Retirement 101
Not talking about retirement can cost you
Retirement and insurance calculators
Retirement finances 101
Being smart about pensions and annuities
Social Security
Retirement funds and issues
Reverse mortgages, pro and con
Retirement as a second act
Relationships and relationship styles in retirement
Traveling in retirement
Deciding where to retire
Downsizing and decluttering (getting rid of stuff)
Selling, donating, or recycling books
Estate, garage, and yard sales
Senior move managers and other moving specialists
Relationships and relationship styles in retirement
• These Couples Survived a Lot. Then Came Retirement. (Susan Dominus, New York Times Magazine, 5-5-24) For many relationships, life after work brings an unexpected set of challenges. Must reading, clearly. I am reading it the evening of the day it came out and there are already 1271 comments, responding to paragraphs like this:
"A life transition as significant as marrying or having children, retirement is a stage that many couples anticipate with little of the trepidation those earlier choices inspired. They look forward to it as a reward for years of hard work — a long vacation, full of agency and freedom, to enjoy as long as their bodies hold up. Yet retirement, like any major transition, often entails destabilizing shifts that take many people by surprise. Although it’s still rare for married couples over 60 to break up, the divorce rate is rising faster in that age group than in any other, as baby boomers accustomed to self-actualization reach retirement age and evaluate their lives anew."
• How Has Retirement Changed Your Relationship? (Susan Dominus, NY Times Magazine, 3-27-24) "We want to hear from you for a New York Times Magazine feature about how this transition can affect marriages and long-term relationships." This query clearly elicited a lot of responses, which helped make her article so eye-opening.
• Retirement and Your Relationship (Berkeley Retirement Center)
"Here are some things that we know, based on the small amount of research that does exist:
"Major life transitions, like retirement, typically involve a mixture of changes – in each person’s sense of themselves, in their roles, and in their relationships.
"Each of these changes, even those that are planned for and eagerly anticipated, involve unexpected losses and gains.
"Retirement may mean personal freedom, and at the same time loss of an important part of one’s identity.
"It may mean the shucking off of unwanted constraints, and also finding oneself in new and unsatisfying roles.
"All of these changes may lead to more time for the couple to be together and at the same time involve stress for the retiree, the partner, and the relationship between them."
These insights are followed by ideas about ways of easing the stresses that couples incur as one or both make transition to retirement.
• How Couples Can Avoid Annoying Each Other in Retirement (Robert Johnston, AARP, 6-13-23) Tips for creating separate spaces and respecting alone time. For example: Your partner cannot read your mind. It is OK to surrender control. Family responsibilities will evolve.
• How to Resolve Conflicts (Part 2): Marriage after Retirement (Dr. Bill & Joyce Harley, Marriage Builders)
• Rediscovering life and love in retirement: Navigating the ‘golden years’ together (Chrystal Fletcher, Police1, 12-4-23) From adjusting to new routines to supporting individual hobbies, retired law enforcement couples can thrive and find joy in this new phase of life. Among tips provided:
• Tips on keeping your marriage together in retirement (Kathy Kerr, The Globe and Mail, 8-9-22) Suzanne Kyra, a clinical counsellor at Kyra Consulting in Metro Vancouver, says it’s important for retirees to have social networks to keep the mind and body healthy. Many retirees lose key social connections when they stop working and have to work at building them up again.
“The greatest agony in relationships is isolation,” Ms. Kyra says. “You need that outside support and socialization.” "Retirement is also a time of personal reflection, and some couples may be at different stages of self-awareness, which can add stress to a relationship," Ms. Kyra says.
She recommends couples have open conversations about how they want to spend their time in retirement, both together and apart, and how that might affect the other person. For instance, one spouse may prefer to travel for a week or two, while the other prefers to stay home. She says both can have their way and strike the right balance in the relationship."
Not talking about retirement can cost you
• The Talk You Didn’t Have With Your Parents Could Cost You (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 5-24-13) Children may be reluctant to ask aging parents about their estate and financial affairs, but information shared can prevent confusion later. You "need to know much more than whether a will exists. Are there powers of attorney or advanced health care directives in place? What does their health insurance cover? Do they have life insurance? Have they made a list of every single account that they owe or collect money from?"
• When It Comes to Your Family and Retirement Planning, Silence Is Not Golden (Ken Dychtwald, Huffpost. 11-19-13). One study revealed that our two greatest retirement worries are to be broke and to be a burden. We should talk, but "'worry about causing family conflicts' is the top reason people give for not discussing important financial issues with family members." Thanks for many of the following links.
• How to talk to your spouse about retirement (Kerri Anne Renzulli, CNN Money, 9-25-13)
• Why traditional retirement is dead (Steve Vernon, CBS MarketWatch, 2-4-13) Statistics to give us pause.
• Losing Sleep for Fear of Becoming a Bag Lady (Silver Century Foundation) =
• Coordinating Retirement With Your Spouse (Emily Brandon, USNews Money, 6-19-12) Married couples don’t always agree on retirement timing or lifestyle
• Retiring to live near your loved ones? (Chris Farrell, NextAvenue, 9-4-15) When the Best Place to Retire Is Near Your Kid: The move can bring you joy, but first run the numbers
• Best Places to Retire: What the Latest Lists Say (Richard Eisenberg, NextAvenue, 3-23-15) Some of the Bankrate.com and Forbes choices will surprise you
• 10 best states for retirement (Corrie Hengst, BankRate
• 25 Best Places to Retire in 2015 (Forbes)
• The Homes Boomers Will Retire In (Richard Eisenberg, NextAvenue, reports on the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (BHGRE) survey
• How to Navigate Awkward Money Conversations at Your Family's Holiday Dinner (Matt Brownell, Daily Finance, 11-6-13)
• How to persuade an elderly relative to stop driving (Joe Blundo, Columbus Dispatch, 11-15-14). Sidebar: Signs that an elderly driver may not be safe driving
• Family retirement, inheritance conversations lost in translation (Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times, 11-14-12) “Whether it’s a parent facing a shortfall in retirement income or an adult child weighing the tax implications of an inheritance, too often discussing these issues is considered taboo within families, but real emotional and financial consequences emerge when such conversations don’t happen or lack sufficient depth,” Kathleen Murphy, Fidelity’s president of personal investing, said in a statement. On the topic of whether the children will care for the parents if they fall ill, 97% of nearly 1,000 people surveyed had opinions that conflicted with those of the other generation.
• Our financial smarts erode quickly after age 60 (Robert Powell, MarketWatch, 10-17-11)
• What to Ask About Your Retirement (Sarah Childress, PBS, 4-23-13)
• omer Tsunami: Face your tomorrow here, now ( (Judy Steed, The Star, 4-20-09). Boomers will once again be "transformative" as we age – our demographic clout is so massive that we change society as we move through the stages of life – but not soon enough to benefit ourselves, says gerontologist Robert Butler. The "future belongs those who prepare for it." Don't be afraid of looking ahead, he says; make plans and figure out your best approach to "the big transition."
• What to do when parents lose their money minds (Elizabeth O'Brien, MarketWatch 3-26-13)
• More NY Times stories on retirement planning.
