The Senior Scene

Those early days of retirement can be exciting as you are finally rewarded with a little rest and relaxation after all those years of toil. But it can be a bit unsettling, as well, when the regular paychecks you counted on stop appearing in your bank account. That’s why anyone who’s still a few years away from retirement should ask themselves: Am I ready for that moment both financially and emotionally?

The answer could come down to whether you have a solid retirement plan – or a plan at all.

“Regardless of how much you accumulate for your retirement, poor planning or lack of planning can put you at risk of exhausting your resources,” says Tad Hill, a retirement planner and author of “Retire with Freedom: The Five Steps to Getting a Good Night’s Sleep After the Paychecks Stop” (askfreedomfinancial.com).

Hill says people nearing the end of their working years should:

• Create your ideal picture of retirement. What is it you want out of retirement? Do you want to travel? Volunteer with a charity? Spend time with the grandkids? The first step isn’t about your financial portfolio, Hill says, it’s about forming a clear image of the big “why” of your ideal retirement. “Otherwise, even though your money may last the rest of your lives, you may never achieve your dreams because you’re unclear on your dreams,” he said.
• Put your situation to the “stress test” with the help of a financial professional. That can include reviewing how to best maximize your Social Security benefits and examining how your portfolio might perform under a variety of market scenarios. “Analyze all the factors that could affect your retirement plan over the next few decades and create a strategy for dealing with those risk factors with as much certainty as possible,” Hill said.
• Design your plan. Designing a retirement plan, Hill said, is like creating the blueprint for a house. Some of the concerns that need to be addressed include income planning, investment planning, health care planning, tax planning and legacy planning.
• Build the plan. Once the design is agreed upon, it’s time to implement it. “That can mean making changes to your current structure, adding some things and getting rid of others,” Hill said. “Maybe risk-prone aspects of your current approach that we need to eliminate were discovered in the design step. We also often identify new strategies that you aren’t using that can really make a difference.”

Seek continued guidance. Even a great retirement plan may need tweaks and adjustments over the years. “You need to look at whether there are things that have changed in your life that need attention,” Hill said. “Are there decisions you need to make about a pension or Social Security? Is your spending tracking at the amount you thought it would?”

“There are no guarantees of anything in life, including how your retirement will work out,” Hill said. “But taking action to create a solid and plan for this important part of your life is a critical first step.”

Social Security plays an especially important role in providing economic security for women.
In the 21st century, more women work, pay Social Security taxes, and earn credit toward monthly retirement income than at any other time in our nation’s history. In fact, about 59 percent of people getting Social Security payments are women. But women face greater economic challenges in retirement:
• Women tend to live longer than men. A woman who is 65 years old today can expect to live, on average, until about 87, while a 65-year-old man can expect to live, on average, until about 84;
• Women often have lower lifetime earnings than men.
• And women may reach retirement with smaller pensions and other assets than men.
Social Security offers a basic level of protection to all women. When you work, you pay taxes into the Social Security system, providing for your own benefits. In addition, your spouse’s earnings can give you Social Security coverage as well. Women who don’t work are often covered through their spouses’ work. When their spouses retire, become disabled, or die, women can receive benefits. There are also options of filing on a divorced spouse’s record.
If you’re a worker age 18 or older, you can get a Social Security Statement online. Your statement is a valuable tool to help you plan a secure financial future, and we recommend that you look at it each year. Your Statement provides a record of your earnings. To create an account online and review your Statement, visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.
If your spouse dies, you can get widow benefits if you’re 60 or older. If you have a disability, you can get widow’s benefits as early as age 50. Your benefit amount will depend on your age and on the amount your deceased spouse was entitled to at the time of death. If your spouse was receiving reduced benefits, your survivor benefit will be based on that amount.
You may be eligible for widow’s benefits and Medicare before age 65 if you have a disability and are entitled to benefits. You also may be eligible for benefits if you are caring for a child who is younger than 16.
Our “People Like Me” website for women has valuable resources for people of all ages. You can access it at www.socialsecurity.gov/people/women.
To read more about how we can help you, read and share the publication “What Every Woman Should Know” at www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/EN-05-10127.pdf.

Kirk Larson, who wrote this article, is a Social Security public affairs specialist.

According to a Wall Street Journal study, “a combination of economic and demographic forces has left older Americans with bigger bills and less money to pay them.” Americans approaching retirement today face stagnant incomes, high debt, and paltry 401(k) retirement funds (the median income those accounts will provide is under $8,000 a year for a household of two). The report estimates 40 percent of pre-retirees will have to reduce their lifestyle in retirement. This may mean giving up on dreams of travel and leisure, turning to adult kids for financial help, or working until they die.

Ignoring these problems won’t make them go away. Here are steps to create a plan for greater security and self-sufficiency in retirement:

1. Don’t rely too much on volatile, unpredictable, government-sponsored retirement accounts for income in retirement. If you don’t know the minimum guaranteed value of your savings when you want to tap into them, you don’t have a plan – you’re gambling.

2. Don’t rely too much on Social Security or a public pension fund. Social Security will “become depleted and unable to pay scheduled benefits in full on a timely basis in 2034,” according to the fund’s trustees, while experts warn many state pension plans are underfunded.

3. When calculating how much you’ll need in retirement, use the currently recommended savings withdrawal rate of 2.8 percent. And to avoid living longer than your money, assume you’ll live to at least age 95. There’s a good chance you or your partner will.

4. Save more in guaranteed, safe, and liquid assets. Put more of your savings into financial vehicles that aren’t subject to the high volatility of markets such as stocks, real estate, and other risky investments.

5. Before you commit money to any financial product, make sure it will help you achieve your financial goals without taking unnecessary risk, give you control over your money, and provide the peace of mind that will allow you to sleep at night.

Knowing with certainty how much money you will have upon retirement and every step along the way is the key to building a future free of worry.

Pamela Yellen, who wrote this article, is the founder of Bank On Yourself and the author of two New York Times best-selling books, including her latest, “The Bank On Yourself Revolution: Fire Your Banker, Bypass Wall Street, and Take Control of Your Own Financial Future.”

According to the U.S. Census, by 2035 one in every five Americans will be of retirement age. So SeniorAdvice.com, an online senior housing and caregiver referral service, has compiled a list of the best 20 companies for seniors. It’s based on how companies support seniors by providing job opportunities, supplemental income during retirement, unique retirement benefits, special perks and discounts.

The senior-friendly companies and organizations include Rover, Kelly Services, Southwest Airlines, Lyft, Amazon Prime, Young Living Oils, Aerospace Corp., National Park Service, Kohl’s, Airbnb, T-Mobile, Regal Theaters, Etsy, All City Management Services (ACMS), Honeybaked Ham, Spectrum Cable Internet, Upwork, McDonald’s, H&R Block, and Orkin.

For example, Kelly Services offers temporary or transitional work plans for workers of retiring age; Aerospace Corporation older employees reduce worked hours over time; and the National Park Service offers full-time, part-time and seasonal ranger jobs