By: C&A Financial Services Article Highlights:
Still other people have simply been ignoring the need to save for their retirement, which can have an unpleasant result when it comes time to retire. That tends to be the case with younger individuals who perceive retirement to be far in the future and therefore believe they have plenty of time to save for it. Some will postpone the issue until late in life and then must scramble during their last few working years to fund their retirement. Other people ignore the issue altogether, thinking their Social Security income (assuming they qualify for it) will take care of their retirement needs.
By current government standards, a single individual with $12,490 or a married couple with $16,910 of annual household income is at the 100% poverty level. If you compare those levels with potential Social Security benefits, you may find that expecting to retire on just Social Security income may result in a bleak retirement. You can predict your future Social Security income by visiting the Social Security Administration’s Retirement Estimator. With the Retirement Estimator, you can plug in some basic information to get an instant, personalized estimate of your future benefits. Different life choices can alter the course of your future, so try out different scenarios – such as higher and lower future earnings amounts and various retirement dates – to get a good idea of how these scenarios can change your future benefit amounts. Once you’ve done this, consider what your retirement would be like with only Social Security income. If you are fortunate enough to have an employer-, union-, or government-funded retirement plan, determine how much you can expect to receive when you retire. Add that amount to any Social Security benefits you are entitled to and then consider what retirement would be like with that combined income. If this result portends an austere retirement, know that you will be better off the sooner you start saving for retirement. With today’s low interest rates and up-and-down stock market, it is much more difficult to grow a retirement plan with earnings than it was 10 or 20 years ago. With current interest rates not even, or just barely, covering inflation rates, there is little or no effective growth. That means one must set aside more of one’s current earnings to prepare for a comfortable retirement. Because the government wants you to save and prepare for your own retirement, tax laws offer a variety of tax incentives for retirement savings plans, both for wage earners and for self-employed individuals and their employees. These plans include the following:
Qualified 2020 Distributions – For 2020, the Congress did provide relief from the early 10% distribution penalty on up to $100,000 for distributions from IRAs and qualified retirement plans. Individuals who qualify for these distributions include the following:
Each individual’s financial resources, family obligations, health, life expectancy, and retirement expectations will vary greatly, and there is no one-size-fits-all retirement savings strategy for everyone. Purchasing a home and putting children through college are exemplary events that can limit an individual’s or family’s ability to make retirement contributions; these events must be accounted for in any retirement planning. If you have questions about any of the retirement vehicles discussed above, please give this office a call.
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