One of the things to remember when you are saving for retirement is that once you reach age 70.5, you are required to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) each year from your retirement account.
Even if you don’t want the money.
If you don’t take the RMD, you will find yourself hit with an excise tax. So, while you do need to remember that you cannot withdraw from most tax-advantaged retirement plans until you are 59.5, you also need to plan for the fact that at some point you have to begin taking RMDs.

Yesterday I briefly hit on the fact that the emergency Fed rate cut will do little to help those whose retirement income relies on cash investments, such as savings accounts and CDs.
Interestingly, though, the rate cut, and other moves to help build “confidence” in the market (like the bond insurer bailout) could help those with investment retirement account like 401(k)s and IRAs. Unfortunately, many people still don’t realize the importance of these tax-deferred retirement accounts. Country Insurance & Financial Services found the following about tax-deferred retirement accounts:
Americans’ admission to their lack of awareness is on target, as half of those …read more

There is more to retirement planning than just the part where you save money for retirement. Indeed, there are other factors that will affect how your money will be spent — and how long it will have to last. This guest post addresses some of the other factors to consider in retirement planning.
Focus on Your Goals to Achieve Retirement Readiness

By Mark J. Smith, CFP®, CPA/PFS, CIMA®
 

At M.J. Smith and Associates, we have observed that many times people fail to properly plan for their financial retirement needs because they focus exclusively on money. But retirement goals aren’t just financial. …read more

One of the more interesting retirement planning options is the reverse mortgage. With the importance of passing a home down from generation to generation diminishing, fewer retirees worry much about the equity in their homes. And this is creating a drive for a popular product known as the reverse mortgage.
Reverse mortgage
The reverse mortgage is kind of what it sounds like. You structure a home equity loan so that the bank makes mortgage payments to you. The money still has to be paid back, but it doesn’t happen until the home is sold. And the payback (interest included) is made with …read more

There are many ways that Wednesday’s Fed rate cut could affect your personal finances. But when it comes to yielding wealth, in the long term, the Fed rate cut may not be terribly helpful. After all, in the long term, most rates, like mortgages are more affected by the rate on the 10-year Treasury note.
Consider this (especially in light of retirement planning): A Fed rate cut can pave the way to higher inflation. While September’s rate cut was meant to get the economy under control, and maybe provide a boost to the housing market, some analysts are afraid that …read more

One of the reasons that investing is such an important part of your financial plans, including retirement planning, is inflation. Inflation is basically (in very simplistic terms) how fast prices rise. It’s how fast things increase in cost. And one term you hear about now is core inflation. Daniel Gross explains core inflation in Newsweek:
Catch that bit about “core inflation”? That’s Fedspeak for: inflation is under control, unless you look at the costs of things that are going up. The core rate excludes the prices of food and energy, which can be volatile from month to month.
But as you probably …read more

Part of yielding wealth is having a financial plan. Creating a financial plan should also include retirement planning. In fact, this is one of the most important parts.
The three-legged stool
Retirement funding is often referred to as the three-legged stool. The three legs are as follows:

The government, which helps out through Social Security
Company pension plans, which are becoming scarce
Your own personal financial health and savings

As you can see, two of the three legs listed above are becoming rapidly shorter. Although company pension plans are being widely replaced by such things as IRAs and 401(k)s. This just means that the stool is …read more