Retirement Planning
Bob Carlson shares miscellaneous advice on retirement and related topics
Found 103 Articles.
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The Soft Side of Retirement Planning
It seems that recently many people are becoming aware of something I’ve made clear in Retirement Watch over the years. Retirement isn’t all about the money, and as hard as it is to arrange your finances for a secure retirement, that isn’t the hard part. The hard part is what I call the soft side […]
$1 Million For Retirement Is Not Enough?
This article shouldn’t be news to anyone who reads Retirement Watch or my books, but it is news to The New York Times that a $1 million retirement nest egg might not be enough for most people. It lists all the mistakes people are likely to make: Investing only in bonds; underestimating life expectancy; forgetting […]
Retired at 30
Apparently there’s a guy in Colorado who, along with his wife, retired by the time he was 30. He also has a blog that attracted a fair amount of attention. You can read his story in this article. His story supports a conversation I’ve had many times. Someone will ask me, “When can I retire.” […]
Myths of Retirement Planning
The annual Retirement Confidence Survey generated more news and commentary this year than usual. One reason is that it reveals Americans are less confident about having a financially comfortable retirement than ever. Another reason is that it indicates many people simply have given up saving and planning for retirement. A good commentary is here. It […]
The Real Retirement Planning Problem
Our focus most of the time is on the financial aspects of retirement and planning for it. But there’s an ultimate goal involved. Yes, we want financial security and freedom. But the ultimate goal is to be happy or satisfied. That’s why periodically I report on surveys of people’s happiness and what makes people happy. […]
The Neglected Part of Retirement Planning
Medical expenses and long-term care costs are the wild card in all retirement plans. Most people don’t plan well for them. Even those who use financial advisors arent’ doing a good job of planning for medical expenses, according to a new survey by Nationwide Financial. We discussed in Retirement Watch many times the importance of […]
Reconsidering the 80% of Pre-Retirement Income Rule
Pick up a standard retirement reference or work with a traditional planner, and you’ll be told that a retirement plan has to save enough to spend 80% of pre-retirement income in retirement. I’ve criticized that a number of different ways in Retirement Watch and in my books. Christine Benz of Morningstar takes up that argument […]
Why So Many People End Up Poor In Retirement
There’s a lot of discussion about the number of Americans who enter retirement financially prepared. There are surveys of people that give their self-assessments of their financial position. There are studies of data obtained from the IRS or the Federal Reserve. But one study points out that all these views take the wrong approach. They […]
