Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Fountain of Youth

While man has yet to find the fabled “fountain of youth,” actuaries are learning more and more every day about what determines longevity for each of us. A recent analysis performed by actuaries at Rest-of-Life Communications found that working longer is highly correlated with longer life expectancy. The difference is substantial and will likely surprise you- death rates for men age 50-70 who aren’t working are 60% higher than those who are working. This may not measure up to the sought after effects of the fountain of youth, but certainly isn’t anything to frown upon.

As economic conditions continue to challenge financial security and long-term financial goals it seems one “release valve” is a longer career and extension of earnings introduced into ones wealth plan. As retirement dates are extended out of financial necessity (for baby boomers and generations that follow) this is welcome actuarial news for those looking forward to a later retirement.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Retirement Confidence

The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private nonprofit organization committed to public policy research, recently released their annual Retirement Confidence Survey http://tiny.cc/ewk78 . The survey is designed to gauge Americans’ views and attitudes of retirement and related issues. Many of the findings are alarming: 16% of workers are very confident about having enough money to retire comfortably and 66% of workers have total savings of less than $50,000.

To make matters worse, the traditional “three- legged stool” providing retirement savings (pension, social security, individual savings) is increasingly becoming a single peg that stands for “I” (i.e. “I” am solely responsible for my retirement success or failure!). However, even though they have a growing responsibility for funding their own retirement, less than ½ of workers have ever tried to calculate what they will need for retirement.

It would seem the importance of intense, comprehensive planning is more crucial now than ever. Hopefully the high percentage of American’s “guessing” what they’ll need to accomplish their goals as identified by this study will hear the wakeup call soon.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Retirement at the Tipping Point

http://www.agewave.com/RetirementTippingPoint.pdf

The link above is to a May 2009 published study titled "Retirement at the Tipping Point" and co-authored by Ken Dychtwald PhD, CEO and founder of Age Wage, a firm founded to study aging and its implications. Interesting in the responses from the 2,082 people surveyed was (1) those not yet retired now plan to postpone their retirement an additional 4.2 years, (2) an estimate of 7 years will be required to return their investment portfolios to previous peak levels, and (3) the most important advice to next generation is to "live within your means". It is notable that only 18% had actively planned for and were confident about their financial future.