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

 

The biggest surprises I found in retirement

What’s the biggest surprise about retirement?

I get that question a lot. I retired in September 2015 after 33 years with The Wall Street Journal, the final decade of which I spent editing, and writing for, Encore, the Journal’s guide to retirement planning and living. As such, I didn’t expect many, if any, surprises in my first year outside the office.

So much for expectations.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

The real reason many millennials aren’t saving for retirement

Millennials are oft-maligned as a flighty, entitled generation saddled with debt and too obsessed with food and travel to worry about saving for retirement. But that doesn’t match the reality.

Young people are just as likely — or even more likely — than other generations to sock their money away. And new research points to one major reason more 20- and 30-somethings aren’t creating a nest egg, even if they might want to.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

4 New Year's resolutions for retirement savers

Resolution no. 1: Don't cash out, or leave behind, your 401(k) — Roll it into your current plan

Lifetime participation in your employer-sponsored plan is the best way to save enough money for a comfortable retirement, which is why savers who cash out their 401(k) accounts at the point of job change are making a very costly mistake.

Our firm's proprietary research has found that a hypothetical 30-year-old who cashes out a $5,000 401(k) balance today will forfeit as much as $52,000 in lost earnings that he/she would have received by age 65 (assuming the account would grow 7% per year).

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Damian J. Sylvia

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Saving for retirement? Here’s what you need to do in 2016

With the stock markets notching their worst-ever start for a new year, what should folks saving for retirement and those living in retirement do in the coming year? Our experts offer some practical advice for retirees and preretirees about staying healthy, staying in the workforce and staying on top of Social Security policy.

Stay healthy, my friend. Susann Rohwedder, a senior economist at the RAND Corp. and the associate director of the RAND Center for the Study of Aging, said her research is revealing the importance of health as a driver of so many things, including the timing of retirement and economic resources in retirement; subjective well-being, that is satisfaction with life as a whole and several other domains of well-being, including experienced well-being; the risk of future health shocks; and life-expectancy.

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Damian J. Sylvia

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

The first retirement-planning question you need answered

As a Certified Financial Planner, there's one question I get asked more than any other: “Will I ever be able to retire?”

If you're feeling uncertain about this yourself, that's understandable. Financial markets seem to get more complex by the day, and a quick glance at the day's headlines show a global economy rife with question marks and seeming risk. The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a highly respected research outlet, recently released its latest survey on retirement confidence, and the results are bleak: overall retirement confidence is at record lows. So if you're concerned about how to prepare for your own retirement, you're not alone.

Luckily, there are a few things everyone can do to put themselves on a strong footing, and financial advisors can help with the biggest questions you may have.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Why you need a vacation from retirement

During our working years, few of us need any convincing to take a vacation. In retirement, however, it's not always clear that a vacation makes sense. That should change. In the time period following full-time work, vacations may be as necessary as they ever were, if not more.

Why take a vacation in retirement? After all, retirement is a vacation without end — or at least, that's how it's portrayed in magazines, brochures, financial advisory offices, and of course, in our own imaginations. Essentially, retirement is framed as time off for good behavior.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Don’t be too generous with your retirement cash

We hear a lot these days about the strains on the sandwich generation, those caught between the demands of their children and their aging parents. Yet a recent study suggests these intergenerational demands aren’t always equal: while children can strain middle-aged pocketbooks, aging parents generally don’t.

Indeed, older family members are more often on the giving end than on the receiving end of financial support, according to a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The goal with familial cash transfers is to make sure they’re based on math, not emotion, so they don’t endanger the giver’s near-term finances or retirement security, experts say.

Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road, 

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Have a plan when tailoring retirement draws to your income

Are you financially prepared for a 20-year retirement? How about replacing your income over a 30- or 40-year retirement?

The Social Security Administration estimates that the average 65-year-old woman today will live to age 86 and a 65-year-old man today will live to age 84. Also according to Social Security Administration projections, about 25% of today's 65-year-olds will live past 90, with approximately 10% living to be older than 95.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

Tontines: The retirement plan of the future?

Question: What is a tontine? How do tontines work? And, what’s the financial and economic thinking behind them?

Milevsky: A tontine can be thought of as an arrangement with some friends to purchase a very long-dated bond. You agree to split the coupons as they get paid, but (and this is the key) if one of the friends dies, the coupons get split among the survivors. So, people that live a long time end up getting (very) large coupons, at the expense of those who died earlier. The financial economic idea here is that it allows investors to earn mortality credits without requiring an insurance company to guarantee anything.

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

3 ways to get retirement ready in your 20s

As a 20-year-old, saving for retirement can easily fall to the bottom of the priorities list.

College graduates must focus on repaying their loans and paying rent wherever they may have moved for a career, although several would rather backpack and see the world before making their next career moves. Add to all of those ambitions potentially accrued debt and it could spell a recipe for disaster.

However, despite all of their immediate financial needs and responsibilities, 20-year-olds have the greatest opportunity to ensure a successful retirement if they start on the right path.

Continue reading source article on MarketWatch.com.

Damian Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions

3 key retirement numbers you need to know

Retirement means different things to each of us. As you consider your vision for retirement, there are three key numbers to keep in mind; you’ll want to discuss them with your financial adviser if you have one:

Your withdrawal rate

This could be your most important retirement number. Your withdrawal rate is the amount you will be taking out of your investment portfolio each year once you’re retired.

Continue reading at MarketWatch.com.

Damian J. Sylvia
Managing Partner
Retirement Income Solutions

How to pump up retirement income by as much as 30%

Worried you won’t have enough for a comfortable retirement? If you’re willing to spend down your assets, as well as take a few other steps, you could boost your annual income by perhaps 30%.

Imagine a couple, both 62 years old. We’ll keep things simple and assume there’s just one breadwinner—and we’ll be politically incorrect and assume it’s the husband. They claim Social Security right away, even though they can’t receive full benefits for another four years. He qualifies for $15,000 a year and his wife is eligible for spousal benefits worth $7,000.

Continue reading source article at MarketWatch.com. 

Damian Sylvia

Managing Partner

Retirement Income Solutions

5 Retirement Planning Items you Should Take Care of Now

I am amazed at how many people I meet who haven't prepared properly for their retirement, a time of life when you will go without earned income — potentially for decades.

Whether you are your own financial adviser, embarking on this project alone or you have procured the help of a professional adviser, there are numerous considerations you will need to address. All of them will take time to think through and give due consideration before making final decisions. 

Here are five important issues, often over looked, which will require your attention during your preplanning:

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Damian Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions