The Gender Gap In Retirement Savings: Why It's Important And What Employers Can Do

At Financial Finesse, our most recent research report focuses on the significant gender gap that exists in financial wellness. Last year’s discussed how women have a higher risk of running short of retirement funding for a number of reasons, ranging from income inequality to more family-care related work absences and longer lifespans that can mean higher lifetime medical expenses. 

This year’s report builds on the findings from the previous report and discusses how millennial women are particularly impacted by the gender gap in financial wellness.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

5 ways a reverse mortgage can help your retirement

The old notion that reverse mortgages should only be taken out as a last resort simply is no longer true today. In fact, I believe there are five ways reverse mortgages can improve your retirement income plan.

First, a definition: A reverse mortgage is a way to convert home equity from your primary residence into a usable resource if you are at least 62. It is truly a mortgage in reverse. The lender provides a benefit based on the amount of equity you have in the home. Unlike a traditional mortgage, payback is optional. But you do need to make timely payments of property taxes and homeowners insurance.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

Three Ways To Save A Lot More For Retirement

Unlike the great American gymnast Simone Biles, you don’t need to do flying somersaults to be good at retirement savings. There are already tools available for what you need to do.

As the U.S. economy continues to improve, retirement savers are pumping more money into their long-term savings. Some 21 percent of Americans surveyed, according to a recent bankrate.com report, say they are saving more for retirement—the highest level over the past five years.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement  Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

You're Going to Work Well Into Your Retirement

Get used to working: you're going to have to do so for much longer than you'd imagined if you're ever going to retire.

As the folks at Bankrate.com discovered in a recent survey, 70% of non-retired Americans plan to work as long as possible during retirement. Only 25% say they have no plans to work during retirement. Of those who plan to work as long as possible during retirement, 38% are planning to work because they like to work, 35% need the money and 27% say it's a mix of both.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Top 7 hacks for saving more for retirement

Worrying about having enough retirement savings can keep you up at night. If you've barely put anything away, it's easy to panic or give up on saving altogether. But there's a third option: You can find ways to funnel a few extra bucks into your 401(k) account or your IRA. If you're ready to put more effort into saving, here are seven easy ways to fill your retirement accounts.

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Damian Sylvia 

Retirement Income Solutions 

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

Is your retirement ready for a natural disaster?

Retirement planning is most often defined as achieving financial security against a backdrop of long lazy days enjoying sun, sea and sand. Unfortunately, finances are only one element of safety and security in retirement. The recent torrential rains targeting the Gulf Coast, particularly Louisiana, have resulted in six deaths and nearly 20,000 people being rescued from the flood waters, putting weather-related disasters back in the news. If you are retired and such an unfortunate event happens, are you prepared?

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Quick Way to Give Your Retirement Portfolio a Midyear Checkup

Answer these three questions, and you'll be good to go.

Wimbledon is over, the All-Star game’s history and Brexit hysteria seems to be winding down. Which leaves you with a short window before the arrival of the next bigsummer event—the Olympic games—to perform a quick midyear checkup to ensure your retirement plan is on track. Answering these three key questions will allow you to do just that.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Millennials challenged by funding modern retirement

Today's 20-somethings face some challenging dilemmas when it comes to saving for retirement.

Not only must they fund their own retirements due to the near evaporation of company pensions, they also are saddled with more student-loan debt, stagnant wages and higher living expenses compared to a generation ago. And at the same time — in another departure from their parents' and grandparents' experience at the same age — they want to ... well, spend more time enjoying life.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Buying a Home With Retirement Savings: Pros and Cons

If you've been socking money away in a retirement account and are ready to buy a home, you could tap into that savings to boost your buying power. There are several ways to use retirement funds to put a down payment on a home.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Why You Should Have An Annuity In Your Retirement Plan

Annuities are a big business, both for advisors and the insurance companies and other channels who sell them. But just because there is money to be made selling annuity products, it doesn’t negate the benefits that consumers receive from these products as well. In an article for Main Street, Mark Henricks says that “Buying an Annuity Should be Part of Your Retirement Strategy.” From 2010 to 2015, individuals bought more than $1 trillion worth of annuities. 2015 was an especially good year for fixed indexed annuity products, one branch of the fixed annuity market. In addition to all of the individuals planning for retirement with annuity products, corporations are also buying annuities at record levels to lower the risks and costs associated with offering pension benefits.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How To Not Run Out Of Money In Retirement

Investing for retirement doesn't have to be hard. You read up on how to put together a diverse mix of low-cost index funds, bonds, etc. Then keep setting aside all you can into that retirement account. Easy.

