet and exercise experts. And that's as it should be, he says.

If you start a few years before retirement, says James Hill, executive director of the the University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center in Aurora, Colo., you'll be ready to go when you do retire; most people can make a lot of progress toward getting in better shape in a matter of a few months.

Continue reading article on USAToday.com

Damian Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions, LLC

Obama Proposal Recognizes How Retirement Saving Has Changed

Here is a short tale of how the way Americans save for retirement has changed over the last couple of generations. It helps explain what the Obama administration is up to with a new initiative this week:

Once upon a time, companies took it as their responsibility to ensure that their workers could enjoy a comfortable retirement. They socked money away in a pension plan that paid longtime employees a healthy fraction of their salary from the day they retired to the day they died. Employers took on all the risk — the stock market dropping, people living longer than expected.

Continue reading the source article at NYTimes.com.

Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

Retirement: 5 tips on how to save $1 million

One million bucks is a lot of money. It certainly is impressive if you're one of the few who has saved that much for retirement — looking at your statement and seeing all those zeros.

And even financial planners who say you might need more for your retirement can't argue that it is an impressive start. After all, people are living longer; you may have unanticipated health care costs; and you really want to maintain that standard of living you are accustomed to.

So, here are five tips for saving a cool million by the time you retire.

Continue reading source article at USAToday.com.

Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

Should You Save More For Retirement Or Pay Off Your Mortgage Early?

One of the most common questions we get is whether to put savings toward paying off a mortgage vs. investing more for retirement. This question is tricky because the answer can vary depending on which stage of life you’re in. Are you in the accumulation phase of trying to build wealth or in the distribution phase of using that wealth to generate income?

The Accumulation Phase

First of all, make sure you have an adequate emergency fund before paying down your mortgage. While paying down your debt may make you feel safer, it’s actually safer to have some money in savings that you can use to continue making those mortgage payments should Murphy’s Law kick in. Even if your mortgage is paid off, you’ll need emergency savings to keep the lights on, food on the table, your car in the driveway, and gas in that car if something happens to you.

Continue reading source article at Forbes.com

Damian J. Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions

9 Great Places to Retire

This year’s Best Places to Retire list may surprise you. None of the typical beach-and-golf spots made the cut. The reason is simple. Most popular retiree destinations score surprisingly low in the factors that help guarantee a financially stable retirement, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security.

To help you find a secure place to spend your post-work years, MONEY limited the Best Places to Retire list to the 12 states ranked highest by the NIRS. The result: 9 winning towns that offer affordable living, great encore career opportunities, and plenty of amenities.

Click here to continue reading the source article at TimeMagazine.com

5 Steps to prepare for a 2015 retirement

If you've spent the past several decades working and are looking forward to retiring in 2015, the last thing you probably want to hear is that there's more work ahead. But a successful transition to a secure retirement is well worth the extra work and preparation.

Here are five steps to prepare for a 2015 retirement:

1. Craft a monthly budget or spending plan

A budget or spending plan helps determine what you expect to receive in retirement income vs. your anticipated living expenses. Open a notebook or a spreadsheet and, in one column, write down your expected monthly income, including Social Security, pension and withdrawals from your retirement funds. In a second column, estimate your average monthly expenses, which gives you a framework of your finances.

"Take a test run first," says Curtis Sheldon, a financial planner based in Alexandria, Va. "If you can, try living on what you expect your retirement living expenses to be. Can you do it?"

You might not be able to increase your income much in retirement, but you can certainly pare down your expenses. Money-saving ideas include downsizing into a smaller home, moving to a city with a lower cost of living, selling a car you might not need and taking fewer vacations.

Click here to continue reading the source article at USAToday.com.

Damian J. Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions