Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
Clients will need to adjust their investment plan if they intend to prepare for longer retirement, according to this article on The Street. An expert warns that investors will have to contend with lower returns in the future, as stocks are currently high-priced. "Returns will be much lower than we've seen historically, and people should prepare for that," says the expert, adding that inflation will severely affect those who invest in bonds. Retirement investors who are assuming a longer time horizon may want to work longer and reduce their exposure to risk.
Retirement investors should rebalance their portfolio to return to the desired asset allocation that reflects their tolerance for risk, according to this article on Money. “You’ll probably do best if you rebalance whenever your asset mix moves about 10% to 15% away from your target,” says an expert, adding that “[f]or most investors, that will be necessary only every few years.” Investors should avoid rebalancing their portfolio more frequently that they should, as studies show that this could curb their overall returns by incurring bigger trading costs and taxes.
Although a client can claim Social Security spousal benefit and defer his own retirement benefit until he turns 70 because he reached the age of 62 before January 2, he still cannot get a spousal benefit when he turns 66, according to this article on Forbes. That is because his wife hasn't reached the age of 62 and cannot file for her own retirement benefit when he reaches 66. Getting a divorce will not help, as he can only file for divorced spousal benefit if the spouse has reached the age of 62 and the marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Clients should determine the most sustainable withdrawal strategy to ensure their retirement savings will last for 30 years, according to this article on CNNMoney. Retirees have an 80% chance that their portfolio with a 60%-40% allocation to stocks and bonds can provide the income they need for three decades if they use the 4% withdrawal rate and adjust it to inflation every year. Adopting an aggressive or conservative approach to in-retirement investing has little impact on the success rate. Retirees can also expect a drop in success rate if stock exposure is reduced to less than 30% of their savings, while allocating as much as 80% to 100% of assets to stocks can lead to lower success rate, as the portfolio will be very prone to market volatility.
Enrolling for Medicare is one of the important tasks that seniors need to do in the year before they retire to ensure they will have a comfortable retirement, according to this article on Kiplinger. They are advised to create a retirement budget, adopt a Social Security claiming strategy that will maximize their retirement benefits, and adjust their asset allocation to limit their risk exposure and preserve their assets. Pre-retirees should also create a sustainable withdrawal strategy, select the best payment option from their pension plan, and consider buying an annuity to increase the odds of having a secure retirement.
