My Biggest Retirement Mistake: Retirement Scan

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

'My biggest retirement mistake'
Five clients share the mistakes they've made in retirement investing and what they should have done to avoid these missteps. One of them says he wished he had paid more attention to the impact of investment costs, which ate away his portfolio, which was still hurting from the market crash in 2008. Another client says he would have had a bigger nest egg by now if he kept his retirement savings intact and not withdrawn all the money when he lost his job years ago.  --CNN Money

Dueling data muddies Social Security debate
Contrary to a report from the Congressional budget office, Social Security costs are unlikely to quadruple in the next six years, according to Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Writing for MarketWatch, Munnell notes that Social Security actuaries predicted that the system would have a 75-year deficit of 1.7% of taxable payrolls in 2008 and 2.88% in 2014. But based on the projections, the deficit increase stands at 70%, not 400% as the report claims, Munnell says.  --MarketWatch

Split up Social Security when couple splits up?
Retirees will continue to get the same value of their Social Security benefits if they decide to file for divorce, according to this article in Bankrate. A divorcee is also entitled to receive a survivor benefit on her ex-spouse's Social Security record in the event of the ex-spouse's death. Her survivor benefit will not affect the benefit of the surviving spouse, who is eligible to get the same provided if the marriage lasted at least nine months before the retiree's death. -- Yahoo Finance

Looking beyond Medicare's nursing home ratings: What to kow before picking a facility
Medicare's five-star rating system can be useful for retirees who are looking for a nursing home to compare the facilities, according to an article in Forbes. However, the rating system only focuses on the aspect of safety and misses on what has to be measured to reflect the quality of nursing homes. Retirees may still use the rating system, but are advised to do their own inspection and get first-hand information from residents, families, staffers, and local officials to determine if the nursing home provides the services that they need. --Forbes

5 tips for tapping your nest egg
To avoid outliving their nest eggs, retirees are often told to withdraw 4% of their retirement savings in the first year and adjust the rate for inflation in the succeeding years, according to this article on Time Money. However, a number of studies question such a strategy, and experts give differing views on the best withdrawal rate for retirees. Read the tips on how much clients can withdraw from their nest eggs while making sure there is enough left for them in the remaining years.  --Time Money

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