• Neighbor Writes Colton, from Neighbor, "Many people know us as the "Airbnb of storage" because we allow anyone with extra storage space to list the availability of their garage, parking spot, warehouse, shed, or empty closet as available for storage. This way, people can generate a passive income by just storing their neighbors' stuff."
Retirement and insurance calculators
• AARP Retirement Calculator (free)
• T. Rowe Price's Retirement Income Calculator
• Calculating your Social Security benefits
• Ballpark Estimate (free, Employee Benefit Research Institute)
• Fidelity's myPlan Snapshot
• Financial Engines (available free through Vanguard to participating 401(k) plans and to retail clients with $50,000 or more in Vanguard assets
• Savings and real estate calculators and tools from CNNMoney.com
• Immediate Annuities. "We're not crazy about variable annuities, which often come with steep fees and are very difficult to compare for shopping purposes," says Tobie Stanger. "But a fixed immediate annuity may be a reasonable purchase." Immediate Annuities is helpful for calculating those. See It takes work to plan a successful retirement (Herb Weisbaum, Today Money, 4-11-13)
• Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator (Subsidy Calculator) (Kaiser Family Foundation) provides estimates of health insurance premiums and subsidies for people purchasing insurance on their own in health insurance exchanges (or “Marketplaces”) created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With this calculator, you can enter your income, age, and family size to estimate your eligibility for subsidies and how much you could spend on health insurance. You can also use this tool to estimate your eligibility for Medicaid. Here's an explanation of how it works (KFF)
• AARP Health Cost Calculator, as described by Ann Carrns (NY Times, 11-20-13)
• Car insurance calculators
Retirement Finances 101
What you need to know about retirement funds and how much you need to save for retirement
When should you talk with your family about the big picture, financially? Will your money last? Are you covered in case of severe health problems? How will you share what's left of your estate?
• Retiring on a Shoestring (Debbie L. Miller, Next Avenue, 7-26-19) How one couple is doing it, and what financial advisers suggest.
• Types of Retirement Plans (U.S. Department of Labor, ) The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. Scroll down and click on links to U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) explanations/Q&As on specific questions/issues/topics, including
---Simple IRA Plans for Small Businesses
---SEP Retirement Plans for Small Businesses
---What You Should Know About Your Retirement Plan
---Your Employer's Bankruptcy – How Will It Affect Your Employee Benefits?
---QDROs: The Division of Retirement Benefits Through Qualified Domestic Relations Order.
• Retire Inequality (TIAA) It's time to retire inequality for good. 50% of black Americans don't have enough savings to retire. "There’s a retirement crisis in America, and it’s left hardworking Americans unable to retire securely. As a retirement institution, we’re on a mission to #RetireInequality. So in addition to closing the 30% gender retirement gap, we’re also focused on the 54% of Black Americans who, due to a system of inequities, don’t have enough savings to retire."
• The Center for American Progress (CAP) 3/30/22 article “The Economic, Educational and Health-Related Costs of Being a Woman” calculated how the gender wage gap could affect women’s retirement savings. Women earn an estimated 83 cents for every dollar earned by men, adding up to $10,435 in median wages a year. By the end of her career, a full-time working woman loses $417,400 in wages. Assuming a 6% annual rate of return, investing 20% of those earnings could yield an additional $323,000 in retirement savings. Investing the total sum could boost retirement savings by $1.6 million.
• Equifax’s Instructions Are Confusing. Here’s What to Do Now. (Ron Lieber, NY Times, 9-8-17). And the sidebar: How to Protect Your Information Online
• Retirement Hacks The latest Retirement Hacks columns from MarketWatch.
• You have more access to your 401(k) than you think — and that’s not always a good thing (Alicia H. Munnell, MarketWatch, 1-11-22) When it makes sense to dip into your retirement account — and when it doesn’t
• Can The Best Financial Tips Fit On An Index Card? (Chris Arnold, Morning Edition, NPR, 1-8-16)
• Friends Talk Money podcast Every week Pam Krueger, Terry Savage, and Richard Eisenberg discuss a different piece of the retirement pie. Everything from Social Security and Medicare to investing and cash flow management is on the table, with practical, common-sense advice on how to deal with these and other challenges.
• Talking Personal Finance with Helaine Olen: Parts 1 and 2 (Harold Pollack, The Reality-Based Community, 4-27-13) "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."
• The Retirement Gamble (Frontline, 4-23-13) Links to many pieces, including: A New Retirement Rule Aims to Put Customers Before Advisors (4-6-16); John Bogle: The "Train Wreck" Awaiting American Retirement (4-23-13); Five Moments That Shaped the 401(k) (4-23-13)
• When Brokers Want to Move Your Money Out of a Very Good Thing (Ron Lieber, Your Money, NY Times, 8-4-17) Everyone should have a retirement plan as good as the Thrift Savings Plan that federal workers use. Here’s what happened when outside advisers tried to pry money loose. That story starts: So far this year, here’s what our friends in the federal government [our Republican Congress] have done for — and to — citizens who hope to find simple ways to save enough money for retirement without anyone robbing them blind:
■ Continued a yearslong fight against a rule that requires many retirement advisers to act in their clients’ best interests.
■ Reversed a rule that would have made it easier for states to create retirement savings plans for people who don’t have one at work.
■ Abandoned a new federal program to help lower-income savers, young ones in particular.
And this is a story about why those rules and safeguards are important -- how some federal employees with an excellent retirement savings plan got rooked into moving to an expensive variable annuities. "Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America, said that the move to expensive annuities would have violated a 'best interest' standard. She also noted that rules affect the norms of behavior, which means that the brokers might not have even bothered trying to approach the Thrift Savings Plan participants with such offerings if a fiduciary rule standard had been in effect."
• The 21 Questions You’re Going to Need to Ask About Investment Fees (Ron Lieber, NY Times, 2-10-17) “The fiduciary rule ultimately comes down to the fact that some people are making a lot of money at the expense of other people who have no idea how much their adviser is getting paid,” Mr. Dunston said
• Broker Check, a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms
• Financial Well-Being: The Best Information I Ever Got From an Adviser (Nancy McKeon, My Little Bird, 6-26-17)
• Does Your Stockbroker Draw Complaints? Here’s How to Find Out (Ron Lieber, NY Times, 4-9-16)
• 7 Essential Money Questions Sure to Start a Conversation (Ron Lieber, Your Money, NY Times, 8-26-16) What lessons about money did you learn from your parents? What does the word “money” conjure up for you? How many children would you like to have when you retire? Tell me about your financial situation when you first met. What are the most important things in your life? (How would you live your life differently if you were completely secure financially? What would you change if you knew you only had five to 10 years left to live? And what would you regret if you knew you would die tomorrow?) What does the prospect of retirement look like to you?
• What’s the magic number for your retirement savings? (Sharon Epperson, CNBC, Feb 2016) To be financially ready to retire by age 67, says Fidelity Investments — the nation's largest retirement-plan provider — you should aim to have 10 times your final salary in savings.
• How to win at retirement savings (Ron Lieber, NY Times)
• Before You Pay For Financial Advice, Read This Guide (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 6-18-17)
• Here's how much the average American family has saved for retirement (Kathleen Elkins, CNBC, 9-12-16) How how much has the average American family saved up? According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) , the mean retirement savings of all families is $95,776. But "nearly half of families have no retirement account savings at all," reported EPI. "The median for all families in the U.S. is just $5,000, and the median for families with some savings is $60,000." When it comes to retirement, the rich get richer and the poor barely scrape by, the EPI reported.
