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Published/Posted By: The Providence American
Posted: January 22, 2018

This Month's Poll

    • Do you believe President Trump should meet with North Korean leader face to face?

      YES I do
      NO I do not



  • Does Today’s Economy Make ?Retirement Impossible?

    Life in retirement, which once conjured images of golf and
    sunsets at the beach, took on a drearier edge in recent years as more people
    realize they are unprepared financially to stop working.  ??The Washington
    Post has called it “the new reality of old age” and quoted one 74-year-old man
    saying he will need to work until he dies. For those who have retired, a
    Fidelity study found that 55 percent are at risk of running out of money before
    their lives end.  Think of this statistic—more than half of those surveyed
    aren’t prepared.  Are you??? “When the stock market was falling in
    2008, I had prospective clients share with me they had lost tens or hundreds of
    thousands of dollars, and some even shared how many years of work they had
    lost,” says Troy Bender, president and CEO of Asset Retention Services Inc.
    (www.asset-retention.com). “They wanted the losses to stop, and they were
    desperately looking for help.”??In addition to the recession, several other factors
    contributed to their retirement woes. Most businesses no longer offer pensions,
    so retirees must rely more on their savings. People also need to rely more on
    Social Security, but Social Security replaces usually only 40 percent of a
    person’s pre-retirement earnings. In addition, according to Social Security,
    they have shared on their website that they may end up paying 75 cents on the
    dollar in 2033.   ??All of this raises the question: Is it even
    possible to retire in today’s economy???The answer is “yes,” Bender says, but
    even those who planned well and saved plenty need to be careful as they near,
    and enter retirement.  With many clients in their 80’s and some in their
    90’s—we all have to plan to live a lot longer.  A few tips to help retirees
    and pre-retirees protect and grow their money include:



    •    Know when to take Social Security. If you
    don’t choose the most advantageous time to start drawing Social Security, you
    could leave a lot of money on the table. Several factors can come into play
    here depending on your personal situation, so it’s best to seek professional
    advice. Employees at your local Social Security office generally aren’t
    equipped to give you that kind of advice.



    •    Live by the “Rule of 100.” This is
    critically important. In the investing world, the “Rule of 100” says that the
    percentage of a person’s portfolio that should be in stocks should be equal to
    100 minus their age. So, for example, someone who is 60 should have 40 percent
    of their portfolio in stocks and the other 60 percent should be in bonds or
    other lower-risk investments. “If you aren’t living by the ‘Rule of 100,’ you
    should be, especially if you are 50 or older,” Bender says. 



     



    •    Plan for long-term care. A person who turns
    65 today has nearly a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care
    services at some point, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
    Services. The cost can be devastating, so it’s important to plan financially
    for this likely eventuality. One option is long-term care insurance. “Sometimes
    people expect a family member to take care of them in these situations, but I
    encourage people not to be a burden to someone else,” Bender says. 



     “The stock market is on a high right now, but we all know
    from experience that this situation is not going to last forever,” Bender says.
    “The closer you are to retirement--or are currently in retirement--the less
    time you have to recover from a downturn in the market. No one wants to be
    forced to continue working in retirement or to change their lifestyle because
    they experienced major erosion in their retirement portfolio due to
    circumstances beyond their control.”

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