Myths and Truths about Retirement

Myths of retirement - Here are the most common thoughts that we have heard as we have talked with people who are either looking at retirement or already retired. These misconceptions shape our thinking, and impact how we see ourselves living out this time of life called retirement. They create not the Golden Years, but the Grey Years.
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Written by Jeff Bosco with no comments.
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Should You Just Rely on Your Social Security To Guarantee Your Future?

While many Americans realize that Social Security won’t provide them with enough income to get by, most people might not realize just how inadequate Social Security checks are. According to the Social Security Administration the average Social Security check today is for under $720.00 a month, which equals approximately 50% of the averages retiree’s budget. The other percentages amount to this, 23% is attributed to ongoing employment, and the final 27% represents Personal Savings /Investments.

In a study, Standard & Poors’ illustrated how Social Security benefits differ among individuals who were at various earnings levels before they quit working. Let’s look at some examples. Let’s say that John , Mary and Skip all retire at the age of 65 in 2001. In their last full working year, John earned 20,000, Mary earned 40,000, and Skip earned 57,600. During their first retirement year, John received 8,988 from Social Security, which represents almost 45% 0f what he earned during his last year of work.

Mary, on the other hand, received 12,768 from Social Security, or 32 percent of the amount she earned in her last year before retirement. Skip collected 13,336 from Social Security, or just 23.5 percent of the amount she earned in his last year of work.

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Written by Jeff Bosco with no comments.
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