• Consumer tools and tutorials (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB) Answers questions about auto loans, bank accounts and services, credit cards, credit reports and scores, debt collection, families and money, money transfers, mortgages, payday loans, prepaid cards, and student loans. See its excellent, informative set of money-related Q&As for older Americans.
• Are You on the Right Track for Retirement? (Consumer Reports, 11-22-16) Read about four free tools to help you plan your retirement.
• Avoid These Common and Costly Senior Scams (Consumer Reports, 11-22-16)
• The triple-whammy facing women in retirement (Aimee Picchi, MoneyWatch, CBS, 10-18-16) In old age, women are more likely than men to live in poverty owing to a lifetime of accumulated disadvantages such as the gender pay gap (when women are paid less than men for doing the same job), according to a study from Financial Finesse. A woman who chooses a mid-career break may end up with a retirement savings shortfall of $1.1 million, the study found.
• ‘What if You Weren’t Afraid?’ and 4 More Money Questions From Readers (Ron Lieber, NY Times, 9-2-16) Where are we staying in Florida? Can you accept the fact that we can’t live the same life that you do? What would you do if you weren’t afraid? What good is having a lot in the bank if you’ve never let yourself live? What is the most satisfying thing you’ve spent money on?
• "The Retirement Gamble" Facing Us All (Martin Smith, important Frontline article, 4-23-13) "Big banks, brokerages, insurance companies and other financial service providers operate under something called a suitability standard — which says they don’t have to give you the best advice, just advice that isn’t too egregiously terrible. You’ll get lots of advice, but chances are it won’t be worth much. Eighty five percent of all financial advisers and financial planners are really just brokers or salesman. Their incentive is to sell you a product that makes them a higher commission, not necessarily a product that maximizes your chances of saving more. Only 15 percent of advisers are 'fiduciaries' — advisers who by law must operate with your best interests in mind."
• 6 Financial Decisions That Could Haunt You in Retirement (Stacy Rapacon, AARP, 6-22-2020) Worth reading for explanations of warnings against these six strategies: Skimping on saving, avoiding the stock market, spoiling your kids (prioritize your retirement over their education), missing out on a Roth, ignoring long-term care, buying a timeshare.
• How Do You Know Which Financial Adviser to Trust? (Jason M. Breslow, article for Frontlline, 5-9-13). "Much of the trouble with the retirement system is that most financial advisers are not bound by law to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. In other words, they are not fiduciaries." And the Labor Department's efforts to reform the industry are facing great resistance.
• How to Think About Risk in Retirement (William J. Bernstein, WSJ, 11-30-14) The Best Way to Guard Against Your Greatest Risk: Running Out of Money
• Live Long And Prosper: Reviving An Idea For Income In Old Age (Uri Berliner, All Things Considered, 11-27-15) Some financial experts want to bring back the tontine, a tool to help people plan for retirement. For centuries it was used to build bridges and fancy meeting halls and to provide people with income in their old age. "That is, before it was undone by fraud and ghoulish portrayals in popular culture."
• In Retirement, a Life of Inexpensive Leisure (Glenn Ruffenach, WSJ, 11-3014) A Study Finds Retirees Spend Much Time on Activities That Won’t Deplete the Nest Egg
• Planning for Retirement? Don’t Forget Health Care Costs
• Economist sounds warning on realities of work, retirement (Deirdre Fernandes, Boston Globe, 11-30-14) "[R]etirement security in the 21st century means working longer, saving more, and passing fewer assets on to heirs."
• An all-American recipe for a retirement disaster (Aimee Picchi, MoneyWatch, CBS, 10-29-14) "Keeping investments in cash or cash-related products in today's low-interest rate environment means that many Americans are losing out on potential returns."
• What's the difference between a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan? (CNN Ultimate guide to retirement)
• Should I Choose a Traditional or Roth IRA? (Miriam Caldwell, About Money)
• How To Rollover Your 401(k) (Miriam Caldwell, About Money)
• The Special Challenges of Retiring From a Business You Own (Tim Gray, NY Times, 7-25-14) "Preparing to hand your company to your children can create ... worries about financial security, the legacy of your life’s work and the prospects for your offspring. The process can touch everything from spreadsheet-driven company valuations to awkward talks about your children’s limitations. It can demand the technical knowledge of a C.P.A. and the soft skills of a psychologist." Stories of how some retiring parents handled the problem.
• Retirement Plans – Understanding the Basics (Oct.2014), from Women's Institute For A Secure Retirement (WISER) Improving the long-term financial security of all women through education and advocacy.
• The psychology of retirement saving (Eric Rosenbaum, CNBC.com, 3-18-14)
• Thinking Of Retiring? Consider Your Health (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 3-25-14) . Listen online or read transcript.
• Inexpensive Advice for Index and Exchange-Traded Fund Investments (NY Times, 8-22-14) These companies offer help picking and rebalancing index and exchange-traded funds or similar investments, and none charge more than about 0.5 percent of your assets each year for the privilege.
• Never Too Late: More Older Adults Sold On Entrepreneurship (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 4-1-14). Listen online or read transcript.
• How to Financially Protect Your Spouse (Jane Bryant Quinn, AARP Bulletin, June 2014) Faced with decisions about pension benefits? Shortsighted choices now can cause harm in the future.
• IRS 401(k) ruling aims to boost retirement income (Anne Tergesen, Market Watch, 10-29-14) New rules nudge older savers to consider annuities
• Retirement’s changing expectations (Michelle Singletary, Washington Post 11-18-14) "...people without a defined contribution plan such as a 401(k) or a defined benefit plan such as a pension had larger differences between expected and actual retirement" than people who had such plans.
• Brightscope (a 401K rating and information company). Check out Financial Q&A's, Ratings of corporate and government 401k, 403b and 457 retirement plans, and News stories.
• FAQs About Cash Balance Pension Plans (U.S. Dept. of Labor)
• How to go 40 years without a paycheck (Joe Lucey, MarketWatch, 7-7-14) Here's a sobering statistic from the Employee Benefit Research Institute to consider: 44% of all early boomer households are likely to run short of money in retirement. In fact, Allianz Life completed a study which found that 61% of respondents were more scared of outliving their assets than they were of dying.
• The Elephant In The Room When It Comes to Family and Retirement (Ken Dychtwald, Huffpost. 11-18-13). The hopes and dreams of today's pre-retirees and retirees are increasingly complicated by three converging family-related trends: We don't retire from parenthood; extended lives means extended needs; and we are stretched and stressed, balancing the trade-offs of our own financial security with the well-being of our kids, parents and siblings. Based on (you can download:) Family & Retirement: The Elephant in the Room (report from a Merrill Lynch retirement study done in partnership with Age Wave)
• The Real Reason for Pensions (Vauhini Vara, Currency, New Yorker, 12-4-13)
• States and cities grapple with cuts to pensions that workers have already earned (Judy Woodruff interviews several people, PBS NewsHour 12-4-13). Transcript.
