Retirees Will Outlive Their Savings by 10 Years, According to a New Study by the World Economic Forum

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The typical 65-year-old has only enough savings to cover 9.7 years of retirement income. That leaves the average American man with a gap of 8.3 years, and women (who live longer) face a 10.9-year gap with no savings left.

That’s according to a scary new study by the World Economic Forum. This assumes you live an average lifespan. If you’re one of the “lucky” ones who lives longer, you could outlive your money by 20 to 25 years or more.

6 Challenges You Face that Could Turn Your Retirement Dreams into a Retirement Nightmare…

How many of these challenges have you prepared for?

Challenge #1: The typical household nearing retirement has an average of only $135,000 in their combined retirement accounts – enough to provide at most $600 per month income. (Source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances)

Challenge #2: Even healthy couples will face extreme health care costs in retirement.

A healthy 65-year-old couple retiring now will spend an inflation-adjusted $551,000 on out-of-pocket medical costs not covered by Medicare. (Source: Milliman Health Cost Guidelines)

This is significantly more money than many pre-retirees have saved. If you live longer than average or have some health problems, your costs could be much higher.

Challenge #3: You’ll owe the IRS 25-50% of your savings when you take income from a tax-deferred account, such as a 401(k), IRA, 403(b), etc.

Most people look at their retirement plan balances and think it’s all theirs. They tend to forget they’ll owe the IRS taxes on every penny they’ve put in and every penny of growth.

And if tax rates go up – which is highly likely due to our country’s exploding debt and aging demographics – you’ll need to be prepared for an even higher tax bill.

Challenge #4: If you’re counting on Social Security to help close the gap, keep in mind that Social Security benefits have lost 1/3 of their buying power since 2000, as many of the things retirees typically purchase have increased several times faster than Social Security cost-of-living adjustments.

Challenge #5: The typical investor in equity mutual funds has earned only 3.88% annually for the past 20 years – beating inflation by a meager 1.7% per year.

Asset allocation and other types of investors actually lost ground over the last two decades when factoring in inflation. (Source: Dalbar 2019 Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior)

Challenge #6: If you’re planning on following the once-recommended “4% rule,” which said retirees could take 4% out of their retirement accounts each year, then you have a 50% probability of running out of money over 30 years.

The current recommended annual withdrawal rate is just 2.8%. If you have a $500,000 nest-egg, that would give you just $1,166 per month. If you have $200,000 saved, you could withdraw $467 per month. And with $1 million saved, that’s $2,333 a month.

When you hit retirement, what kind of lifestyle do you think that will provide you?

What more proof do we need that conventional investing and retirement planning strategies aren’t working?

Isn’t continuing to do the same thing with an expectation of different results the classic definition of insanity?

When you Bank On Yourself instead of banking on Wall Street, the government, or your employer to provide for your retirement security, you get these benefits and more…

  • Guaranteed, predictable, competitive growth every year
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  • You have access to your money with no restrictions or penalties – no questions asked
  • You get tax-deferred growth and can take a retirement income with no taxes due, under current tax law
  • Your savings are protected by a multi-layer safety net with a 160-year-plus track record
  • Because the growth in these plans is exponential and your premium is guaranteed never to increase, you enjoy some built-in protection against inflation

Find Out Today How the Bank On Yourself Safe Wealth-Building Strategy Can Help Give You Financial Peace of Mind

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The biggest regret most people say they have about the Bank On Yourself strategy is that they didn’t get started sooner. Don’t let your inaction turn your retirement dreams into retirement nightmares.

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Retirement Can Be Fantastic … If You’re Prepared

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What do you think of when you think of retirement? Freedom? Enjoyment? Less stress?

You’re not alone. Most workers today associate retirement with those concepts, according to What Is “Retirement”? Three Generations Prepare for Older Age, the latest study from the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

But the big question is … Will You Be Ready?

Will You Be Healthy Enough to Retire the Way You Hope To?

Just 16% of Baby Boomers surveyed said their health is “excellent.” But only about half of the workers in the survey said they exercise regularly … or eat healthfully … or get enough sleep.

Here’s the issue, as laid out bluntly by life coach Peter Sage …

If you don’t make time for health, you’ll have to make time for illness.”

