retirement - Page 3 of 3 - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

Posted on September 25, 2016 September 24, 2016

Finding The Path To A Stable Retirement When Savings And Social Security Aren’t Enough

September 25,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, As much as American workers look forward to retirement, many of them also worry that retirement is a luxury they can’t afford.

In fact, about one-fourth express concerns about running out of cash in retirement, according to a survey by the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council.

The problem, says Marco Kozlowski, (www.marcokozlowski.com) an entrepreneur and business consultant, is that too many people lock themselves into a few limited options for funding their retirement nest egg.

Social Security provides a small amount of income, but after that people rely on what little savings they can muster after paying bills and taking care of other daily living expenses.

When they realize their savings are coming up short, they consider alternative retirement plans, such as delaying Social Security so monthly payments will be higher, working in retirement, or turning to investments such as real estate to provide a different path to security.

Kozlowski is a proponent of the real estate alternative, but he warns that real estate comes with its own caveats.

“People think when you are talking about real estate that it’s going to be some get-rich-quick situation,” Kozlowski says. “It’s not. To be successful at it takes effort and education on how to do things correctly. Buying a home and buying investment property have completely different rules.”

Those willing to get educated and to put in the hard work will find that real estate can be the ticket to healthy retirement plan, he says.

He has a few tips to help those interested avoid some common pitfalls:

• Buy it right. Be on the lookout for the best deals. Ideally, you want to find properties that you can buy at a discount. If you really know what you are doing, you can get 20 percent or more off the actual property value. Don’t worry about the seller’s asking price. “If you make an offer and it gets accepted, you paid too much,” he says.
• Don’t fear negotiations. When it’s not something you do on a regular basis, negotiating can seem intimidating and uncomfortable. Some people just don’t like it, but good negotiations are critical and inevitable for success in life and real estate, so Kozlowski suggests just having fun with it. “Negotiations are nothing more than a conversation with another person, but with a goal in mind,” he says. “Remember that money is made on the buy. I’d rather get 100 rejected offers and one accepted at the right price. Rejection is free; a bad deal is costly.”
• Consider hiring a management firm. Owning and maintaining real estate can consume a lot of time. It’s best to get a management company to manage the properties and tenants for you so you can devote your time to other more important things – like making more offers to get more great deals in your portfolio
• Explore financing options. There are many ways to finance a real estate purchase. You don’t have to use your own capital and you don’t have to go through a bank. For example, you can seek out private money. You may pay more in interest, Kozlowski says, but there’s no limit on how many loans you can get as is the case with many banks.

Kozlowski cautions that real estate investing can be risky – especially if you don’t educate yourself before taking the plunge.

“The way to reduce all risk is through knowledge,” he says. “Everything we learn helps use avoid some sort of risk. In that sense, real estate investing isn’t much different from anything else in life.”

About Marco Kozlowski

Marco Kozlowski (www.marcokozlowski.com), author of the ebooks “WTF Wealth: The Formula” and “10 Myths of Investing in U.S. Real Estate,” is an entrepreneur and mentor who offers financial education on how to maximize real estate investing in the United States from anywhere in the world.

Posted on August 17, 2016 August 17, 2016

The Absolutely, Positively Best Time To File For Social Security – All Depends

After roughly four decades of non-stop work, it certainly can be enticing

August 17,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood Nj, You can begin drawing Social Security as early as age 62, finally getting back those dollars you’ve been paying into the system, possibly since you were a teenager handling cashier duties for a fast-food restaurant.

But taking Social Security a few years shy of traditional retirement age comes with a caveat. Your monthly check will be reduced, so you’ll draw as much as 30 percent less than you would if you waited until your full retirement age, which is 66 to 67 for most people these days.

At the other end of the equation, if you put off filing for Social Security until you’re 70, you can increase the amount of those checks.

So what’s a potential retiree to do?

“Unfortunately, there’s no perfect answer that applies to everyone,” says Alexander Joyce, president and CEO of ReJoyce Financial (www.ReJoyceFinancial.com). “When I’m working with a client, I’ll look at their entire financial situation and see how Social Security fits in. It’s not always an easy decision and there’s no exact science to follow.”

