Retirement Scan: Most retirees get little adviser help on Social Security

Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.

Most retirees get little adviser help on Social Security: Study
A study by the Nationwide Retirement Institute has found that less than one-third of pre-retirees and retirees have hired a financial adviser. Moreover, 59% of those with an adviser say they received no guidance on Social Security benefits. Those findings are consistent with the past two years' study results, according to an article in CNBC. "A lot of this is due to the fact that [most] advisers wish they had more information about Social Security rules and regulations," says an expert with the institute. "Most advisers don't have [extensive] knowledge about it, so they don't it bring up to their clients." — CNBC

Social Security Building Bloomberg

Strapped retirees are turning to reverse mortgages
The surge in demand for reverse mortgages may see an upswing -- as it did during the financial crisis of 2008-2009 — as more baby boomers are heading to retirement, according to CNBC. The federal government has tightened the reverse mortgage rules to protect older people who want to tap their home equity to boost their retirement income. "[The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage] program was created to give seniors access to an incremental, sustainable financial resource to allow them to age in place, not as an ATM machine," says a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. — CNBC

How to shore up Social Security for 75-plus years
The federal government should make the Social Security's benefit formula more progressive to help fix the program's solvency issues, according to a 13-point proposal by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The proposal also includes initiatives to increase benefits for workers who pay payroll taxes for more than 35 years, set a basic minimum benefit, and raise retirement ages to keep up with increased longevity. Other main measures proposed by the BPC are to lower cost-of-living adjustments for bigger benefits in the future, place a limit on the nonworking spousal benefit, and scrap the windfall elimination provision and government pension offset. — CBS Moneywatch

Aging parents: Your adult kids aren't ingrates like you think
While a majority of parents polled by Fidelity Investments feel that depending on their children financially is not right, only 30% of the children who participated in the survey share this view, according to this article on Yahoo Finance. This means that many adult children are willing to offer financial help to their parents when necessary. The results “point to the fact that adult children are looking at their parents and their parents’ need for help not as an obligation, but as an opportunity to help, to pay them back,” says an expert with Fidelity, adding that "[if] they knew their kids might help out, it could radically improve their life.” — Yahoo Finance

Steps clients can take in their 20s and 30s to retire wealthier
With time in their favor, clients in their 20s and 30s should start saving for retirement, as even a small amount can grow substantially through compounded growth, according to this article on MarketWatch. To end up with a bigger nest egg in retirement, young clients are advised to learn more about financial literacy, to create a financial plan that gives importance to retirement saving, and to take advantage of their employer-sponsored retirement plan. Clients are more likely to have more savings when they retire if they hold a Roth IRA, pay off their student loans, and avoid withdrawals or cash-outs on their 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts. — MarketWatch

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