Plan Your Strategy for A Comfortable Retirement

Your‘re caught up in a rat race. Going to work, taking care of family expenses and you don’t realize days are flying by. You celebrate your 30th birthday, then a gala 40th birthday bash and so on. You are so busy with your career that, retirement planning is not anywhere on your priority list. But come retirement, it hits you like a thunderbolt. Bam! Why didn’t I plan for it before you think? Most people start planning for retirement close to retirement age. They get so entangled with day-to...

A Review Of Britain’s Pension Performance

Media attention and auto-enrolment have pushed pensions to the front of our minds, but how has Britain’s pension performance altered over time? Each quarter, True Potential Investor — a UK personal pension and investment specialist — creates their Tackling The Savings Gap: Consumer Savings and Debt Data report. The campaign was launched in 2013 and to date has polled 30,000 people to determine current attitudes to pensions, savings and financial knowledge in the UK. Using findings from th...

How Retirement Plans Are Changing

Just like life goals differ depending on the individual, so do retirement plans. However, are pension pressures and debt demands changing what we’re dreaming of? A recent survey by True Potential suggests so. It seems that recent findings show that different generations have different expectations when it comes to retirement. For a number of years, a round-the-world trip has been the retirement dream for many — and it seems that 25-34 year olds are keeping this dream alive. Different age ...

The UK Pension Map – Who’s Saving The Most?

Credit: True Potential

Retirement is a matter of concern for almost anybody across the world. Once the inflow of income stops, the reserve funds always seem to run out faster than expected. And soon, people face a terrible financial situation where they are forced to compromise on a lifestyle that they have become accustomed to their whole lives. (more…)

Never Withdraw From Your IRA

Never withdraw from your IRA. There are a lot of good reasons not to do so, including penalties if you're under 59 1/2 years old. There are also times when the expression "rules are made to be broken" applies. Why shouldn't you withdraw? What are the advantages and disadvantages? And when should you disregard the advice to never withdraw from your IRA? Penalties and Taxes on Withdrawing From Your IRA Early Accessing the income you've set aside for the future might seem like a good idea durin...

Making Sense of Retirement Mumbo Jumbo for Those Just Starting Out

Working twenty-something professionals should count their blessings at a time when their age bracket is faced with a record unemployment rate. The concept of American retirement has completely changed in the wake of the global financial crisis, and it's easy to see why many young workers are willingly keeping their minds off of retirement planning. They feel lucky enough to be employed and don't want to squander precious income and resources on something they perceive as a waste. But it's becaus...

Baby-Boomer Generation Must Get Serious About Planning for Retirement

One maxim of life is that it is never too early or too late to start saving for retirement. However, our “Baby-Boomer” generation, the ones that were born in the two decades that followed World War II, have been preparing for retirement, but have, unfortunately, undergone two severe business-cycle reversals in the past ten years alone. Stock portfolios have taken a beating, and home equity values have plummeted, especially if a recent refinancing was used to pay down other debt. Many of these...

Your Retirement is not Enough: What to Do When You’re Broke

Recessions come and go and inflation is here to stay. In your 40’s, economic ups and downs don’t affect you because you know that with about 20 years left before retirement, you’ll have plenty of earning opportunities. You change jobs, get promoted, and earn bonuses for outstanding performance. Your savings are modest but you know that they will grow, providing you with a comfortable nest egg. But life is full of detours. What happens when you reach your late 50s and early 60s and realize...

Understanding Fixed Annuities

In its most basic definition, an annuity is the contract that is created between a consumer and a life insurance company when the individual pays one premium that will be disbursed to the consumer over a fixed period of time. A fixed annuity is similar to a bank CD in its mode of operation, and its rates are often competitive with those of such CDs. However, it should be noted that fixed annuities often do not guarantee a specific rate of return over the entire life of the contract. By contrast,...