The 4% Retirement Rule is DEAD   Have you heard of the 4% rule from a broker or financial advisor before?   For approximately two decades, retirees have often been advised that a 4 percent withdrawal rate from their savings would sustain them over the years – practically guaranteeing them that they would not run [...]

The IRS requires minimum amounts to be withdrawn annually starting at age 70 1/2 or the year in which he or she retires.  If the retirement plan account is an IRA or if he or she owns 5% of the business sponsoring the retirement plan,  one must take RMD’s at 70 1/2 regardless of retirement [...]

Most baby boomers haven’t considered where they want to live for retirement.  Most don’t really consider up and selling their homes and going somewhere new.  There are many reasons for it. I’ll site a personal example of this one.  I grew up in a historical home in the south, pillars in front, stone lions bracketing [...]

Life is short.  True, but it’s also long. Life seems short when you are having fun.  Retirement is about having fun and enjoying the golden years.  Having to do that with little or no money can be brutal.  You have to figure at age 60 (when most of us aspire to retire) , there are [...]

All this talk about retirement planning, baby boomers getting the worst of it, not planning properly, how to accumulate wealth, how to save etc etc etc..that’s the talk. That’s the main concern for 85% of the baby boomers out there about to go into retirement. Let’s look forward to those of you who have planned [...]

The IRS has placed guidelines for what, when, and how you can roll your qualified retirement plan.   This is a great resource on making your next step of retirement planning.  You can check the full FAQ at www.IRS.gov.   When should I roll over? If the distribution from the qualified plan or IRA is [...]

Oh what lessons do we learn?  The markets are great, people are feeling great about them, and why shouldn’t, you’re up.  Something tell me we’ve seen this before.  According to the numbers from The Chicago Financial planner, The S&P 500 peaked at 1,527 on May 24, 2000 and then dropped 49% until it bottomed out at [...]

Many feel that retirement is a time of stress free living where cares and inhibitions fade.  The truth is there are still many things will or could cause stress in retirement, being prepared will help ensure stress doesn’t throttle your golden years.   Will you have enough money?  Will your health hold up?  Will you [...]

As the market has been bullish recently and experiencing all-time highs, don’t get caught up in the rally and sway from your retirement plan.  According to a recent article in U.S. News and World Report there 5 keys to follow even in a bull market:       1)      Stay the course – Don’t let [...]

According to a survey conducted by LIMRA, the key age group is the 55-59 year old American population of pre-retirees (see table below).  The survey found that this group has 146 billion in annuity business and almost half of this group (48%) said they are interested in purchasing an annuity for guaranteed income.  The members [...]