Why Retirement Security is Often Luck O’ the Draw?

from InvestmentNews.com

Just speaking historically, seniors retiring now are facing a tough environment. At the time of your retirement, for better or worse, the current interest rates can have a dramatic impact on the longevity of your retirement savings.

Wade D. Pfau, a professor of retirement income in the Ph.D program in the financial service and retirement planning at the American College in Bryn Mawr, Penn. states that “people who otherwise plan and save in the same responsible way, those born at the right time will be fortunate to sustain a high level of spending over their retirements. Others will live and work at times that will result in less fortunate outcomes. Good fortune is derived from experiencing strong market returns in the years around the retirement date, and we have no control over what these returns will be.”

Wealth accumulation is certainly an important part of your retirement planning but even more important is the amount of spending which can be sustained by this wealth.

Dr. Pfau has created an index to help calculate whether or not your client is retiring in a good place or bad.

You can find more about him at his blog: http://wpfau.blogspot.com

He estimates that today’s retirees can only safely replace 38.9% of their pre-retirement salary using the accumulated assets in their financial portfolio. Extremely low interest rates, while helpful in some areas, are a problem in this calculation.

This replacement rate is down from a high of 105.2% in 2000 and up from a low of 33.1% in 2013.

This is definitely a challenging time to enter into retirement. That’s where you as a Financial Planner can truly shine! You can offer a number of ideas and strategies to make your client’s longevity of retirement savings reach it’s full potential!

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Secrets for Successful Withdrawal

Sustainable income is a key factor in retirement planning.

Statistically, wealthier couples have a 43% chance that one of two spouses will live beyond age 95.
From 1969 to 1999 a portfolio of 60% equities & 40% bonds = avg. return of 11.48%
Unfortunately this comes with almost 0% returns over 12 years and 8% over the next 18 years.

Spending adjustments over time

Lifestyle spending slows between ages 70-84 with costs dropping as much as 30%
Higher inflation necessitates lower spending.

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