But Joyce says there are a few things to keep in mind as you approach 62 and begin mulling your options:

• Your neighbor’s decision isn’t your decision. It might be interesting to hear what other people have done, but that doesn’t mean you should follow suit. Their financial situation may be very different from yours, Joyce says. The right answer for them could be the absolutely wrong answer for you.
• Working in retirement makes a difference. Many people like to continue working, at least part-time, even after they begin drawing Social Security. But that can have ramifications. If you’ve reached full retirement age, no problem. Make as much money as you like. But if you take Social Security early, there’s a $15,720 annual limit on how much you can earn. For every $2 over that, you’ll lose $1 of Social Security.
• Maybe you need the money now. It could be that you worked the numbers and decided to wait until your full retirement age. But then fate intervened. You lost your job or health problems keep you from working. “There certainly are very good reasons why some people begin drawing their Social Security at 62,” Joyce says.
• Maybe you don’t need the money – just yet. If your finances are in good order, your savings robust and your employment stable, putting off Social Security until you’re 70 could make sense because you would be able to optimize the amount of those monthly checks. For example, if your full retirement age is 66, you would be able to receive 132 percent of your monthly benefit if you delayed filing for four years, according to the Social Security Administration website.

“Ultimately, the decision is yours, but it’s important to make that decision knowing all the implications,” Joyce says. “While there’s no right answer that applies to everyone, there could be at least a best answer that applies to you.”

About Alexander Joyce

Alexander Joyce is president and CEO of ReJoyce Financial LLC (www.ReJoyceFinancial.com). He’s also a Safe Money and Retirement Income Planning specialist, and has hosted radio shows, such as “The Safe Money and Income Radio Show” and “The Ask Mr. Annuity Radio Show.” Joyce is a licensed professional in Indiana and specializes in working with people who are near retirement or who are already retired, with wealth management, income planning, and asset protection strategies.

Posted on May 20, 2016 May 20, 2016

3 Avoidable Errors That Could Upend Your Retirement Plans

May 19,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, As older Americans approach retirement, many may be realizing their financial planning isn’t what it should have been.

That could mean they need to postpone retirement – or abandon the idea altogether.

“Most people don’t spend much time even thinking about retirement,” says Stephen Ng, author of “10 Financial Mistakes You Should Avoid: Strategies Designed to Help Keep Your Money Safe and Growing” (www.stephenngfg.com).

“They see it as a far-off time when they will have magically accumulated the money they need to jet around the world, pay for their grandchildren’s education, or otherwise have fun.”

That leaves them unprepared for the reality, Ng says. They may need to work part-time just to get by. It’s possible they will outlive their money.

“There’s no reason to work hard your whole life, but end up without the money you could have had because you failed to avoid common mistakes people make,” Ng says.

He says three examples of avoidable errors are:

• Failing to understand taxation. Most money is taxable right away, but in some cases, such as with individual retirement accounts, taxes can be deferred. A third category, Ng says, is tax-free money. Examples of tax-free investments include municipal bonds, life insurance proceeds and 529 education savings plans. “Your goal should be to shift as much taxable money as possible into the tax-deferred or tax-free categories,” he says.
• Acting without enough specialized advice. You might assume one financial advisor could handle all your investment needs. But that’s not necessarily the case, Ng says. The strongest plans usually benefit from multiple specialists. An eldercare attorney could be helpful for those 60 or older. A certified public accountant could assist you with tax-avoidance strategies. An estate-planning attorney can help minimize estate and inheritance taxes.
• Failing to appreciate the longevity risk. Medical advances allow people to live longer, but that creates a problem. Americans today are more likely than previous generations to outlive their money. They also are more likely to need a nursing home or some other form of long-term care, which can be expensive. “It’s important to ask yourself whether you have enough money to handle expenses for as long as you live,” Ng says. “Do you have enough to cover inflation? To cover long-term care? To cover healthcare?” The sooner people address the longevity risk, he says, the more prepared they may be to live a rich life.

Ng insists there’s still time for those nearing retirement to make amends – at least to some degree – if they haven’t planned for what lies ahead.

“I can’t stress this enough,” Ng says. “It’s never too late to formulate a plan. We can’t change the past, so the time to get started is now.”

About Stephen Ng

Stephen Ng, founder and president of Stephen Ng Financial Group, is author of “10 Financial Mistakes You Should Avoid: Strategies Designed to Help Keep Your Money Safe and Growing” (www.stephenngfg.com). Ng is a Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant and a Certified Estate Planner. He is also an Investment Advisor Representative with SagePoint Financial, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. He regularly holds financial management, retirement investing and insurance planning seminars at businesses, churches and non-profit organizations.

