Finding the right all-in-one retirement community: Retirement Scan

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

Finding the right 'all-in-one' retirement community
Moving to a retirement community is a great option for seniors if they don't have enough support from family and friends and they have a sizeable nest egg to finance such an arrangement, according to this article on Morningstar. Finding the right "all-in-one" retirement community is crucially important. "I wouldn't recommend it for people with less than $500,000 in assets. It's easier to have this conversation with people with seven-figure portfolios," says a retirement planner.

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Source: Bloomberg

3 bad reasons Americans don't fund IRAs
Only less than one-third of workers polled by TIAA claimed that they are contributing to an IRA, according to this article on Motley Fool. The survey also found that 28% are not contributing to an IRA because they don't understand how the account works, with 17% of the participants saying the account is too complicated for them. Forty-six percent of the participants said they don't have enough funds to sock away in the account.

Opinion: Why these early retirees won’t touch bitcoin or other cryptos — and neither should you
Pre-retirees and retirees will be better off veering away from cryptocurrencies like bitcoin because of the risks involved, according to this article on MarketWatch. “Dabbling in bitcoin lies somewhere between gambling and investing. After all, true investing requires a rational appraisal of an asset’s value and that is simply not possible at present with bitcoin…" says an analyst.

How tax reform impacts your traditional 401(k) or Roth 401(k) decision
A Roth account looks more attractive for retirement investors under the new tax law, according to this article on Forbes. That's because more workers either are in a zero-percent bracket or have moved to a lower bracket because of the new law. A Roth option is recommended to workers who expect an increase in future income and tax liability. Moreover, tax rates are likely to increase in the foreseeable future if federal deficit steadily increases.

3 examples of doing good with a self-directed IRA
Self-directed IRAs allow investors to use their assets to invest in real estate and other alternative assets, creating opportunities for them to assist their communities, writes an expert on MarketWatch. For example, a couple pooled $106,000 of their IRA assets to help a flood victim rebuild his house. The house was later on sold for $235,000, and the couple collected a share of 33% of the sale proceeds, which they returned to their self-directed IRA without paying any taxes.

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Retirement planning IRAs Bitcoin Retirement readiness Roth 401(k) 401(k) Cryptocurrency
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