Welcome to Retirement Scan, our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be talking about.
Super savers are more likely than non-savers to plan an early retirement, according to this CNBC story which cites a TD Ameritrade study. These folks work toward their goal by building their reserves early, making more investments and picking options with low fees. They also craft well-diversified portfolios and invest in post-tax Roth IRAs. “They’re looking at their future and saying, ‘If I pay taxes today, I could potentially have more tomorrow,’” says one expert.
A strategy of allocating 90% of their assets in stocks could be too aggressive for some retirees, according to an expert in this Motley Fool article. However, a stock allocation higher than 60% could be fine as long as retirees receive pension benefits and have other sources of guaranteed income such as a business or rental property to cover their living expenses, the expert says.
There are some spending habits that clients should avoid to better protect their retirement savings, according to this article in Fox Business. For example, clients should reject the temptation to purchase unneeded items simply because they are on sale. Also, not tracking small expenses and spending any unexpected windfalls can also hurt th retirement savings.
Clients working for state and local government and nonprofit organizations should take advantage of the catch-up contributions in their 457 plans, according to this article on TheStreet. A 457 plan is a non-qualified, tax-advantaged, deferred compensation retirement strategy that enables participants who are three years away from retirement to do a catch-up. This could be double the annual limit, or the basic annual limit plus the unused amount of the limit in the prior years, whichever is lower.