Securities and investment advisory services offered through SagePoint Financial, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC and a registered investment advisor. Insurance services offered through Stephen Ng Financial Group, LLC, which is not with SagePoint Financial, Inc. or registered as a broker-dealer or investment advisor.

Posted on April 19, 2016 April 19, 2016

The Right Questions To Ask For Financial Advice You Can Trust

April 19,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ Many people looking for good investments or hoping to save for retirement are wary of the very financial professionals who can help them reach their goals.

That was illustrated once again recently by the 2016 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient Report, which showed that just 37 percent of people surveyed believe the financial-services industry has a solid reputation.

The good news is that’s an improvement from past surveys. The bad news is that the pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry and government are the only ones with worse reputations.

Skepticism about the profession may sting a little, but there’s nothing wrong with caution when shopping for a financial professional, says Lou Desepoli, president of Desepoli Wealth Management (www.desepoliwealth.com).

“It’s important for investors to do their homework,” Desepoli says. “Don’t be timid about asking questions. A financial professional should answer any questions you have, and they should be able to provide details about fees, fiduciary standards and a client bill of rights.”

Mike Desepoli, Lou’s son and a wealth adviser at Desepoli Wealth Management, says all financial professionals may work with the same market conditions, but that doesn’t mean they are all created equal.

“How they assess, evaluate and react to the market is what sets one adviser apart from another,” he says.

The Desepolis say just a few of the topics an investor should broach when looking for an adviser include:

Fee transparency.

Ask how they are paid for the investments they recommend. Are they paid commissions on investments or other products they sell? Do they receive payments from mutual funds or investment companies they recommend? “What you’re trying to determine is whether they push investments that are more beneficial to them than they are to you,” Mike Desepoli says. “It’s best if the firm just charges a fee based on the value of the assets they manage for you. That makes it in their best interest for your portfolio to grow.”

Regulatory controls.

Find out what safeguards they have in place to protect against fraud. Have they ever been disciplined for unlawful or unethical actions? How do they ensure the firm remains in compliance with legal and regulatory statutes?

Experience and credentials.

The products an adviser can sell and the investment advice they can give are tied to their credentials. So find out what licenses and certifications they have.

“Most people spend more time shopping for a car than they do a financial adviser,” Lou Desepoli says. “But you want to be an informed consumer when it comes to who will handle your life savings. That person’s investment philosophy, their client-service philosophy and how they communicate with clients are all topics worth asking about.”

About Lou Desepoli

Lou Desepoli is the president and founder of Desepoli Wealth Management (www.desepoliwealth.com). He has more than 30 years’ experience in investment management, financial planning and tax consulting. He is also a CPA.

About Mike Desepoli

As a wealth adviser for Desepoli Wealth Management, Mike Desepoli serves as a wealth management resource to business owners and executives, assisting them in making proactive, personal financial decisions.

Posted on April 8, 2016 April 8, 2016

“fiduciary rule” one step closer to the Fed’s Stealing your Retirement Savings

“Saving for the future shouldn’t be a privilege for the wealthy, and Washington doesn’t need to put another roadblock between people and their financial goals. By ignoring the advice of the SEC and Congress, the DOL’s rule will increase the cost of retirement advice for lower- and middle-income Americans while creating a preferred class of rich investors. I will continue to fight for everyone’s right to get good financial advice because—unlike this administration—I believe in the people of New Jersey to make the best choices for their families and their futures.” Rep Scott Garrett

April 7,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Yesterday’s editorial (opening paragraphs below) point out that this set of rules is slanted to capture investment accounts with the goal of making small and medium sized savers invest in government run plans. Follow the money — those government run plans are going to lean toward investing in government paper with associated pitiful returns. That’s the conflict of interest that’s not being disclosed.

From the editorial…
President Obama’s regulators aren’t slowing down, alas. And on Wednesday they unveiled another part of their plan to push Americans out of private investment accounts and into government-run plans.

