Picture a woman who turned 67 last fall, hit what Social Security calls her full retirement age (FRA), and filed for benefits the same week. The checks started arriving at $3,200 a month. Four…
Replacing $36,000 a year in income is roughly equivalent to generating the cash flow from a maximum Social Security benefit for a single retiree, or about $3,000 a month before taxes. A 66-year-old with…
For Social Security retirees, a new prediction of a big raise in 2027 may seem like good news at first glance. The Senior Citizens League has estimated that retirees are likely on track for…
Naples sits near the top of many retirement wish lists for a reason. Retirees are drawn by the Gulf beaches, warm winters, abundant golf courses, strong healthcare network, low crime rates, and Florida’s lack…
A listener wrote into The Clark Howard Podcast with a complaint that should make every near-retiree pause. Clark's advice to delay Social Security until 70 to lock in the 8% annual delayed retirement credit…
A 70-year-old retiree with a $1.1 million portfolio who wants to generate $5,800 per month, or $69,600 annually, quickly encounters a challenge when applying traditional retirement planning guidelines. Using the classic 4% withdrawal rule,…
A 56-year-old GS-13 federal employee covered by FERS, with 28 years of service and $940,000 in the Thrift Savings Plan, can run the numbers through most retirement calculators and receive a favorable result. Using…
A 52-year-old senior engineer walks out of the office for the last time with $1.5 million in a former employer’s 401(k), $400,000 in a taxable brokerage, and $200,000 in cash. The plan is $80,000…
A 62-year-old single retiree seeking to replace a $65,000 pre-retirement salary faces a straightforward but important challenge: generating enough portfolio income to support that spending level. The amount of capital required depends largely on…
The Villages comes up frequently when readers ask us to stress test a retirement plan. It is the country’s best known retirement community, an inland sprawl of golf carts, town squares, and pickleball courts…
A retired teacher and her husband, both older than 65, review their retirement income and wonder whether they are making the most of their resources. Her state pension provides $2,900 per month, while voluntary…
A single retiree turns 64, loses her father, and inherits roughly $720,000 in a traditional IRA. She still has a mortgage, still does some consulting on the side, and figures the smartest move is…
The scenario looks routine on paper. Husband, 68, sitting on a $1.6 million traditional 401(k). Wife, 66, with another $700,000 in her own pre-tax plan. Combined Social Security at 70 will run about $72,000…
All too often, middle-class Americans in their forties have a number in their head, and a number in their bank account, and the two are nowhere near each other. According to the Transamerica Center…
A 67-year-old single retiree with $1.4 million in a traditional 401(k), another $200,000 in a brokerage account, and $25,000 a year in Social Security claimed at full retirement age faces a decision that most…