• Retirement mistakes people make at every age (Jonnelle Marte, Washington Post, 8-25-14). See also Why your baby needs a retirement account
• The Creepy Truth About Life Settlements (Dan Kadlec, Money, 11-5-14) Selling your life insurance policy is right up there with taking out a reverse mortgage when it comes to retirement income sources that most people would be better off not tapping. Kadlec discusses the risks, and better options.
• Should you pay off your mortgage when retiring? (Rodney Brooks, USA Today, 11-4-14)
• Why you shouldn’t use retirement savings to pay off debt (Jonnelle Marte, Washington Post)
• Getting Personal (Ed McCarthy, Getting Personal, ThinkAdvisor 5-1-07). An estate plan should include stocks, bonds—and a life story.
• Money Matters: Estate Planning Checklist (Paddy Hirsch, MarketPlace)
• Retirement today: For many, even former corporate professionals, it’s not happening ( Carol Hymowitz, NY Times, 9-27-13). At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, the 77-year-old former vice president of marketing for Oral-B juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator at Sam’s Club, the other flipping burgers at a golf club grill for slightly more than minimum wage.
• Identity theft and the top 12 tax scams of 2013 ( Peter O'Dowd, Marketplace Morning Report 5-15-13)
• The move to assisted living: Navigating the fine line between money and emotions (Liyna Anwar, Marketplace Money, 7-13-12)
• Fees for 401(k) retirement plans are higher at small companies (Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 9-9-13) Large firms are able to spread record-keeping and other fixed expenses over a larger base of employees.
• Quiz: How much do you know about mortgages? (E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times, 11-26-12)
• As boomers age, say goodbye to 3% growth (Matthew Heimer, MarketWatch, 9-10-13)
Being smart about pensions and annuities
• The New Rules of Retirement Planning (Tobie Stanger, Consumer Reports, 2-19-17) Everything you thought you knew about retirement has changed. Take our quiz to better prepare for your later years.
• Companies are racing to dump their pension plans (Jennifer A. Kingson, Axios, 8-7-19) What's happening, why it matters, and where you may be at risk.
• Annuities. CNN Money's Ultimate guide to retirement
• 5 key differences between Roth and traditional IRAs (Lorie Konish, CNBC, 1-16-18) Traditional individual retirement accounts, which are funded with pretax money, and Roth IRAs, which are funded with post-tax money, have different rules for retirement savers. IRA expert Ed Slott breaks down what you need to know.
• Will your pension be there when you need it? (Michelle Singletary, Washington Post, 2-20-17)
• Pension Rights Center. Look around this site, which may offer advice you didn't know you needed.
• Pension Help America Have a question about your retirement plan? Not sure where to turn for help? PensionHelp America can connect you with counseling projects, government agencies, and legal service providers that offer free information and assistance.
• Pension plan basics (Investopedia)
• Answers to Questions About 403(b) Plans (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 10-21-16) What are they? And who uses them? Why do they exist? Who regulates them?
• The Monk Who Left the Monastery to Fix Broken Retirement Plans (Ron Lieber, NY Times, 6-9-17) When colleagues came to Doug Lynam with small balances in expensive 403(b) plans, he decided that his true calling was in finance--as a "suffering prevention specialist." His professional conversations now feel a lot like confession, he says, with people sharing stories of unpaid debts, betrayals and sure things that were far from it. He listens, and then he must hold the mirror up to those who may not want to see the truth.
• Think Your Retirement Plan Is Bad? Talk to a Teacher (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 10-23-16) "Most Americans who save for retirement at work have 401(k) plans, which are generally offered by companies and must by law provide a mix of prudent investment options. But millions of Americans — public school teachers, clergy members, employees of religious institutions or nonprofits, and some charities — are not offered 401(k)’s. Instead they typically must rely on what are known as 403(b) plans, many of which are more lightly regulated." While some school districts and states have begun vetting plans for public school employees, most teachers must still sort through a bewildering list on their own. “What makes me the most angry is that public school employees are not protected the same as their private sector counterparts.”
• Even Math Teachers Are at a Loss to Understand Annuities (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 10-28-16) "Annuities can be hard to fully grasp even in their simplest configuration, where you hand a pile of money to an insurance company, then receive a guaranteed stream of annual income for life. But schoolteachers and other people doing good works are often" being sold a bill of goods, their money tied up in annuities they do not understand.
• An Annuity for the Teacher — and the Broker (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 10-27-16) “People who are in the schools pitching them and positioning themselves as retirement specialists are really there just to sell them one product.” The brokers are doing well; the teachers are not, and are beginning to look elsewhere for advice.
• A Roth 401(k) Could Make a Difference in Retirement (Carla Fried, Consumer Reports, 7-26-16) New study shows that Roths aren't just for younger Americans
• An HSA Can Help You Save for Retirement (Carla Fried, Consumer Reports, 5-4-16) The Health Savings Account offers a triple tax benefit
Retirement funds and issues
When should you talk with your family about the big picture, financially? Will your money last? Are you covered in case of severe health problems? How will you share what's left of your estate?
• Types of Retirement Plans (IRS, aka Internal Revenue Service) Broadly these include Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SIMPLE IRA Plans, SEP Plans, 401(k) Plans.
Briefly explained (click on links here):
Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)
Roth IRAs 401(k) Plans
SIMPLE 401(k) Plans
403(b) Plans
SIMPLE IRA Plans (Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees)
SEP Plans (Simplified Employee Pension)
SARSEP Plans (Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Pension)
Payroll Deduction
IRAs
Profit-Sharing Plans
Defined Benefit Plans
Money Purchase Plans Employee
Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
Governmental Plans 457 Plans
Multiple Employer Plans
Click on links here to look up more information on any of those types of retirement plans.
• Help with Choosing a Retirement Plan (IRS)
• Types of Retirement Plans (U.S. Department of Labor)
• What You Should Know About Your Retirement Plan (U.S. Dept. of Labor)
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures and guarantees private sector workers' pensions. See also A-Z index of U.S. government departments and agencies
• Your Employer's Bankruptcy – How Will It Affect Your Employee Benefits? (U.S.Dept. of Labor Fact Sheet)
• Are Credit Unions FDIC insured by the government? (NCUA) No, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) only insures deposits in banks. Credit unions have their own insurance fund, run by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
•Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About the CARES Act and RMDs (Bob Carlson, Forbes, 4-24-2020) Congress recently suspended required minimum distributions (RMDs) from IRAs and other retirement accounts. While helpful to many retirees and others, the change also caused some confusion. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act suspended, or waived, all RMDs due in 2020. This is very similar to the provision enacted in 2009 during the financial crisis. Questions about those RMDs answered in this piece.
• New Spending Bill Makes It Easier for Americans Saving for Retirement (Tara Siegel Bernard,NY Times, 12-20-22) Several provisions in the spending bill outline new ways employers can help workers save for retirement. Many of the policy changes will extend help to Americans who can already afford to save or have access to workplace plans. But lower- and middle-income workers will receive a new benefit that amounts to a matching contribution — up to $1,000 per person — from the federal government. Another provision will make it easier for part-time workers to enroll in workplace retirement plans.
• Is My Money Safe? Here’s What Is Covered, and How You Can Do More. (Ron Lieber and Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 3-13-23) The F.D.I.C. and other entities will protect most people’s bank and brokerage balances. But it’s as good a time as any for consumers to create other backstops.
