Retirement Watch Lighthouse Logo

Retirement Planning

Bob Carlson shares miscellaneous advice on retirement and related topics

Found 107 Articles.
Get access to our full article archive by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.

Saving Underfunded Retirement

July 5, 2018

Morningstar conducted a study of the best ways for someone who hasn’t saved enough for retirement to ensure a comfortable retirement. It found that taking a number of relatively small actions are the best approach, because there’s no one big action that’s has a high probability of success. The worst action to take is to […]

How Much Should You Be Saving for Retirement?

June 6, 2018

Young people should be saving a lot more than their parents and grandparents. There are a lot of reasons for this, including lower expected investment returns. This article argues that the pattern of contributions make over their lifetimes mean they should be contributing at least 20% of their earnings most of their careers. So during […]

Should You Be Debt-Free in Retirement?

June 4, 2018

Should you try to be debt-free in retirement? For a long time it was taken for granted that people wanted to be debt-free in retirement. People even held mortgage-burning parties and paid cash for everything purchased in retirement. Now, more people see no reason to avoid debt simply because they’re retired. There are financial advisors […]

How to Plan Life Expectancy in Your Retirement Strategy

May 11, 2018

It’s one of the most important issues in anyone’s retirement plans… And most people completely shortchange it, resulting in a wildly inaccurate plan. You see, a goal of every retirement plan is to ensure your income and cash flow last at least the rest of your life. To meet that goal, you need a reasonable […]

How Working Longer Changes Retirement Strategies

May 4, 2018

Those who keep working past age 65 need to consider actions that might optimize their Retirement plans. There are a lot of reasons to work past typical retirement age, and the reasons for staying in the labor force often indicate how the retirement plan should change during the additional working years. Consider these actions. Establish […]

Winning Your Treasure Hunt for Lost Cash

May 4, 2018

You’ve probably seen the headlines about billions of dollars in lost money held by governments. They’re true, and some of the money might be yours. You don’t have to pay someone to find the money and return it to you. It’s easy to locate most of the lost money and have it returned. But a […]

simplify-your-finances

5 Strategies to Simplify Your Retirement Finances

March 2, 2018

Most people’s finances are too complicated. And what I’ve found – after 20-plus years of publishing Retirement Watch – is that complicated finances lead to procrastination and stress. Too much time is spent simply organizing papers and data to figure out where things stand. By then, people are too exhausted to make decisions or implement […]

6 Problems that Can Crush Your Retirement Plan Goals

February 9, 2018

It’s the story I hate to hear from my readers… People who planned well for retirement but saw their hard work and planning fall apart during retirement. These stories are all too common. Yet the causes of most of these retirement failures are well-known. Avoid these 6 problems and recurring mishaps, and your retirement is […]

pixel

Log In

Forgot Password

Search