The Department of Labor says its so-called fiduciary rule will make financial advisers act in the best interests of clients. What Labor doesn’t say is that the rule carries such enormous potential legal liability and demands such a high standard of care that many advisers will shun non-affluent accounts. Middle-income investors may be forced to look elsewhere for financial advice even as Team Obama is enabling a raft of new government-run competitors for retirement savings. This is no coincidence.
Bu
Labor’s new rule will start biting in January as the President is leaving office. Under the rule, financial firms advising workers moving money out of company 401(k) plans into Individual Retirement Accounts will have to follow the new higher standards. But Labor has already proposed waivers from the federal Erisa law so new state-run retirement plans don’t have the same regulatory burden as private employers do.

This competitive advantage could be significant. Last month the board of California’s new “Secure Choice” retirement plan wrote to state legislators about their “exciting win” in Washington. They reported that employers enrolling workers in the new government-run plan “would have no liability or fiduciary duty for the plan.” Score! The California bureaucrats added that “we have been given the green light to auto-enroll workers into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA).”

Meanwhile, there are only losses for private competitors. The final rule Labor Secretary Tom Perez unveiled Wednesday is being marketed as less onerous than an earlier draft. Thus much of the financial industry is going to take a few weeks to decide on its response. But the main question is exactly how many billions of dollars in costs and lost opportunities will be visited upon investors. And how big the incentive will be to seek government options…

Posted on January 26, 2016 January 25, 2016

New Jersey Ranks Near the Bottom (#46) in States to Retire In

file photo by Boyd Loving

2016’s Best and Worst States to Retire

by Richie Bernardo

Retirement might be the end of the line, but it doesn’t have to be the end of financial security or life satisfaction. For many of us, our primary concern with retirement is timing, which often coincides with the age at which we become eligible to receive Social Security or pension benefits. Hopefully the choice will be ours and not dictated by our circumstances — the unfortunate case for nearly a third of nonretirees who haven’t put away a single penny for retirement, though not necessarily through any fault of their own.

But in addition to when you want to retire, you might want to ask yourself where. That can be an awfully difficult question to answer if you haven’t adequately planned — or been able to plan — for the rest of your life. Even in the most affordable areas of the U.S., retirees often cannot rely on their Social Security or pension checks alone to cover all of their living expenses. Social Security benefitsincrease progressively with local inflation, but they replace only about 40 percent of the amount you earned if you were an average worker, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-retire/18592/

Posted on September 12, 2015 September 10, 2015

Rep. Scott Garrett addresses “Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans”

Sep 10, 2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, delivered the following opening remarks at a Joint Oversight & Investigations/Capital Markets Subcommittee hearing entitled “Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans”:

Congressman Scott Garrett’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:

Every day, millions of Americans look to a broker dealer or investment adviser for guidance on what to do with their hard-earned savings and to help them achieve a secure and prosperous retirement

Once a privilege enjoyed only by the super-wealthy, personalized investment advice and access to the financial markets is now something that can be enjoyed by Americans of all income levels

The 2008 financial crisis and the current market turmoil have highlighted the importance of such advice, as numerous studies show that investors who work with a financial professional receive better and more consistent returns on their investments, while those who invest on their own often times make the mistake of “buying high and selling low”

In fact, the Department of Labor estimated in 2011 that people who invest without the benefit professional advice make errors that can cost them $114 billion every year

That makes it all the more curious that this same Department of Labor is now marching forward with a regulation that will upend the ability of Americans to receive such guidance and which threatens the retirement security of the most vulnerable within our society

When President Obama announced the rulemaking earlier this year, a release from the White House stated that the rule “…is taking a step to crack down on those…Wall Street brokers…who don’t put the best interest of working and middle class families first.”

But in looking down our panel of witnesses today and in reading through some of the 2,300 comment letters received by the DOL, it’s pretty clear that the biggest impact of this rule is going to be felt far from Wall Street – and millions of middle or lower income households may ultimately have no place to go for advice

Moreover, the SEC continues to contemplate implementation of a uniform fiduciary standard under Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank, a rulemaking that remains unsupported by empirical data and which could directly conflict with a DOL rule

So it’s clear that the time for Congress to act is now – and I want to commend Mrs. Wagner of Missouri for her continued leadership on this issue and for again putting forth a thoughtful piece of bipartisan legislation that will help preserve access to financial advice for Americans of all income levels

I thank our witnesses again and look forward to the discussion today

Posted on May 9, 2015 May 9, 2015

Social Security’s in worse shape than you thought: Study

Tom Anderson | @bytomanderson

The Social Security Administration projects that its trust funds will be depleted by 2033—not an optimistic forecast. But it may be even bleaker than that.

