Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
Clients cannot request a new Social Security number to allay fears of possible fraud-related claims on their records, but may be allowed to change their number if the threat of abuse of their existing number continues, according to this article on Time Money. A request for a new Social Security number will also be granted if the number has been assigned to more than one person or the clients face harassment, abuse or a major risk, such as in some domestic violence cases. Also those who experience problems due to sequential numbers assigned to other members of their family or have objections to certain numbers or digits in the original number because of religious beliefs may also get a new number. Time Money
Experts believe that people are likely to live way longer than expected, pushing retirement to a much later age, according to this article on USA Today. For financial advisors and clients, this means that the cost of health care will increase exponentially and pose a major financial concern. "The first person to reach age 150 has already been born. How do I talk to a client preparing to retire at 65 using the traditional model and with planning software that only goes to age 95? The financial model is broken," says Ric Edelman, chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services. USA Today
The slight increase in bond yields brought some relief to corporate pensions, which saw their total assets reach $1.89 trillion at the end of May, according to Mercer. With the expected future pension liabilities of companies amounting to $2.27 trillion, the increase in overall assets reduced the funding gap by $43 billion from figures recorded at the beginning of the month, the consultant says. We are seeing many plan sponsors lock into these gains by executing risk-transfer strategies, said Jim Ritchie, an analyst with Mercer. The Wall Street Journal
Securing finances in retirement can be stressful for many people, but there are strategies that can somehow help them ease the anxiety, according to this article in U.S. News & World Report. First, clients need to determine their retirement income from Social Security and other sources so they can limit their living expenses, as well as develop a plan for their health care needs. They also need to determine the best time to start collecting their Social Security retirement benefits and to take full advantage of their 401(k) and other retirement plans. Yahoo Finance
A client who started collecting her own Social Security retirement benefits cannot get a full spousal benefit on her husband's record after he files for his benefit, according to this article on Forbes. What she can receive is an excess benefit, which can be equivalent to zero. Forbes
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