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A 21 step guide to a horrible retirement


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2019 Mar 17, 11:08am   5,756 views  121 comments

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There’s an abundance of advice on how to plan for retirement. Oh, it’s good advice. But it’s also a bit complicated, often requires discipline and always necessitates actually doing something.

And let’s face it: Who needs advice? Who wants to actually do something? Here are 20 ways to ignore the experts—and wreck your chances of a financially comfortable retirement:

1. Keep thinking retirement is so far in the future that there’s no need to act now. There’s still plenty of time. After all, you’re only [insert age].

2. Avoid saving when you’re young and instead play catch-up starting at age 50. At that juncture, the government allows you to save more in both employer plans and IRAs, so that must mean it’s OK to wait.

3. Bank on being able to work until age 75 or beyond.

4. Live for today, so you accumulate debt right up until the day you hope to retire.

5. Invest in individual stocks you pick personally. Almost as good: If offered a retirement plan at work, close your eyes and pick the three options that sound best.

6. Ignore all the retirement planning tools available to you. They’re just too time consuming.

7. Never contribute to your 401(k), because right now there are so many better uses for the cash. Can’t resist the savings urge? Make sure you contribute at a level where you don’t earn the full employer match.

8. Keep the same mix of investments at age 60 that you had at age 25. Change is not good.

9. Take your Social Security at age 62, needed or not. It’s your money. Grab it while you can.

10. Only save in tax-deductible accounts and don’t bother with the Roth, let alone taxable accounts. That way, you can spend your retirement paying ordinary income tax on all your investment gains.

11. Ignore the need to provide for survivors. Don’t designate beneficiaries for your 401(k) or IRA. Don’t bother with life insurance. Got a pension? Talk your spouse into agreeing to a single life annuity benefit. After all, it’s your pension, right?

12. Make sure all your savings are in tax-favored plans, so they aren’t easily accessible in an emergency. What about the income taxes and potential tax penalties? You worry too much.

13. Assume there will be a major drop in your spending when you retire. Make a list of all your expenses, just to be sure. Are things looking a little tight? For goodness’ sake, don’t tell your spouse.

14. Cancel that long-term-care policy you bought years ago. If you haven’t needed it so far, you likely never will—and, besides, you have plans for that premium refund.

15. You’ve been waiting so long to buy that boat or RV. You deserve it. And what do you know? It’s so easy to get a 401(k) loan.

16. Invest heavily in your employer’s stock. There’s no doubt it’s a good company—and not at all like Enron.

17. Don’t worry about inflation after you retire. It’s been low for years and no doubt it’ll stay that way.

18. When someone tries to explain the power of compounding, don’t bother listening to all that gobbledygook.

19. When there’s a big drop in the stock market, make sure you shift into bonds. There’s no point sitting around and losing everything.

20. Still got money left for retirement? Tell your adult kids you’re always willing to help them out financially.

21. Assume that you will never be the victim of a scam. Ignore the research indicating that 1 in 5 seniors is victimized - because you're far too smart to be 'taken.' Identity theft &/or fraud on your accounts could never happen to you. Added this one after reading the comments in the original article

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-20-step-guide-to-a-horrible-retirement-2019-03-16?mod=mw_theo_homepage

#Retirement #Economics

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1   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 17, 11:20am  

Russian bots do this thing where they occasionally throw unrelated article in between anti America articles. Common behavior.
2   anonymous   2019 Mar 17, 12:00pm  

FortWayneIndiana says
Russian bots do this thing where they occasionally throw unrelated article in between anti America articles. Common behavior.



This Russian bot - is not style of Borscht ?

But on that "common behavior" thing....

“I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag.”
3   AD   2019 Mar 17, 12:15pm  

Kakistocracy says
Russian bots do this thing where they occasionally throw unrelated article in between anti America articles. Common behavior.


Yeah, and probably Kakistocracy is some underling Russian intel officer or a Moscow State grad student doing the work of his political science professor and sponsor. They are adept at disinformation via social media and other online activities. At least they have a sense of humor unlike the ChiCom trolls who seem to be more of robot-posters.