• Who Can Be Trusted for Retirement Advice? New Rules Strengthen Protections. (Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times, 4-23-24) More investment professionals will be required to act in their customers’ best interest when providing advice about their retirement money. Starting Sept. 23, 2024, investment professionals who hold themselves out as trusted advisers will be required to act as fiduciaries — that is, they can’t place their interests ahead of the investor — when customers pay them for advice on individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and similar buckets of tax-advantaged dollars.
• IBM Reopens Its Frozen Pension Plan, Saving the Company Millions (Jeff Sommer, Strategies, NY Times 2-9-24) Last month, IBM thawed out a defined benefit pension plan that it had frozen more than 15 years ago. The company has also stopped making contributions into employee 401(k) accounts, and instead gives workers cash credits in a new version of its old pension plan. IBM’s new pension plan isn’t nearly as generous to long-tenured employees as a simple return to the classic cradle-to-grave benefits system would have been. The move has real advantages for some people who work at IBM, particularly those who put little or no money of their own into 401(k)s and who stay at the company for a relatively short while. "Crucially, IBM’s maneuver is likely to be wonderful for its shareholders. The company is saving hundreds of millions of dollars a year by stopping contributions to employee 401(k) accounts. And it doesn’t need to put any money into the pension plan this year — and, probably, for the next few years — because it has plenty of money already in it."
• I.R.A. Rules Have Changed, and Heirs Need to Pay Attention A change in the law confers a few new benefits — but the regulations are tricky. "If you’re fortunate enough to own or inherit an I.R.A., there are some new rules you’ll want to know about. They are part of the Secure Act — short for the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, which Congress passed last year. The law made dozens of changes in rules for retirement plans, including tweaks aimed at helping people save more of a nest egg.The law, for instance, did away with the deadline for contributing to an individual retirement account....Now, heirs have just 10 years to drain an account." Details in the article.
• "The Retirement Gamble" Facing Us All (Martin Smith, important Frontline article, 4-23-13) "Big banks, brokerages, insurance companies and other financial service providers operate under something called a suitability standard — which says they don’t have to give you the best advice, just advice that isn’t too egregiously terrible. You’ll get lots of advice, but chances are it won’t be worth much. Eighty five percent of all financial advisers and financial planners are really just brokers or salesman. Their incentive is to sell you a product that makes them a higher commission, not necessarily a product that maximizes your chances of saving more. Only 15 percent of advisers are 'fiduciaries' — advisers who by law must operate with your best interests in mind."
• America’s public-sector pension schemes are trillions of dollars short (The Economist, 11-14-19) Police officers, teachers and other public workers face a brutal reckoning. See also Public pensions are woefully underfunded (The Economist 11-16-19) America’s multi-trillion dollar pension hole. The crunch point is coming soon.
• How Much Does Wall Street Charge To Manage New Mexico's Retirement Money? (David Sirota, Josh Keefe, and Lydia O'Neal, International Business Times, 9-27-17) "Since 2013, New Mexico taxpayers have paid at least $14.3 million — or nearly $9,000 a day — to nine financial firms whose donors helped bankroll Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s political apparatus, according to state records obtained by International Business Times....Those firms also receive performance fees, which can total up to 20 percent of the returns on an investment. But the New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (NMERB), like many pension funds, refuses to disclose the performance fees it pays to investors, despite the fact those investors are managing billions in public money — obscuring what one expert said could be a 50 percent larger total payout."
• The Greatest Retirement Crisis In American History (Edward Siedle, Forbes, 3-20-13) "In the decades to come, we will witness millions of elderly Americans, the Baby Boomers and others, slipping into poverty. Too frail to work, too poor to retire will become the “new normal” for many elderly Americans....Corporate America and the financial wizards behind the past three decades of so-called retirement innovations, most notably titans of the pension benefits consulting and mutual fund 401(k) industries, are down-playing just how bad things are already and how much worse they are going to get....Americans today are aware that corporate pensions have been virtually eliminated and that the few remaining private, as well as the nation’s public pensions, are in jeopardy. Even if you are among the lucky few that have a pension, you cannot rest assured that it will be there for all the years you’ll need it. Whether you know it or not, someone is busy trying to figure how to screw you out of your pension." The crisis will come in waves.
• A Day of Reckoning for Public Pensions: The Bills are Due, the Coffers are Empty (Elaine Chao, The Heritage Foundation, 10-1-10) "According to a study by the Pew Center, state and local governments today face at least $1 trillion of unfunded pension promises....Private sector pensions are required by federal law (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) to conform to certain minimum pension funding rules. These rules require more accurate measurement of pension liabilities and assets and prevent companies with significantly underfunded pension plans from making new promises they can’t afford to keep. State and local government plans are not subject to these federal laws, and many failed to take it upon themselves to responsibly ensure that they would be able to make good on their promises....Government at all levels has kicked the fiscal can down the road for far too long. Where public pensions are concerned, many jurisdictions are running out of road."
• Study Finds Public Pension Promises Exceed Ability to Pay (Mary Williams Walsh, NY Times, 3-17-16) "For years there have been frequent reports of pension systems rife with pay-to-play deals, improper payouts, overly risky investment strategies and other problems. But the Citigroup researchers looked beyond such scandals and depicted the worldwide accumulation of giant, invisible pension obligations as a matter of simple demographics. Most developed countries had baby booms after World War II, and their populations are now aging and enjoying significant gains in health and longevity. Those favorable demographics made it seem that government pension systems could operate forever with minimal funding — or in many cases, no funding at all. Now that is changing as populations age in many places, and the Citigroup report said the numbers no longer work. More and more retirees are receiving benefit payments every month, straining retirement systems even when the individual amounts paid are modest. And now there are relatively fewer younger workers generating the revenue that is supposed to support those systems."
• Thanks to Congress, these pension plans could severely cut retiree benefits (Michael Fletcher, Wonkblog, Washington Post, 1-28-15) "Congress passed legislation last month allowing certain financially distressed pension plans to cut benefits for current retirees....The law applied only to multi-employer plans, pooled retirement funds that support the pensions of unionized workers, many of whom are solidly working class. They include truckers, miners, supermarket clerks, custodians and construction workers."
• Live Long and Prosper? Insurance Might Help (John F. Wasik, NY Times, 3-11-15) With longevity insurance, you pay a "lump-sum premium at an earlier age, then collect predetermined monthly payments beginning at age 80 through 85." You "weigh the trade-off of tying up your money with the fact that you (or your heirs) could lose what you invested if you die before taking payments." "You are essentially making a bet that you will live long enough to need the money and that your portfolio will come up short."
• The Case of the Missing Pension (Carol Matlack, Bloomberg Business, 3-24-16) Tracking down a plan from a former employer can be difficult, but Matlack did find hers. Unclaimed U.S. pension benefits may total as much as $8 billion annually. Abandoned 401(k)s leave billions more in limbo.