But when you actually retire and start spending that money, that's like going from playing checkers to playing chess. It can get a lot harder.

Here's the big pickle: You don't want to run out of money. But how can you know how much it's safe to spend when you might live for another five years — or 25 years?

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

6 Ways to Fix Social Security’s Finances

The Social Security program currently has enough resources to pay out all promised benefits for nearly two decades. However, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is projected to be depleted in 2035. After that, the program expects to have enough tax revenue coming in to continue to provide about 77 percent of scheduled benefits. There are several Social Security tweaks that would correct the problem. A recent Government Accountability Office report examined several Social Security changes and how far they would go toward fixing Social Security's long-term projected deficit. Here's a look at how several potential Social Security solutions would change the system's finances.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

Want To Retire Early? 5 Reasons It May Not Happen For You

Many people seek our financial planning services to get a better handle on their over all financial situation and to better understand what they need to do to better meet their future goals.

A very common goal is to retire early and lead the “easy, good life”! Normal retirement age is defined by Social Security as the full retirement age for those born after 1960 would be age 67. Many of these folks are disappointed to learn that an early retirement may not be in their future and here are the 5 most common reasons:

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

 

 

Self-employed? Here’s How to Save for Retirement

Working for yourself comes with lots of perks: setting your own hours, your own dress code and your own workload. That’s probably part of the reason nearly a quarter of workers freelance, either full- or part-time. They make good money, too. Almost half earn six figures.

The downside is making up for all the benefits that employers typically provide. That means figuring out health care coverage (which at least is now easier — if not cheaper — than it was before Obamacare) and setting up retirement accounts.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

Two Philosophies of Retirement Income Planning

Within the world of retirement income planning, the siloed nature of financial services between investments and insurance leads to two opposing philosophies about how to build a retirement plan. There is an old saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. This tendency is alive as those on the investments side tend to view an investment portfolio as a solution for any problem, while those on the insurance side tend to view insurance products as the answer for any financial question.

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Damian Sylvia 

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755  

One in Three Americans Have Nothing Saved for Retirement

Nothing was more important to Winnie than her young children. The married mother of three took care of their needs but seldom took care of her own. As Winnie neared retirement, she divorced her spouse without a pension, 401-k or any significant savings. Because of an illness, she was forced to retire early and take reduced Social Security benefits. Her story is not uncommon.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How Your Social Security Benefit May Be Unfair

Are you happy with Social Security? If you are, bravo. If not, read this discussion of benefit calculations and get angry.

Don’t take my word for it that the payout formulas are screwy. Recently published comment from Eugene Steuerle, budget expert at Urban Institute:

“Social Security spousal and survivor benefits are so peculiarly designed that they would be judged illegal and discriminatory if private pension or retirement plans tried to implement them.”

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Saving for Retirement? The Rulebook Is About to Change

New rules aimed at stockbrokers will have enormous impacts on the way Americans save for retirement.

The rules aren’t coming from the government’s financial regulatory apparatus but from the Labor Department. This week, it is expected to release final regulations that will require brokers getting paid to provide investment guidance on a retirement account to act solely in the best interest of the investor.

Brokers’ recommendations to this point have only had to be “suitable”—a less rigorous standard that critics say has encouraged some advisers to charge excessive fees, favor investments that offer hidden commissions and recommend securities that can be difficult for investors to sell.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road 

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

How to Know if You’re Saving Enough for Retirement

As a financial planner, one of the most common questions I am asked is "How much money should I have saved?" or "How far behind am I in saving for retirement?" My answer? It depends.

There's no one size fits all solution when it comes to how much you should have stashed away for your retirement. What you need will differ from those around you. Here's how to track your progress toward saving for retirement:

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Damian J. Sylvia

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

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