Lessons about Retirement

Great new article written by Vanguard titled Lessons about retirement - learned in retirement. They interviewed Stan Hinden who used to work for The Washington Post but at age 83 has now been retired for a number of years. Some of the takeaways from this piece:

- Make sure you have a steady flow of income that will allow you to maintain a comfortable standard of living for the rest of your life.

- Maximize your Social Security by waiting to receive full benefits at age 70 versus taking early.

- Consider buying an annuity - can help you mitigate longevity risk and risk of long term market underperformance.

- Only take RMDs from your tax-deferred accounts if possible or else taxes will eat you alive.

- Health care will most likely cost a lot more than you expect.

- Prescription drug costs could be substantial if you are heavily dependent on them.

- Have a budget with a clear view of what your income/expenses are going to be.

- Find a well-qualified financial planner - don't do this yourself.

- Wait until age 70 at earliest before you retire.

- Have children/family nearby.

- Stay healthy well before you retire.

- Don't negelect your friends.

Stan makes lots of great points here! He has also written a book "How to Retire Happy: The 12 Most Important Decisions You Must Make Before You Retire" which should be work checking out as well.

Carleton

McHenry Capital, LLC helps Baby Boomers on the verge of retirement overcome all their financial fears, worries, and anxieties they have and associate with retirement. We help our clients get crystal clear about envisioning the kind of retirement they want, and we create a real strategy to help them accomplish this. We work with our clients in a Fee-Only, Fiduciary, Product Neutral approach to ensure their best interests always come first. For more information, please contact us at 888-968-9815 or visit us on the web at http://www.mchenrycapital.com/.