Privet and Roll Tide Roll, Comrade Kakistocracy !
4   anonymous   2019 Mar 17, 12:26pm  

AD says
Yeah, and probably Kakistocracy is some underling Russian intel officer


Senior Comrade Kakistocracy to you and I hold a senior position with many direct reports. A slight roll of the "r" in comrade is appreciated as well.
5   Ceffer   2019 Mar 17, 12:49pm  

Worst retirement: drop dead at 62 and The Guv has all your money to squander.
6   MrMagic   2019 Mar 17, 1:43pm  

Kakistocracy says
Here are 20 ways to ignore the experts—and wreck your chances of a financially comfortable retirement:


Sounds like a certain someone is telling us all his issues of retirement. Really sad and poor planning.
7   AD   2019 Mar 17, 4:04pm  

Kakistocracy says
17. Don’t worry about inflation after you retire. It’s been low for years and no doubt it’ll stay that way.


Government report inflation has been about 3% annually since mid 1980's.

That is why you need to earn 7% a year in a conservative growth mutual fund (i.e., 40% stock, 60% investment grade bond).

Subtract 3% annually, and the real or net return is 4%.
8   anonymous   2019 Mar 17, 4:06pm  

MrMagic says
Sounds like a certain someone is telling us all his issues of retirement. Really sad and poor planning.


Is that what it sounds like ? Thought u were talking in the 3rd person again.

Why not do as you prodded Iwog to do so many times, post your 401-K statement(s), investment statement(s), tax returns etc. complete with name, address, social security number etc so they can be verified to prove you are a paper millionaire otherwise STFU and obey when the wife calls..
9   AD   2019 Mar 17, 4:53pm  

Kakistocracy says
Take your Social Security at age 62, needed or not. It’s your money. Grab it while you can.


I would agree if you account for the time value of money. That is, invest part of the social security distribution starting at 62 years and/or not withdrawing completely from your savings that is earning in a conservative mutual fund about 6 to 7% a year.
10   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 17, 5:34pm  

Kaki is clearly not American. Too obvious.
11   MrMagic   2019 Mar 17, 6:28pm  

Kakistocracy says
MrMagic says
Sounds like a certain someone is telling us all his issues of retirement. Really sad and poor planning.


Is that what it sounds like ? Thought u were talking in the 3rd person again.


Nope...

I'm not the one who can't afford junk food, you are, remember?

Kakistocracy says
Don't have money to piss away on junk food actually - not a big fan.


I buy whatever I want, don't even look at the prices.

Kakistocracy says
Why not do as you prodded Iwog to do so many times, post your 401-K statement(s), investment statement(s), tax returns etc. complete with name, address, social security number etc so they can be verified to prove you are a paper millionaire otherwise STFU and obey when the wife calls..


Ahhhh, ha ha ha ha ha ha..

Hey, @Kakistocracy

Did I hit a nerve? Sure seems that way... HA hah ha

How many more days are you starving until the next S.S. check gets deposited? Need a short term loan?
12   Ceffer   2019 Mar 17, 6:43pm  

There were some calculators about those who don't NEED SS at 62, but collected it anyway and invested the proceeds.

Remember, if you have other income or are tapping retirement savings, portions of SS up to 85 percent become taxable at your tax rate. Also, if you DON'T collect SS until later, SS amount increases by 8 percent a year, which is pretty good for an investment.

If you don't pay tax on SS and invest, there are break even points, but they are only based on theory, and they change depending on how much tax you pay if you still have income from other sources (and almost everybody does). If you collect at 70 and get the highest benefit, you have to be in your 80's for a break even before you start pulling ahead.

So, unless you have some pretty firm longevity, I wouldn't blame anybody for taking SS at 62 assuming it isn't taxable at the 85 percent rate, but it would be a good idea to wait until 66-67 if you could if you are fully retired and your other sources of income are more limited.
13   AD   2019 Mar 17, 7:21pm  

Ceffer says
there are break even points


I agree. Probably better to talk to a financial planner to figure out which is the best option.
14   MrMagic   2019 Mar 17, 7:54pm  

Ceffer says
If you don't pay tax on SS and invest, there are break even points, but they are only based on theory, and they change depending on how much tax you pay if you still have income from other sources (and almost everybody does). If you collect at 70 and get the highest benefit, you have to be in your 80's for a break even before you start pulling ahead.


For most people, the break even from taking it at 62 versus waiting till 65/66 is around 78 years old. So if you think you won't live that long, take it at 62. It doesn't pay to wait in those situations.

Plus, the majority of Boomers hardly have anything saved for retirement, so if they go out at 62+, they are forced to take SS then, as they have very little saved to wait. Other reasons to take it at 62 is so you don't burn through your own money waiting for a higher payout at 65/66. Point being, if you die at 65, and didn't take SS at 62, there's nothing to go to your spouse or heirs from SS when you died, versus passing all your 401K/IRA money to them. You just blew through your own money the last 3 years.
15   AD   2019 Mar 17, 8:06pm  

MrMagic says
so if they go out at 62+, they are forced to take SS then, as they have very little saved to wait.


