Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
Three hypothetical $1 million portfolios with 60%/40% stock-bond allocation and 4% withdrawal rates came out in a strong position after a market downturn, according to this article on MarketWatch, which highlighted an analysis by Ben Carson of the Wealth of Common Sense blog. “Retiring just before a stock market peak could be ruinous to your financial health but it doesn’t have to be,” says the expert. “A balanced portfolio was able to hold up using a simple set of assumptions even when our hypothetical investors were extremely unlucky with the timing of their retirement.”
Clients would be inadvertently reducing their Social Security benefits if they fail to post at least 35 working years, according to this article on personal finance website Motley Fool. They also could cut their benefits without knowing it if they do not negotiate with their employer for a higher pay. Not checking their Social Security earnings statement on a regular basis is another mistake, as their records may miss out on certain figures that could affect the computation of their retirement benefits.
The number of older Americans who are carrying student loan debt into retirement has grown to 2.8 million from 700,000 in 2005, according to this article on CNBC. Retirees who applied for an income-driven repayment plan can expect the government to forgive the remaining debt after years of making repayments, and the forgiven debt would be treated as a taxable income, which could also boost their tax bill. "It eats away at what folks are able to have for their basic necessities," says an expert.
Want to increase returns from an investment portfolio? A Forbes contributor writes that curbing investment-related fees and expenses is the key. Reducing these [investing expenses] is one of the most reliable ways to boost your return without taking on any additional risk," explains the expert. "Unlike many things in life, in investing you get (to keep) what you don't pay for."
