What Happens to Household Portfolios After Retirement?


Book Description

The typical older household in the United States now arrives at retirement with an array of financial resources. These resources usually include home equity, vehicles, and bank accounts and may also include financial assets such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and stocks or other property like small businesses and real estate. These assets are important for the financial security of older households. Households may use them to finance routine consumption in retirement or reserve them to cope with the financial consequences of a negative event like the death of a spouse. Households' ability to manage their assets in retirement is becoming more important over time, as the shift towards defined contribution pension plans means that households are more likely to receive their pension as a stock of assets at retirement rather than as a flow of monthly benefits. Older households hold a sizeable share of total U.S. household net worth, so the spend-down patterns of these households may affect asset markets, particularly as the large baby boom cohort enters retirement.




How Household Portfolios Evolve After Retirement


Book Description

In this paper, we study how the portfolios of elderly U.S. households evolve after retirement, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). In particular, we investigate the influence of aging and health shocks on a household's ownership of various assets and on the dollar value and share of total assets held in each asset class. We find that households decrease their ownership of most asset classes as they age, with the strongest evidence for principal residences and vehicles, while increasing the share of assets held in bank accounts and CDs. Consistent with prior studies, we find that the death of a spouse is a strong predictor of selling the principal residence. However, we find that widowhood also leads households to sell vehicles, businesses, and real estate and to put money into bank accounts and CDs, and further that other health shocks have very similar impacts. Finally, we explore why health shocks affect asset holdings and find that the effect of a shock is greatly magnified when households have physical or mental impairments. This suggests that factors other than standard risk and return considerations may weigh heavily in many older households' portfolio decisions.




The Charles Schwab Guide to Finances After Fifty


Book Description

Here at last are the hard-to-find answers to the dizzying array of financial questions plaguing those who are age fifty and older. The financial world is more complex than ever, and people are struggling to make sense of it all. If you’re like most people moving into the phase of life where protecting—as well as growing-- assets is paramount, you’re faced with a number of financial puzzles. Maybe you’re struggling to get your kids through college without drawing down your life’s savings. Perhaps you sense your nest egg is at risk and want to move into safer investments. Maybe you’re contemplating downsizing to a smaller home, but aren’t sure of the financial implications. Possibly, medical expenses have become a bigger drain than you expected and you need help assessing options. Perhaps you’ll shortly be eligible for social security but want to optimize when and how to take it. Whatever your specific financial issue, one thing is certain—your range of choices is vast. As the financial world becomes increasingly complex, what you need is deeply researched advice from professionals whose credentials are impeccable and who prize clarity and straightforwardness over financial mumbo-jumbo. Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz and the Schwab team have been helping clients tackle their toughest money issues for decades. Through Carrie’s popular “Ask Carrie” columns, her leadership of the Charles Schwab Foundation, and her work across party lines through two White House administrations and with the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, she has become one of America’s most trusted sources for financial advice. Here, Carrie will not only answer all the questions that keep you up at night, she’ll provide answers to many questions you haven’t considered but should.







Household Portfolios and Retirement Saving Over the Life Cycle


Book Description

This paper documents the share of investable wealth that middle-class U.S. investors hold in the stock market over their working lives. This share rises modestly early in life and falls significantly as people approach retirement. Prior to 2000, the average investor held less of their investable wealth in the stock market and did not adjust this share over their working life. These changes in portfolio allocation were accelerated by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006, which allowed employers to adopt target date funds (TDFs) as default options in retirement saving plans. Young retail investors who start at an employer shortly after it adopts TDFs have higher equity shares than those who start at that same employer shortly before the change in defaults. Older investors rebalance more to safe assets. We also study retirement contribution rates over the life-cycle and find that average retirement saving rates increase steadily over the working life. In contrast to what we find for investment in the stock market, contribution rates have been stable over time and across cohorts and were not increased by the PPA.