Yes, and I think for those in that circumstance, they would get additional assistance like Supplemental Security Income (SSI), utilities assistance, food stamps, etc.

Also, I believe the Veterans Administration provides assistance to senior citizen veterans who do not have enough money.
16   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 1:30am  

To the empty head with the loud mouth from Jersey....put up or shut up

Why not do as you prodded Iwog to do so many times, post your 401-K statement(s), investment statement(s), tax returns etc. complete with name, address, social security number etc so they can be verified to prove you are a paper millionaire otherwise STFU
17   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 1:55am  

Basically most everybody in that age range that I have talked with, even if they have lots of money, opted to collect at 62.

I know one guy who waited until 66. Part of it is psychological, that they just want to make sure that they get some of their money back from the goddam government, just in case they do punt.

Financial planners love you to accumulate huge nest eggs, because they often get their commissions based on the size of your nest egg. Spend nest egg=lower commissions over time.

When people spend while they are still vertical and healthy, as long as they were reasonably prudent, I don't see that it's such a problem, even if they go skinny at more advanced ages.

Remember, one out of seven males do not live long enough to collect social security. That means the system depends to some extent on their dead bodies, like annuities.
18   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 3:23am  

#22 . Follow platitude advice lists from poorly written articles.

Take the money at 62. Also, most 401k's are terrible, especially if they are managed.

the secret to retirement is to sell annuities to seniors :)
19   joshuatrio   2019 Mar 18, 5:00am  

Retirement is simple. Work hard, live below your means & save.
20   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 5:35am  

Another item that is a scam is nursing home insurance. Only a minority percentage of people ever go into 'nursing homes' to begin with. Most die at home or in hospitals/hospice. Also, most people die after a year or two in a nursing home, anyway, so if it eats up all your money, who cares?

Usually the only ones who care are the heirs who wish to cash in when you croak and don't like seeing all those greenbacks going into your elderly care to begin with. If you spend yourself into destitution, the state will usually step in to finance some form of nursing home, but you are probably better off dead at that point, anyway.

You've become part of the 'end of life' industry where you wind up cycled in and out of hospitals/emergency rooms and are tortured by the medical profession with needless operations and procedures that do nothing to either extend your life or improve your quality of life.
Most people's last months or year are in fact a medically induced hell. A lot of doctors don't go through these therapies themselves, they just get their affairs in order and perform a clean Kervorkian.

Insurance companies 'luv' the idea that they can get premiums from you for 30 years, while they degrade the policies with exceptions, codicils, or just plain selling the policies to insurers who are a lot sleazier than the big giant you may have bought it from to begin with. When they don't pay and cite fine print, waddya gonna do at 85 and headed to a nursing home, sue them for ten years? It's the perfect insurance vehicle for insurance companies, who are always a moving target to begin with.
21   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 6:24am  

Retirement: Fucked and getting Fuckeder. Excessive money helps a bit.
22   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 6:36am  

CBOEtrader says
the secret to retirement is to sell annuities to seniors


Garden Variety Insurance Schelppers are on the same scale as realtors, if not a bit worse - really a toss up.
23   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 6:40am  

joshuatrio says
ive below your means & save.


Alien concepts for the vast majority of Americans that do have the means to do this and wishful thinking for those that lack the means but would love to.

Can not stress the importance of sitting down with a CPA and an Estate Planning / Elder Law Attorney to map out and put in place a comprehensive "game" plan complete with trusts, advance directives, wills etc. well before you need them or when you think you will since no one knows what lies ahead in terms of health and accidents.

The few thousand spent setting all of this up will pay for itself down the road over and over.

Saves everyone involved a lot of headaches and gives peace of mind knowing how rehabilitation for accidents/illness, nursing homes etc. will be paid for and how to avoid taxes etc.

You can outline who gets to make decisions on whatever, if you become incapacitated and who to eliminate from those decisions, avoiding probate etc.

Some people may be good at making decisions for you in one area and not in another such as when the end of life has to be made or anything involving large dollar amounts.