New studies from Harvard and Dartmouth researchers find that the SSA’s actuarial forecasts have been consistently overstating the financial health of the program’s trust funds since 2000.

“These biases are getting bigger and they are substantial,” said Gary King, co-author of the studies and director of Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science. “[Social Security] is going to be insolvent before everyone thinks.”

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ 2014 report to Congress last year found trust fund reserves for both its combined retirement and disability programs will grow until 2019. Program costs are projected to exceed income in 2020 and the trust funds will be depleted by 2033 if Congress doesn’t act. Once the trust funds are drained, annual revenues from payroll tax would be projected to cover only three-quarters of scheduled Social Security benefits through 2088.

Researchers examined forecasts published in the annual trustees’ reports from 1978, when the reports began to consistently disclose projected financial indicators, until 2013. Then, they compared the forecasts the agency made on such variables as mortality and labor force participation rates to the actual observed data. Forecasts from trustees reports from 1978 to 2000 were roughly unbiased, researchers found. In that time, the administration made overestimates and underestimates, but the forecast errors appeared to be random in their direction.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102659216

Posted on January 13, 2015 January 20, 2019

More expected to flee New Jersey as baby boomers age

More expected to flee New Jersey as baby boomers age

For Raymond Francisco, landing a job at the General Motors auto plant in Linden at 25 years old was like winning the lottery.

The New Brunswick native was a welder by trade, and enjoyed working hard for the good money he made at the plant. But when GM announced in 2002 it would close the factory — about six years after he started — Francisco decided he had to go where the jobs were.

That meant packing up his wife, two small children and moving to Lordstown, Ohio, where GM offered him another job at an assembly plant.

People are leaving New Jersey at a higher rate than 47 other states, just behind New York, which is No. 1, and Illinois, according to James Hughes, a demographer and dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. (Kachmar/Asbury Park Press)

https://www.app.com/story/news/local/2015/01/12/expected-flee-new-jersey-baby-boomers-age/21663035/

Posted on September 2, 2014 September 2, 2014

The new face of retirement: Many Americans find second career after calling the first one quits

The new face of retirement: Many Americans find second career after calling the first one quits

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2014, 7:11 AM
BY JONNELLE MARTE
BLOOMBERG NEWS
THE RECORD

MIAMI — For Richard Tiberius, retirement didn’t arrive from one day to the next.

As it does for many Americans today, the milestone came in phases. The first phase began two years ago when he went part time in his role as the director of the educational development office for the medical school at the University of Miami and his $120,000 salary dropped to about $70,000. He was hoping to free up more time to paint, a second career of sorts that had been boxed into nights and weekends.

Tiberius, now 73, figured that with his wife’s income, his Social Security benefits and the pension from his time as a researcher in Toronto, he could afford to spend more time in the studio at his Coconut Grove home. But he wasn’t ready to quit the university.

“When you’re cultivating something, growing something — whether it’s a business, painting or academic work — it’s hard to leave it,” Tiberius said.

Roughly half — 47 percent — of retirees say they are working or plan to work during retirement, according to a study released earlier this year by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Age Wave, a research firm. And the motivation isn’t always financial: As advances in health care make it possible for people to live longer — and healthier — lives, the idea of a part-time or flexible job appeals to people looking to keep busy. It’s an added bonus if the job pays enough to keep them from tapping into their savings.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/personal-finance/the-new-face-of-retirement-1.1079192#sthash.4QfURtln.dpuf

Posted on July 7, 2014 April 11, 2016

Student-loan debt hurts some North Jerseyans nearing retirement

Student-loan debt hurts some North Jerseyans nearing retirement

JULY 6, 2014, 9:27 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014, 9:31 PM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Lingering student-loan debt — which in recent years has been a drag on the economy as borrowers delay big-ticket purchases such as homes and cars — is now beginning to affect millions as they head toward retirement.

More than 16 percent of the nearly $1.2 trillion in outstanding student-loan debt in the nation is held by people over 50, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank. In New Jersey, the median balance of those loans is more than $16,000.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/student-loan-debt-hurts-some-north-jerseyans-nearling-retirement-1.1047009#sthash.np50P2lM.dpuf

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)