Retirees share 6 secrets to financial well-being

Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.

Retirees share 6 secrets to financial well-being
Many seniors who succeeded in retirement set their sights on becoming millionaires while they were young, according to this article on Yahoo Finance. They also cut on spending and invested the money they saved for retirement and put health coverage ahead of other financial goals. Many successful retirees also downsized at an earlier date, bought insurance as soon as they could and decided to get professional advice.

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Retiree Fujio Umemoto sails a yacht near Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan, on Saturday, June 24, 2017. Record numbers of overseas travelers are visiting Japan but people like Umemoto are the main clients for high-end tourism. Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg

Tapping a Roth IRA for a house
Clients are allowed to take tax- and penalty-free withdrawals from their Roth IRA any time to cover the purchase of their first home, according to this Q-and-A article on Kiplinger. They can also withdraw as much as $10,000 of the earnings portion of their Roth IRA without facing any penalty, but they will owe taxes unless the account has been in existence for at least five years.

Even Americans with decent savings worry about running out of money in retirement
A study by Allianz has found that 66% of older clients with more than $400,000 in savings are worried that their nest egg would not be enough to cover their needs in retirement, according to this article on Motley Fool. Sixty-one percent of the respondents also considered working past their retirement age to improve their prospects, the study found. Seniors who feel that they don't have enough savings for retirement are advised to make the most of the catch-up contributions in their retirement plans, take on a second job to have more money to save and work longer to boost their Social Security income.

Not all older workers are counting the days to retirement — many want to work
Estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the groups of workers in the 65-74 and 75-and-older age bracket will increase faster than other groups, according to this article on MarketWatch. Seniors who are approaching retirement should weigh their post-career options before making a decision, says an expert. “Look at what work does for you. Work gives a sense of purpose, it’s money, structure, social contact. You need to look at those needs. How will they be met?”

Yes, Medicare for All is expensive. That’s not the point.
The U.S. will be better off with a national health insurance plan than keeping the existing health insurance system, even if commercial insurers and their supporters argue that proposed Medicare for All would be too expensive, writes an expert on Washington Post. "Our commercial health insurance system is crazy and unsustainable, and Medicare for All is the only realistic path to reduce national health spending and improve the quality of our health-care system."

This article originally appeared in Financial Planning.
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Retirement planning Retirement readiness Retirement income IRAs Roth IRAs Medicare
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