You know your own family and who is responsible and who isn't. You know who is pragmatic and realistic and who is driven by greed or emotionally a basket case in times of stress.
24   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 6:47am  

Ceffer says
nursing home insurance


Long term care insurance is more about estate planning than anything else. You can keep the equivalent of your LTC insurance contract in your name while spending down assets before medicaid picks up the bill. Something like 70% of seniors die on medicaid.
25   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 6:51am  

Kakistocracy says
CBOEtrader says
the secret to retirement is to sell annuities to seniors


Garden Variety Insurance Schelppers are on the same scale as realtors, if not a bit worse - really a toss up.


Try going through life w/o insurance. Good luck to ya
26   joshuatrio   2019 Mar 18, 6:59am  

Kakistocracy says


Alien concepts for the vast majority of Americans that do have the means to do this and wishful thinking for those that lack the means but would love to.


Everyone has the ability to do this, just don't want because it's HARD WORK.

My wife and I were the working poor for the first couple years in our marriage. Well over $100k in debt + mortgage. We worked our asses off and in about 2 years got debt free. Hell, we even lived at the poverty level in California, and still saved money because we made good decisions.

ANYONE can do it. Very few WANT to.

The whole excuse/blame it on someone else is a joke.

If it's too expensive where you live, sell your shit, move somewhere cheaper. Job sucks? Get a better job. No education? Go to community college, learn a skill, get better job, then have employer pay for more education.

None of this shit is rocket science, people just don't like to work anymore.
27   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 7:24am  

Kakistocracy says
Can not stress the importance of sitting down with a CPA and an Estate Planning / Elder Law Attorney to map out and put in place a comprehensive "game" plan complete with trusts, advance directives, wills etc. well before you need them or when you think you will since no one knows what lies ahead in terms of health and accidents.


Adding a few lampreys to your estate plan doesn't mean it won't be mired in infighting between heirs. It would maybe avoid a bit of probate. Tax laws change every year, and every five years there is a MAJOR tax law shift. That means that the lampreys are on board for more fees every couple of couple. It's all a kaleidoscope of shifting sands and bureaucratic nightmares. You should pay attention, but the lampreys are over-rated in their utility. They like to keep a few horror stories in their backpack to make you paranoid and spending on their 'services', but as far as true risk management is concerned, they are probably a greater risk to your wealth than any number of outside forces. If you aren't attentive enough to look into your own affairs in reasonable detail, you are road kill, anyway.

I love the way lawyers make you think you are getting something for your money, then dreamily stare out the window citing that this hasn't been settled yet by SCOTUS, that hasn't been settled yet by SCOTUS, this other thing in your plan is still on the legal chopping block, and that nifty tax dodge may come back to bite you with penalties if the IRS looks a little too hard at it, plus, of course, more legal fees. It's all just too complex for you to understand, so just fork over for the ride. Of course, none of it is ever their fault, you have to sign stacks of waivers and exceptions, it just the terrible system they are trying to 'protect' you from. The only question, is who is going to protect you from them.

A guy I knew quite well was a math divvy, accountant and financial planner. He also pursued advanced training in the law. In his own iife, he spent and borrowed with little savings or equities, and liked to sell a lot of annuities. His dream was just to develop his nut of portfolios with enough dollars that he could just ride on the commissions.

Better just to admit that when you are dead, you can't control your afterlife or your children/heirs.
28   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 7:35am  

Ceffer says
Better just to admit that when you are dead, you can't control your afterlife or your children/heirs.


If you want to protect to assets into medicaid spend down, you should think ahead and form a trust while you are healthy.

At minimum, every senior needs the right health insurance, a final expense life policy, a will, and enough income to cover basic expenses for life.

If you dont do ^^ odds are you will become a ward of state into your declining health years, and your relatives will remember the headaches you left instead of your good memories.

Do the minimum for your family, at least
29   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 7:46am  

One thing is, the financial planner I knew was often working for doofuses who would have been better off with any form of organized planning. However, listening to him talk about clients who seemingly acquired wealth almost by accident, many of them sounded like hopeless cases of poor, shortsighted judgment, and he couldn't even save them from themselves/ exhausting their own tills no matter how many plans he manufactured for them. He spent a lot of time listening to screaming relatives plotting against each other around even fairly trivial estates, and wanting to liquidate things as fast as possible for the money.

He had a sister in law who inherited 800k many years ago. He set up trusts, accounts for her children etc. etc. She wound up shacking up with a convict, and they both wound up dissolving every structure (paying penalties/taxes etc.) and squandering every last cent over a few years.