How successful at life can you be, when your body refuses to serve you? And it will eventually refuse to serve you if you ignore your health.

Will You Have Enough Money to Do What You Want to Do?

Two out of three workers say their big retirement dream is travel. Half of those surveyed said they’re looking forward to spending time with their family and friends. And nearly half get a smile on their faces when they think of the time they’ll have to pursue their hobbies.

The problem is this: half of those surveyed have less than $50,000 total in all their household retirement accounts.

How far will $50,000 take you? [Read more…] “Retirement Can Be Fantastic … If You’re Prepared”

There’s a Good Chance You May Be Forced to Retire Sooner Than You Expect

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Perhaps you’ve heard that the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans. … Particularly your plans for retirement!

And you’ve probably heard that with the unpredictability of the markets – stocks, bonds, real estate, whatever – you’re going to need to work longer than you had planned, in order to have enough to live on in retirement.

But that doesn’t mean the universe will cooperate.

Research from the Center for Retirement Research reveals that on average 21 percent of workers intend to work to age 66 or later. But more than half of them fail to reach this target.

The share of workers who say they expect to work past age 65 rose from 16% in 1991 to 48% in 2018. But the study shows that 37 percent of all workers end up retiring earlier than they had planned.

How can this be?

Why Are Hard-Working Americans Retiring Earlier Than Planned?

[Read more…] “There’s a Good Chance You May Be Forced to Retire Sooner Than You Expect”

Many Stock Market Investors Haven’t Kept Up With Inflation Over the Last 20 Years – DALBAR 2019 Report

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What kind of return would you have to get in the stock market to make it worth the risk and gut-wrenching ups and downs?

Would you put your life’s savings at risk for a 5% annual return?

Or would you require at least a 7% return?

Or maybe even a 10% annual return?

If you’re like most people we’ve surveyed, you wouldn’t do it unless you thought you could get at least a 7% annual return over time, right?

Here’s the Harsh Reality of the Actual Returns Investors Are Getting…

I hope you’re sitting down because this is going to floor you: According to a new study, the typical investor in equity mutual funds has gotten only a 3.88% annual return… over the last 20 years!

But it’s actually much worse than that. Here’s why… [Read more…] “Many Stock Market Investors Haven’t Kept Up With Inflation Over the Last 20 Years – DALBAR 2019 Report”

Read Reviews for Using Bank On Yourself as an Investment Alternative

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When the stock market is going up, investors love it. When it’s going down, not so much.

Many investors lie awake at night wondering, “Is there any good alternative to this crazy roller coaster? Is it possible to successfully and confidently grow my nest egg without playing in the Wall Street Casino?”

If you’re one of those folks who thinks saving for retirement shouldn’t have to be so unpredictable, read on! There is a safe and proven alternative to Wall Street. It offers guaranteed growth, a predictable income stream, tax advantages, and very little in the way of government interference.

Millions have found their investment alternative of choice in high cash value dividend-paying whole life insurance.

Huh? Life Insurance as an Investment Alternative to Wall Street?

[Read more…] “Read Reviews for Using Bank On Yourself as an Investment Alternative”

How Complex Is Dividend-Paying Whole Life Insurance?

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Some financial advisors say whole life insurance is complicated, and that “you should never invest in something you don’t understand.” … Then they try to sell you stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and EFTs that most laypeople can only begin to truly grasp!

Dividend-paying whole life insurance is so simple an average 10-year-old can understand the concept in 10 minutes. We’ll prove it to you now …

The Simplicity of Dividend-Paying Whole Life Insurance

The concept behind a dividend-paying whole life insurance policy is extremely simple. It’s based on five easy-to-understand ideas:

1. Your Risk Is Minimized by the “Pooled Risk” Approach of Insurance

This timeless concept is at the foundation of all forms of insurance. In its simplest form, policy owners pay an insurance company a relatively small sum of money in advance. This is called a “premium.” In exchange, they are covered for a potentially much large expense later. In this case, they receive an agreed-upon amount to cover the costs and loss of income related to the death of the insured, which is called the “death benefit.”

