Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
Workers could stave off their Social Security if they planned ahead and used IRAs to fund their early retirement expenses, according to this article on personal finance website Motley Fool. Citing the Pew Charitable Trusts, the article says the challenge is that many workers don’t have access to 401(k) plans. But the key to implementing Pew's suggested strategy is establishing what it calls an auto-IRA plans to workers who lack a 401(k) option with a preset percentage of wages to be contributed to the plan. This would create a retirement nest egg that wouldn't be linked to any one employer, but rather would stay with the worker throughout a career.
The Trump administration last year lowered the amount of reverse mortgage debt but raised the costs, with the upfront mortgage insurance premium for a line of credit increasing to 2% from 0.5% of the property value, according to this article on MarketWatch. A certified financial planner says that these changes could make a reverse mortgage a less attractive option for seniors. “For a reasonably affluent client that has a $300,000 or $500,000 house, that’s $6,000 to $10,000 of upfront costs just in case you might ever need the line of credit. It’s just too much of a mental upfront hurdle for most clients.”
Scroll through to learn about five core changes impacting retirees.
Clients who want to retire before their spouse are advised to review their finances and adjust their budget, according to this article on Fox Business. They should also consider filing for Social Security as soon as they retire to generate extra income and allow their spouse to delay and grow their retirement benefit. Seniors who also want to retire ahead of their spouse are also advised to get health insurance coverage if they do not yet qualify for Medicare, and to have a bucket list of activities to do to avoid boredom in retirement.
Clients who procrastinate with preparing their tax returns are advised to gather all their financial documents before calling a tax preparer or buying tax preparation software, according to this article from Kiplinger. They should also ensure that they contribute to their retirement savings accounts and seek help from an accountant or tax expert. They are also advised to avoid making last-minute mistakes and file an extension if they are yet unsure of their information.