Paying for the goodwill of children towards you after your death isn't prudent, it's a form of delusion. If they visit your grave and put flowers there for a couple of years, you are probably in the lucky minority. It's a lovely sales pitch, though.
30   zzyzzx   2019 Mar 18, 7:57am  

Ceffer says
If they visit your grave and put flowers there for a couple of years, you are probably in the lucky minority.


Yeah, when we were on Long Island last time, there was no mention of even visiting gravesites. My parents intend to be buried near their retirement home, which is nowhere near any family.
31   FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut   2019 Mar 18, 8:10am  

Basically they die before collecting?

CBOEtrader says
#22 . Follow platitude advice lists from poorly written articles.

Take the money at 62. Also, most 401k's are terrible, especially if they are managed.

the secret to retirement is to sell annuities to seniors :)
32   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 8:29am  

@joshuatrio

Not at easy as you would like to make it out to be to sell, move, save and no where did I sad blame it on someone else. That was your spin.

There is no shortage of real working poor who do not have the where with all to comment on forums like this.
33   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 8:31am  

Ceffer says
Adding a few lampreys to your estate plan doesn't mean it won't be mired in infighting between heirs


If it is done correctly, you can all but eliminate it.

Then again finding someone to do estate planning is just like going out to buy a house or car. You need to interview quite a few to see what is going on and making a decision based on cost should not be the ultimate decider.

You also want to know what happens to all that planing etc. if the attorney's die - is there a mechanism in place to ensure continuity of the plan

A financial planner is not the same as en Elder Law Professional and I would run away from someone who was doing both.
34   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 8:37am  

CBOEtrader says
Long term care insurance is more about estate planning than anything else. You can keep the equivalent of your LTC insurance contract in your name while spending down assets before medicaid picks up the bill.


Agree with part two, not the first part. It is one part of the whole and when real estate and large dollar assets are involved, things get tricky. Military service - so many other things go into the mix.

In my own case this was a multi-month process fine tuning details and that was after a year's long search for the right people to write and set up the plan.

The office I chose has a "team" in place with each responsible for certain aspects of what went into the plan and that involved meeting with each of them one on one besides meeting with the team before everything was signed and accepted.
35   Ceffer   2019 Mar 18, 8:39am  

FortWayneIndiana says
Basically they die before collecting?


I think they pocket the commission and then send out one of those $500 cartel hit men before the first check is minted.
36   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 8:46am  

Kakistocracy says
It is one part of the whole


Comment was specific to the LTC part. That product specifically is usually bought for estate planning. Medicaid will also pay for your LTC, and as previously mentioned is paying last dime for most seniors when they die. If you are pinching hamburger pennies, chances are medicaid is in your future as it is for most seniors.

If you have a LTC policy however, you may have an extra $2 hundred thousand personal capital before medicaid kicks in.
37   MrMagic   2019 Mar 18, 8:53am  

Kakistocracy says
The office I chose has a "team" in place with each responsible for certain aspects of what went into the plan and that involved meeting with each of them one on one besides meeting with the team before everything was signed and accepted.


Ceffer says
Adding a few lampreys to your estate plan doesn't mean it won't be mired in infighting between heirs.


Ceffer says
I love the way lawyers make you think you are getting something for your money,


A fool and his money are soon parted...
38   CBOEtrader   2019 Mar 18, 8:53am  

Ceffer says
FortWayneIndiana says
Basically they die before collecting?


I think they pocket the commission and then send out one of those $500 cartel hit men before the first check is minted.


Haha no. An annuity would just pay back the capital plus a minimum interest rate.

I am literally paying for my retirement via annuity sales commissions, as it is my career. that's the joke.

How often have you looked at your 401k returns? 1.75% management fees plus 2% rebalancing fees? You are lucky to return 4%, and still open to massive downside market risk. I roll $50 to 200k of 401k into tax deferred annuities or 3.5% w no downside risk, bread and butter risk management diversification
39   MrMagic   2019 Mar 18, 8:55am  

joshuatrio says
Retirement is simple. Work hard, live below your means & save.


It's as simple as that. The OP certainly doesn't understand the basics.

The easiest plan: Save 10% pretax for retirement, save 10% post tax for emergencies, large purchases, vacations, etc., live on the remainder and lock up the credit cards.
40   anonymous   2019 Mar 18, 9:00am  

@CBOEtrader - anyone trying to buy a long term care policy now better have some pretty deep pockets, It is cost prohibitive

As for the loud mouth empty head duo from Jersey you are 100% right, fools and their money are easily parted which is why I am not married but you are.

Case closed and settled - again.

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