• Unclaimed Money from the Government (an immensely helpful federal U.S. website). Does this apply to you? You never know. Let's say you tuck some money in a savings account, and then forget it or somehow lose track of it. Most states have some kind of regulation saying that if an account is inactive for a year or two (it varies by state)--meaning, you don't go online to check it out, or you don't deposit or withdraw money over a certain period--the financial institution is required to turn the money over to the state. It is surprisingly easy to forget that you have an account if you have several, and if you want to check to be sure, this is the website to go to. The government provides a great array of search sites and options. And if you head into dementia or mere aging forgetfulness, a young friend or relative might do some searches for you.
• Congressional leaders hammer out deal to allow pension plans to cut retiree benefits (Michael A. Fletcer, Washington Post, 12-9-14). A measure that would for the first time allow the benefits of current retirees to be severely cut is set to be attached to a massive spending bill, part of an effort to save some of the nation’s most distressed pension plans.
• After the new federal pension rules: What retirees need to know (Mark Miller, Reuters, 12-10-14). See also Pension cuts helped keep the government open, but they hurt many retired women (Joann Weiner, Washington Post, She The People, 12-18-14). Women: This piece is worth reading even if your pension isn't affected.
• Do you pay 401(k) fees? Here’s what the average American loses on retirement savings (Megan Leonhardt, CNBC/USA Today, Money, 7-22-19) “A 401(k)s is a very powerful way to save for retirement, but you really should understand all the underlying fees and expenses as you save for retirement and make sure you’re getting the most for your money,” says a TD Ameritrade manager. If you’re worried your 401(k) fees are too high, there are things to do to bring them down.
• Brightscope (a 401K rating and information company). Check out Financial Q&A's, Ratings of corporate and government 401k, 403b and 457 retirement plans, and News stories.
• The Retirement Readiness Challenge:Five Ways Employers Can Improve Their 401(k)s (Catherine Collinson, White Paper, Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, Dec. 2014) The TCRS annual survey found that many employers recognize
the value of offering retirement benefits; 95% employers that offer a 401(k) or similar plan agree that their employees are satisfied with the retirement plan their company offers; but only 80 percent of workers offered such a plan agree that they are satisfied with their employers’ plans.
• What's the difference between a defined benefit plan and a defined contribution plan? (CNN Ultimate guide to retirement)
• Best Cities for Successful Aging (The Milken Report)
• Should I Choose a Traditional or Roth IRA? (Miriam Caldwell, About Money)
• 11 Mistakes to Avoid With Your Roth IRA (Lita Epstein, Investopedia, 9-27-19) Don't lose tax-free benefits by contributing too much or other errors. Exceeding the Roth IRA contribution limit will result in a yearly 6% penalty on the excess. Other bad moves include not naming beneficiaries and not taking distributions if you inherit a Roth IRA.
• How To Rollover Your 401(k) (Miriam Caldwell, About Money)
• The Special Challenges of Retiring From a Business You Own (Tim Gray, NY Times, 7-25-14) "Preparing to hand your company to your children can create ... worries about financial security, the legacy of your life’s work and the prospects for your offspring. The process can touch everything from spreadsheet-driven company valuations to awkward talks about your children’s limitations. It can demand the technical knowledge of a C.P.A. and the soft skills of a psychologist." Stories of how some retiring parents handled the problem, with entries such as Retirement Plans – Understanding the Basics (Oct.2014), from Women's Institute For A Secure Retirement (WISER) Improving the long-term financial security of all women through education and advocacy.
• The psychology of retirement saving (Eric Rosenbaum, CNBC.com, 3-18-14)
• Thinking Of Retiring? Consider Your Health (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 3-25-14) . Listen online or read transcript.
• Never Too Late: More Older Adults Sold On Entrepreneurship (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 4-1-14). Listen online or read transcript.
• How to Financially Protect Your Spouse (Jane Bryant Quinn, AARP Bulletin, June 2014) Faced with decisions about pension benefits? Shortsighted choices now can cause harm in the future.
• Retirement’s changing expectations (Michelle Singletary, Washington Post 11-18-14) "...people without a defined contribution plan such as a 401(k) or a defined benefit plan such as a pension had larger differences between expected and actual retirement" than people who had such plans.
• FAQs About Cash Balance Pension Plans (U.S. Dept. of Labor)
• How to go 40 years without a paycheck (Joe Lucey, MarketWatch, 7-7-14) Here's a sobering statistic from the Employee Benefit Research Institute to consider: 44% of all early boomer households are likely to run short of money in retirement. In fact, Allianz Life completed a study which found that 61% of respondents were more scared of outliving their assets than they were of dying.
• The Elephant In The Room When It Comes to Family and Retirement (Ken Dychtwald, Huffpost, 11-18-13). The hopes and dreams of today's pre-retirees and retirees are increasingly complicated by three converging family-related trends: We don't retire from parenthood; extended lives means extended needs; and we are stretched and stressed, balancing the trade-offs of our own financial security with the well-being of our kids, parents and siblings. Based on (you can download:) Family & Retirement: The Elephant in the Room (report from a Merrill Lynch retirement study done in partnership with Age Wave)
• Retirement mistakes people make at every age (Jonnelle Marte, Washington Post, 8-25-14). See also Why your baby needs a retirement account
• Coping When Not Entering Retirement Together (Tara Siegel Bernard, Your Money, NY Times, 3-21-14)
• How Do You Know Which Financial Adviser to Trust? (Jason M. Breslow, article for Frontlline, 5-9-13). "Much of the trouble with the retirement system is that most financial advisers are not bound by law to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. In other words, they are not fiduciaries." And the Labor Department's efforts to reform the industry are facing great resistance.
• What to Ask About Your Retirement (Sarah Childress, PBS, 4-23-13)
• Leisure Inequality: What the Rich-Poor Longevity Gap Will Do to Retirement (Teresa Ghilarducci, The Atlantic, 9-28-[15). In American society, those who live the longest get to enjoy years of relaxation, but those with the shortest life expectancies tend to work into their final years. See also Our Ridiculous Approach to Retirement (NYTimes Sunday Review, Opinion, 7-21-12) "Seventy-five percent of Americans nearing retirement age in 2010 had less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts. The specter of downward mobility in retirement is a looming reality for both middle- and higher-income workers....If we manage to accept that our investments will likely not be enough, we usually enter another fantasy world — that of working longer....The chance to work into one’s 70s primarily belongs to the most well off....Get real. Just as a voluntary Social Security system would have been a disaster, a voluntary retirement account plan is a disaster." And more: Fixing the US Retirement System (her testimony before the Senate, 5-21-14). "The individual-directed, commercial, voluntary and tax subsidized employer system has not and will not become an important source of income for most older Americans. American workers need a tier of advanced-funded retirement accounts that have many features of the Social Security system. Americans need a mandatory, universal, advanced funded retirement account that is professionally managed, is appropriately tax-subsidized and pays out annuities."
• Getting Personal (Ed McCarthy, Getting Personal, ThinkAdvisor 5-1-07). An estate plan should include stocks, bonds—and a life story.
• Money Matters: Estate Planning Checklist (Paddy Hirsch, MarketPlace)
• Retirement today: For many, even former corporate professionals, it’s not happening ( Carol Hymowitz, NY Times, 9-27-13). At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, the 77-year-old former vice president of marketing for Oral-B juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator at Sam’s Club, the other flipping burgers at a golf club grill for slightly more than minimum wage.