2. You’re Guaranteed to Have “Level-for-Life” Premiums with a Whole Life Insurance Policy

[Read more…] “How Complex Is Dividend-Paying Whole Life Insurance?”

Get Financially Naked With Your Partner to Avoid Relationship Mistakes

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Do you remember the first time you got naked with your beloved?

Along with the passion of the moment, if you’re like most of us, you were probably a bit self-conscious. After all, for the first time, you may have had had to reveal that paunch you’d been hiding, those patches of cellulite or that outie belly button you’ve hated since the third grade.

But because you overcame those concerns and let yourself get naked – well, I don’t need to remind you what happened next!

The point is, when you allow yourself to get financially naked with your partner, amazing things can happen. You not only have a better understanding of one another, but you’ll also work better as a team to achieve your goals and tackle your problems.

It turns out that being clear and open with each other about financial issues is one of the most positive things you can do to ensure a “happily ever after.”

Couples May Argue About Sex, Kids and In-Laws, but It’s Their Arguments About Money that Best Predict Whether or Not They’re Headed for Divorce Court…

[Read more…] “Get Financially Naked With Your Partner to Avoid Relationship Mistakes”

The Most Important Lesson Learned from the Government Shutdown: Americans’ Finances are Fragile

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The longest U.S. government shutdown in history laid bare an uncomfortable truth: Americans aren’t saving enough and the majority of us have no rainy-day fund to protect us when the inevitable you-know-what hits the fan.

More than 70% (!) of all types of employees at all income levels surveyed live paycheck to paycheck and said they’d have difficulty meeting their financial obligations if their paycheck were delayed for just one week! That’s according to the 2018 “Getting Paid in America” Survey by the American Payroll Association.

This explains why, after missing just one or two paychecks, we heard so many heart-breaking stories from government workers who weren’t being paid or were furloughed. For example… [Read more…] “The Most Important Lesson Learned from the Government Shutdown: Americans’ Finances are Fragile”

How Much Money Do You Need to Save for Retirement?

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People need to save between 10% and 17% of their income if they plan to retire at 65 but are putting away only 6-8% of their income, according to a new study by the Stanford Center on Longevity. That’s only half of what they should be saving.

What percent of your household income are you saving? It’s important to be brutally honest with yourself because a shortfall of the magnitude most Americans will experience means more than just not being able to live the retirement lifestyle you dreamed of. It may mean…

  • Having to choose between putting food on the table and the medical care you need
  • Not being able to afford to pay for heating and air conditioning
  • Having to rely on the charity of your children
  • Foregoing travel and even life’s little luxuries

I doubt you worked hard all your life so that you can scrimp and sacrifice just to get by in retirement.

Fully 60% of U.S. households are at risk of not having enough money to make ends meet in retirement – even if they cut back to spending just 75% of pre-retirement levels – according to a 2018 study from the Center for Retirement Research.

The Rule of 25 for Determining How Much You’ll Need to Have Saved

[Read more…] “How Much Money Do You Need to Save for Retirement?”

Reviews for Saving for College Using the Bank On Yourself Method

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When you think about saving for your children’s college tuition, what savings vehicle comes to mind?

Families often use traditional investment and savings accounts, 529 College Savings Plans, UGMAs (Uniform Gift to Minors Accounts), and UTMAs (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act).

But there’s a big problem there. Who’s going to guarantee you won’t lose your money – and your kid’s chance for a great education – in a stock market crash?

Nobody.

Absolutely nobody. Not your broker, certainly. (Try asking him if he’ll guarantee your stock market investment. Get ready to be laughed at.)

Not Uncle Sam. And not the college. Nobody’s going to guarantee that your money in the market will grow. And nobody’s going to guarantee you won’t lose it in the next market crash.

And that’s the thing. This is your kid’s future you’re gambling with, for Pete’s sake. This is money you can’t afford to lose!

And if you can’t afford to lose it, you can’t afford to risk it. Because “Risk = possibility of loss.”

If you can’t afford to lose it, you can’t afford to risk it.”

That’s why the Bank On Yourself strategy for saving for college is becoming more and more popular. [Read more…] “Reviews for Saving for College Using the Bank On Yourself Method”