Is The Self-Driving Car In Your 401(k) Setting Your Portfolio Up For A Crash?

By Maggie McGrath and Janet Novack

Some day you may buy an autonomous vehicle. But first you’re likely to spend a good bit of time considering its cost, its safety and whether it fits your lifestyle and even the way you like to drive. Maybe you tend to speed, but the car is programmed to obey the law.

Target date funds are the self-driving cars of the retirement industry. If you’ve got one in your 401(k), do you know how much it’s costing you? How much risk it takes? How it synchs with your own investing preferences and life plans? If you can’t answer (or haven’t asked) those questions, you’ve got lots of company.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How Does Your Student Loan Debt Threaten Your Retirement?

What if members of working-age households had been burdened with the same level of student loan debt as students leaving college today?

That’s the question modeled by researchers in a new study that concludes significantly more households would be running the risk of not having enough income during retirement.

Researchers Alicia H. Munnell, Wenliang Hou and Anthony Webb at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College asked, “Will the Explosion of Student Debt Widen the Retirement Security Gap?”

The answer was a resounding yes. If working-age households had started out with today’s student loan debt levels, an index measuring the risk of not having enough income for retirement would now be at 56.2 percent, instead of 51.6 percent.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755 

Five Ways to Make Your Retirement Cash Last

Running out of money has got to be one of the worst fears of retirees. And with people living into their 10th and 11th decades, it’s going to get worse.

Now more than ever, you need to plan ahead to ensure that you won’t outlive your funds. That means saving as much as you can and not making mistakes that could scramble your nest egg.

Jane Bryant Quinn, who is a legend in my business, just published a book entitled How to Make Your Money Last. In keeping with her great writing on retirement over the past several decades, it goes right to the point on what you need to do.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

7 ways Millennials can get a jump-start on retirement planning

It’s quite fashionable these days to moralize about the shortcomings of the entire Millennial generation. And the latest fodder for critics is a recent survey by finance site HowMuch.net that shows more than 50% of those ages 18 to 34 have less than $1,000 in savings.

But before you wag a finger at those young whippersnappers, keep in mind the hard reality is that Americans of every age stink at saving. According to finance portal Go Banking Rates, 62% of all Americans have less than $1,000 saved.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

 

Targeting Pensions and Retirement Savings

This is a story to make you weep.

Several years ago a Portland, Oregon public schools retiree hired financial adviser Shayne Kniss to help him with retirement planning. The retiree would seem to have had no need for Mr. Kniss's services. He already had a guaranteed life pension coming from his years of public service. But Kniss talked him into cashing out the guaranteed pension and turning the resulting $729,000 into an investment account in his Iris Capital firm. Kniss confidently estimated 8-12% returns, which would have been higher than the guaranteed pension payments.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

How Married Couples Can Max Out Their Retirement Accounts

Married couples can often claim twice the retirement savings tax breaks of single people. Couples can also strategically save in their respective workplace retirement accounts to get the best possible employer contributions and investment options. Here's how to maximize the value of retirement accounts as a couple.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

3 Retirement Lifestyle Mistakes to Avoid

New retirees are often eager to vacation and enjoy some of the wealth they have been accumulating for decades. There can be a huge temptation to buy a vacation home or timeshare in a fun location, since you finally have time to relax. Some retirees also make large recreational purchases, such as a boat or RV. But expensive purchases at the beginning of retirement can turn out to be a big mistake that puts a strain on your finances for years to come. These three consumer trophies can quickly turn out to be landmines, and there are often other ways to achieve a similar experience for a lower cost.

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Damian J. Sylvia

Retirement Income Solutions

220 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755