• Identity theft and the top 12 tax scams of 2013 ( Peter O'Dowd, Marketplace Morning Report 5-15-13)
• The move to assisted living: Navigating the fine line between money and emotions (Liyna Anwar, Marketplace Money, 7-13-12)
• Social Security, Present and Future (Editorial Board, NY Times, 3-30-13) There are rational and acceptable fixes to the program that could preserve it for generations to come, if political will can be found to enact them. "The debate over reforming Social Security will come down to tax increases versus benefit cuts. With retirements at risk, reducing benefits is dangerous, though trimming benefits for upper-income recipients, who live longer and draw larger benefits, could close about 10 percent of the system’s long-term funding gap. Another overdue reform, which would close about a third of the gap, is to raise the level of wages subject to Social Security payroll tax to about $200,000 from the current $113,700. That would bring the taxable wage base in line with rising incomes among top earners."
• Will Social Security Be There for You? (Tom Sightings, US News, Retirement, 9-10-13) Officials will probably make more dramatic cuts for future beneficiaries, because as time goes on the financial pressure will increase and younger people don't vote as much.
• Fees for 401(k) retirement plans are higher at small companies (Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 9-9-13) Large firms are able to spread record-keeping and other fixed expenses over a larger base of employees.
• Quiz: How much do you know about mortgages? (E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times, 11-26-12)
• As boomers age, say goodbye to 3% growth (Matthew Heimer, MarketWatch, 9-10-13)
Reverse mortgages, pro and con
aka "“Home Equity Conversion Mortgage” or H.E.C.M.• Reverse Mortgages: Know Before You Owe (Consumer Fiancial Protection Bureau, a short video provides key information about the features of reverse mortgages, and the CFPB also provides Reverse Mortgages: A Discussion Guide (PDF).
• U.S. retirees return to reverse mortgages, big banks stay away (Peter Rudegeair and Michelle Conlin, Reuters, 3-17-14)
• Reverse Mortgage Ads May Sidestep Potential Pitfalls (Ann Carrns, Your Money, NY Times, 6-9-15). "...while borrowers don’t have to make monthly payments on the loan, they do have to pay property taxes, homeowners’ insurance and maintenance costs. If they do not, their lender may declare a default and start foreclosure proceedings." These loans are made by private lenders, not the government.
• Rejecting nursing home option to stay in own home is exploding thanks to reverse mortgages (Buck Wargo, Complete Senior, 8-1-14) “Assisted living has grown tremendously over the past decade ... Reverse mortgages don’t work so well in assisted living because if you moved out of your home then after a year you have to make due on your reverse mortgage," says Alex Guerrero, the director of operations for San Francisco-based The Elder Care Research Organization. "New rules for reverse mortgages just kicked in August 2014 to help the surviving spouse in case the other dies. If one of the spouses took out the reverse mortgage and died, the new rules allow the survivor to keep living in the home without being foreclosed upon as long as they make tax and insurance payments and maintain the home." You have to be sure BOTH partners don't end up in assisted living or a nursing home. Then you take a loss.
• A Kinder, Gentler Reverse Mortgage (Tom Lauricella, WSJ Online, 3-22-14) Tighter regulations should make them safer
• Reverse mortgages: Safer, but far from risk-free (Les Christie, CNN Money, 2-7-14)
• 5 Must-Know Facts About Reverse Mortgages (Dan Caplinger, Daily Finance, 6-21-13)
• Reverse mortgage (Wikipedia). Good explanation, particularly in summing up criticism
Traveling in retirement (and otherwise)
• Home Exchange ("Travel anywhere. Live like a local. Stay for free.")
• Trusted Housesitters (U.S., "the win-win for pet lovers that travel")
• Housecarers.com ("We have many kind, Responsible pet-loving, Live-in Housesitter members, interested in your area who would love to care for your home and pets and gardens (if applicable)")
• Couchsurfing, an online community of travelers who share their spare rooms or couches with strangers for free.
• Enjoy housesitting? Let me count the ways! (HouseSitMatch.com)
Airbnb (rent unique places to stay from local hosts in 190+ countries). Save money and time. But be aware also of limitations: Home-Sharing? Don’t Ignore Liability (Ron Lieber, Your Money, NY Times, 4-20-12)
• How to Find Cheap Travel Accommodations (Matt Karsten, Expert Vagabond)
• Why Bargain Travel Sites May No Longer Be Bargains (Doug Barr, Backchannel, 3-30-17) Aggregators like Expedia have made us lazy — and we may be missing out on the best deals.
• Travellers Point, a social networking site for people who want to learn from or share experiences with other travelers. See various categories: Community (forums), Accommodation, Map, Planner, Travel Guide.
• Fly-Along Companions Offer a Way for Older People to Travel (Julie Weed, Business Day, NY Times, 9-26-16) The business of providing traveling companions for older adults is still new enough that there are no good statistics on who or how many provide such services. But they are cropping up — not only in the United States but in Europe and Asia — to cater to aging populations who have leisure time and money but diminished capacity for the rigors of travel.
• Do you need travel insurance? (Consumer Reports, July 2012) Maybe, if there are gaps in your auto, health, life, or homeowners policies. But buy wisely. "Instead of buying a policy through a travel agent or booking site, go to an online broker such as InsureMyTrip.com, which sells coverage from 21 carriers, including CSA Travel Protection, MedJet Assist, and Travelex." See reviews of travel insurance plans.
• Travel Guard (AIG travel insurance for various levels of coverage--for trip cancellation and interruption, for medical expense & transportation coverage, for lost/stolen baggage, for 24/7 travel assistance services, etc.)
• The Essential Guide to Travelling with a Medical Condition (InsuranceWith) a pretty good guide to traveling with a medical problem or disabilities, plus they sell travel insurance.
• Six Tips for Getting Cheap or Free Airline Upgrades (Julie Weed, Business Day, NY Times, 7-11-16)
• How to travel the world in retirement and not go broke (Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, 4-24-14)
• Six Cost-Saving Tips for Traveling in Retirement Sarah Z. Wexler, Travel + Leisure). Travel off-peak times. Think about getting travel and health insurance. Consider a home swap. And three more.
• Top Tier Detergent Gasolines (licensed brands that have passed tests for quality--is your regular brand on the list?) See also AAA article: Not All Gasoline Created Equal
• Want to Travel When You Retire? 7 Tips on How to Pay for It (Beth Braverman, Fiscal Times, 8-17-15) "Don Roy of New England Wealth Advisors says he asks clients to think of travel in retirement in three phases, 'the go-go years, the slow-go years, and the no-go years.' Travel funds in the third phase often get redistributed to cover health care expenses or other costs that tend to hit in old age." See sidebar: Retirement Nomads: How One Couple Makes It Work . Check out Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World by Lynne Martin.
• My 30 Best Travel Tips After 6 Years Traveling The World (Matt Karsten, author of Expert Vagabond, his blog on how to travel the world, seek experiences over possessions, and open your mind to new possibilities).
• Off the Grid. A blog about escaping the rat race, travelling the world with kids, hacking the sharing economy, and taking your kids out of school (eventually to be a book
Social Security
This section grew too large has migrated to its own page:
Social Security and Veterans Benefits
Second Chances: Retirement as a second act
"There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence."
~ Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
• The Four Phases of Retirement (YouTube video of a good TEDX talk by Dr. Riley Moynes, TEDxSurrey)
Imagine squeezing all the juice out of retirement. When interviewed on his research, Dr. Riley Moynes commented, “I wish I knew then what I know now about the psychological challenges that accompany retirement. It would have made things much clearer and easier.”
Phase 1: Vacation phase, lasts about 1 yr 3:45
Phase 2: Loss and lost, lose the big 5, routine/identity/relationships/purpose/power divorce/depression/fear/anxiety/decline 4:48
Phase 3: Trial and error, searching for meaning, contribute, sense of failure 6:35
Phase 4: Happy, reinvent, rewire, answer questions--mission, activities, accomplishments, service 8:38
• For Some Retirees, a Second Act Is Easier Than Expected (Abby Ellin, NY Times, Your Money, 6-6-14)
• The Costs of Aging Handbook (National Aging in Place Council) Chapters about housing, health and wellness, personal finance, transportation, and social engagement.
• Age in Place website (National Aging in Place Council) Find service providers in various categories, practical advice, news, and articles. Very practical.
• Retirement Jobs (jobs for people over 50)
• Retired Brains
• I’m a life coach, you’re a life coach: the rise of an unregulated industry (Rachel Monroe, The Guardian, 10-6-21) Brooke Castillo, the ‘queen’ of life coaching, has convinced her fans they can find meaning and money in the field. "It was an enticing pitch: earn a living by helping other people while working from home and making your own schedule, with no training or credentials necessary beyond the LCS course. Those high-earning LCS coaches, with their neat hair, pristine rooms, tidy minds and seven-figure incomes, seemed like proof that it was achievable." Some students were alarmed by the blurry boundaries around what issues could be addressed with coaching."I realized about two months in that it was unlicensed therapy," said Susan.
• Did Robert Redford get it wrong on retirement? (Catey Hill, MarketWatch, NPR, 9-4-15) Studies differ on the effect on longevity of early retirement. "One thing you can do is understand what does promote longevity — whether you’re retired or working. This means everything from having a purpose in life, to staying mentally and physically healthy, to keeping a robust social network."
• 14 tips and resources for finding work in retirement (Art Koff, MarketWatch, 8-4-14). Provides information for boomers, retirees and people planning retirement, including a free job board connecting employers looking to hire older workers. By the author of Invent Your Retirement: Resources for the Good Life
• Housing and services for seniors and disabled
• Easing Into Leisure, One Step at a Time (Robert Strauss, NY Times, 1-2-15) As people live longer — and are healthier and more productive as they age — the opportunity to retire and downsize multiple times increases.
• A Two-Step Plan That Strengthens Your Nest Egg (John F. Wanik, NY Times, 9-15-11)
• Older Job Seekers Find Ways to Avoid Age Bias (Kerry Hannon, Retiring, NY Times, 1-16-15). Tips on how to overcome age bias and false assumptions about an older worker's expectations and capabilities.
• Helping Where Help Is Wanted (Tina Rosenberg, Fixes, NY Times, 1-10-12) Older workers placed by programs like ReServe often do crucial jobs that would otherwise go undone.
• Thinking Of Retiring? Consider Your Health (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 3-25-14) . Listen online or read transcript. How retirement affects your health depends partly on why you retired and how active you are when you do.
• Never Too Late: More Older Adults Sold On Entrepreneurship (Ina Jaffe, NPR, 4-1-14). Listen online or read transcript.
• Coping When Not Entering Retirement Together (Tara Siegel Bernard, Your Money, NY Times, 3-21-14)
• Best Cities for Successful Aging (The Milken Report)
• Getting Personal (Ed McCarthy, Getting Personal, ThinkAdvisor 5-1-07). An estate plan should include stocks, bonds—and a life story.
• Mature Caregivers (in-home care by certified 50+ caregivers)
• Second-Act Careers: 50+ Ways to Profit from Your Passions During Semi-Retirement by semi-retirement expert Nancy Collamer
• The Encore Fellowships Network (second acts for the greater good)
• A Second Career, Happily in the Weeds (David Wallis, Your Money, NY Times, 6-20-14) After 30 years stuck at a desk job, Charles Noble, 65, spends his days with cows, on his own Movable Beast Farm. "One-third of beginning farmers — defined by the federal government as having been in business less than 10 years — 'are over age 55, indicating that many farmers move into agriculture only after retiring from a different career.'"
• Is Working Past Retirement Age An Antidote To Getting Old? (Ina Jaffe, Morning Edition, NPR, 6-5-14) Nearly half of people surveyed who say they're retired are working or have worked in the recent past. And nearly three quarters of baby boomers say they plan to stay on the job past retirement age.
• The End of Retirement? (Frank Swain, Future Tense, Slate, 11-21-13) You might have to work into your 80s. But that’s a good thing.
• Slomo (a NY Times op-doc), delightful video thought piece about a neuroscience doctor who realized life was a forced trudge, decided to reinvent himself, is now known as Slomo, and lives out his life skating at the beach.
• The Retirement Gamble (PBS, Frontline, 4-23-13) Retirement is big business, but is it costing workers and retirees too much, asks FRONTLINE's Martin Smith. Here's the transcript , or watch video of the Frontline program.
• Our next big crisis will be a retirement crisis (Brett Arends, MarketWatch, WSJ, 3-3-14) "“The only way out of this box is for people to save more and/or work longer.”
• How entrepreneurship extends boomers’ careers (Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch, 11-14-13)
• Many want to work in retirement but not full-time (Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, 6-4-14)
• Is 70 the ‘right’ retirement age? (Alicia H. Munnell, MarketWatch, 11-20-13) Why 70 is the new 65.
• The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. The author discusses four types of CEO retirement transitions: The Monarch's Departure (leaving the throne through death, ill health, or palace revolt; the General's Departure (losing their heroic identity and identifying with heroic stature, they leave behind much of their self-worth, so they are eager to return to office; the Ambassador's Departure (like generals, they stay in the firm when they leave their top office, but needing no battles to prove their heroic valor, they work to support their successor in an advisory capacity); and the Governor's Departure (retirement is often merely a career change, and they tend to take leadership roles, not just board membership, in any new activities they pursue).
• Graying Workplace (Brave Old World, Columbia University News21 Multimedia Project). Aging on the Job. Instead of Retirement Trade Your Own Replacements. And many more.
• 3 new retirement living options (MSN's SmartMoney.com on senior co-housing, university-based retirement communities, and CCRC services brought to your home. (CCRC = continuing care retirement community)
• NORC's Aging in Place Initiative. (NORC = naturally occurring retirement communities -- without walls). One page on this site shows location of NORC demonstration communities--more than 40 of them, in 25 states. (Jewish Federations of North America)
Recommended Reading:
• The Second Chance Revolution: Becoming Your Own Boss After 50 by Edward C. Rogoff
• The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life by Marci Alboher. Until recently, most Americans equated the end of a successful career with the beginning of retirement. No more. Now they want to stay in the game (or better, change the game). They want to leave a mark. Make a difference—and continue to make money.
• You Plan Your Retirement, Then You Get the Health Bill (Ann Carrns, NY Times, 11-19-13)
• AARP Releases Free Health Cost Calculator