The Complete Retirement Planner Blog

The state of retirement planning in the U.S., per the 2021 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study and the 2021 Schwab Modern Wealth Survey:• The Good - 91% of those with a financial plan are confident about reaching their retirement goals.• The Bad - Only 22% will make the effort to create a financial plan. 67% of those without a plan are uncertain about reaching their retirement goals. • The Ugly - Of the 78% without a financial plan, 60% think creating a plan is too complicated or they don't have the time to create one, 56% don't know how much to...

Are you one of the 82% of households (per a Fidelity study) that doesn't have a written financial plan? Maybe you think that you don't need one. Maybe you have a DIY spreadsheet/back-of-the-napkin plan that you think is sufficient. Or, maybe you trust generic advice and benchmarks to guide you. If that's the case, with respect, I propose that you are doing yourself a disservice. Regardless of your net worth or stage of life, having a comprehensive financial plan is a crucial step in assessing your current and future financial health and it provides a roadmap to becoming financially secure....

With all of the available advice about saving for retirement, one topic that doesn't get the attention it deserves is just how to prioritize using (i.e., spending) the different sources of funds that you have worked so hard to accumulate. After decades of saving, careful thought needs to be applied to determining just how to maximize the effectiveness of those funds, how to preserve them for as long as possible, and how to minimize the "loss" to taxes. Most people have a combination of taxable accounts (which include income from interest/returns on cash savings, Social Security, pensions, etc.), tax-deferred 401k/IRA...

The magic question when saving for retirement revolves around how much you will really need to save to have those savings last for at least 25 years (assuming that you retire at age 65). Of course, creating a comprehensive financial plan will help to answer this question with the most detail and reliability, but many people initially look for a quick guide to at least get the conversation started. On any given day there are countless articles focused on suggesting generic benchmarks for anyone and everyone to use as retirement savings goals, with 99% of that "information" simply being regurgitated...

One of the main benefits of a financial plan is that it helps to forecast how you are likely to fare financially as the years go by. But the future being what it is, i.e., unpredictable, it should also be used to test how you would fare if circumstances did not turn out as expected. If you were to die prematurely, how would the loss of your income affect your spouse, if married, or any dependents? If you are not married, and do not have any dependents, you may not need life insurance, but if you do, you may want...