Retirement Investing for Income Only


Book Description

Since 2012 approximately 10,000 Baby-Boomers are attaining age 65 EACH DAY and will continue at this rate for 19 YEARS!! WHEW! Of those retiring today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 16% will have a pension. All others will be taking their retirement savings with them as they leave their job for the last time.The quest for reliable income in retirement is now upon us! The days of investing to 'beat the market' are over! For retirees, the fun and games are done...its time, for most, to get serious about how retirement savings are invested. And what retirees want is income...reliable, growing with inflation and income that will last. The retiree wants income that will be there each month to replace the now absent paycheck. In addition, most retirees want to understand...fully understand...how their savings dollars are being invested. They want to see it. It must be clear. The days of poorly-understood 'black boxes', get rich plans and those ubiquitous financial 'free lunches' are nothing but bad memories. Its time to get serious.This book takes the singular approach to generating reliable and inflation growing income to the retirement household, quarter after quarter, year after year and decade after decade....using only the income produced by these investments. Income investments are limited to long time income paying stocks, preferred stock, bonds and possibly alternative income instruments, such as Royalty Trusts, Business Development Companies or mutual funds (closed end, open end and Exchange Traded). This book analyzes each of these, in detail, on where their cash flows come from, how reliable their cash flows have been over the years and for the core income holdings such as C-Corporations, Utilities, REITs and Master Limited Partnerships, the underlying financial strength of the company thus their ability to sustain and grow their dividends into the future.Yes, this book gets into the details and math is involved. Now, this is relatively easy math...but it is math. The retiree will need to do some adding and dividing...but it is very doable...it just must be done. In fairness, this may not work for all retirees. Those retirees who swoon at the thought of balancing their checkbook or shudder at the thought of calculating the 15% tip on their restaurant bill, this book may not be for them. For everyone else, this book provides a clear and unambiguous pathway to determining if the company paying a 4.5% dividend really has the financial strength to sustain and grow it over the quarters ahead. The work required to determine this is not hard...it is doable...but it is work.Having offered that fair warning, I can assure any retiree with high confidence that if you follow my discussions, work through the examples I provide and are diligent, the reward will be a long term reliable dividend paying income portfolio with great pride of ownership, zero expenses (other than the cost of initially buying the stocks) and an increasing sense of self confidence that would be almost impossible to attain in the world of fluctuating stock prices, rebalancing, cash buckets and portfolio survivability statistics.My personal mission in taking the hundreds of hours it has taken to compile, organize and publish this book is NOT to convince anyone that the pure income approach is the approach they should take. My purpose is to explain, in the best way experience and analytical ability will allow, how the pure income investment process should work. The book provides 85 charts, graphs and tables to help explain concepts and uses plain English narratives to explain financial analysis in a friendly yet non-patronizing way.Building a lifetime income portfolio requires work, but it will be work well worth the effort, as the retiree will come to realize as their dividends all come in on time, in at least the amount expected, year after year, regardless of what the stock market is doing or the stock experts are saying.




Retirement Portfolios


Book Description

A “very practical” guide for finance professionals on creating and managing retirement portfolios (Journal of Pensions, Economics and Finance). Retirement is one of the most important parts of the financial planning process, yet only two percent of financial advisors describe themselves as competent at it. But the demand is only growing as baby boomers move toward this new phase of life. It is imperative that financial advisors be equipped and ready. That's why Michael Zwecher—a leading expert on retirement income—has created Retirement Portfolios, which: Examines how portfolios should be prepped in advance so that the transition from “working” portfolio to retirement portfolio is smooth and seamless Outlines how to create a portfolio that will provide income, continue to generate growth, and protect assets from disaster Details the differences in managing a retirement portfolio versus managing portfolios during asset accumulation years The ability to create appropriate retirement portfolios and manage their risks are skills you must possess to be an effective financial advisor. Retirement Portfolios will help you develop these essential skills and gain a better understanding of the entire process.




THE MEANINGFUL MONEY HANDBOOK


Book Description

In The Meaningful Money Handbook, personal finance expert and podcaster extraordinaire Pete Matthew guides you through everything you need to KNOW and everything you need to DO to build a secure financial future for yourself and your family. This is achievable for everyone by following three simple steps: 1. Spend less than you earn and clear debt. 2. Insure against disaster. 3. Build up your savings and invest wisely. You will learn: • How to get out of debt as quickly as possible. • Techniques for good financial control, so you can avoid getting into debt again. • The importance of insurance for laying down a foundation on which to build a solid financial plan, which isn’t washed away by an unexpected disaster. • How to save and invest simply and efficiently so that you can work your way towards future financial freedom. No matter your starting position, or your existing level of comfort with dealing with your money, Pete Matthew’s calm, straightforward and jargon-free approach will appeal to you and help you to set out on the right path. The Meaningful Money Handbook is a practical guide to succeeding with money by cutting out the stuff you don’t need to know, and clarifying the essential things you need to do, to make a real difference to your life. Don’t put it off any longer – pick up this book and start to take a meaningful approach to your money today.







Aging and the Macroeconomy


Book Description

The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. In the coming decades, people aged 65 and over will make up an increasingly large percentage of the population: The ratio of people aged 65+ to people aged 20-64 will rise by 80%. This shift is happening for two reasons: people are living longer, and many couples are choosing to have fewer children and to have those children somewhat later in life. The resulting demographic shift will present the nation with economic challenges, both to absorb the costs and to leverage the benefits of an aging population. Aging and the Macroeconomy: Long-Term Implications of an Older Population presents the fundamental factors driving the aging of the U.S. population, as well as its societal implications and likely long-term macroeconomic effects in a global context. The report finds that, while population aging does not pose an insurmountable challenge to the nation, it is imperative that sensible policies are implemented soon to allow companies and households to respond. It offers four practical approaches for preparing resources to support the future consumption of households and for adapting to the new economic landscape.