“Four types of expenses can wreak havoc with your retirement.”
Retirement is a balance between enjoying your golden years, taking good care of your health and balancing your finances, so you don’t run out of income too early. However, as reported by MD Magazine in the recent article “Four Big Retirement Threats and How to Protect Yourself,” there are challenges ahead, some of which you can control, others requiring preparation.
Threat One: Premature death of a spouse and loss of Social Security or pension income. The loss of one Social Security check can have a significant impact on the household’s income. This is also true with the loss of a private pension. Both spouses need to be aware of how their retirement income will be generated and what will happen, when one spouse passes away.
Life insurance can be used to make up for the lost income. If you are young enough, buy term insurance. If you are older, consider cash-value policies, like whole life. Make sure that both spouses are familiar with household finances. Put together a list of your checking, savings, investment and credit card accounts.
Threat Two: Healthcare Costs. Medicare simply does not cover everything. Even a Medicare Advantage plan doesn’t cover everything. That includes long-term care, dentistry, vision care, hearing aids, eyeglasses or private nursing. There’s a “donut hole” in prescription coverage, so if you need pricy drugs you’ll need to budget at least $5,000 annually. If you underestimate the cost of healthcare, you could go through your medical budget fast.
Perfect health at 55 is no guarantee for what’s to come.
One solution is making the most of a Health Savings Account (HSA). You can save for future medical expenses and get a tax deduction for contributions. Even better—there’s no income tax on withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. Check with your employer, since HSAs are usually part of an employee benefits plan. You must have a high-deductible heath plan and can’t be on Medicare to qualify for an HSA.
Threat Number Three: Inflation According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation has averaged about 4% annually over the last 50 years. In 20 years, today’s $1 will be worth only 46 cents. Make sure your investment portfolio is diversified. Remember that your retirement could last several decades, so it may not be wise to abandon equities during retirement.
Threat Number Four: Outliving Your Savings. This sounds like a good problem, but it is still a problem. The longer you live, the longer you are expected to live. According to the IRS life expectancy tables, a 30-year-old can expect to live to age 83. However, if you are 65 years old now, you can expect to live until age 86. The solution is to do periodic planning to make sure your retirement accounts and investments are keeping up with your living expenses. Give yourself a cushion, in case you live far past your expectations.
To protect your family in case of a sudden death, make sure you have an estate plan in place. An estate planning attorney can help you set up an estate plan that works for you.
Reference: MD Magazine (Aug. 2, 2018) “Four Big Retirement Threats and How to Protect Yourself”
“四種類型的開支可能會對您的退休造成嚴重破壞。”
退休是享受的黃金歲月，與照顧好自己的健康和平衡財務之間的一種平衡，所以你不要過早地用盡收入。但是，正如MD Magazine在最近的文章中所報導的那樣“Four Big Retirement Threats and How to Protect Yourself,” (四大退休威脅以及如何保護自己) 未來有挑戰，其中一些是你可以控制的，另一些是需要準備的。
威脅一：配偶過早死亡，失去社會保障或養老金收入。失去一張社會保障支票會對家庭收入產生重大影響。失去私人養老金也是如此。雙方配偶都需要知道如果一方配偶去世，對他們的退休收入將有什麼的影響以及將會發生什麼事。
人壽保險可以用來彌補損失的收入。如果你還年輕，購買定期保險。如果您年齡較大，請考慮現金價值的保險，例如人壽保險。確保配偶雙方都熟悉家庭財務狀況。列出您的支票，儲蓄，投資和信用卡賬戶清單。
威脅二：醫療成本。聯邦老人保險(Medicare)並不包括一切。即使是優化聯邦老人保險(Medicare Advantage Plan)也未包括所有內容。例如長期護理，牙科，視力保健，助聽器，眼鏡私人護理和一些處方藥物。如果你需要昂貴的藥物，你需要每年預算至少5000美元。如果您低估了醫療保健的成本，您可能會很快用完所有醫療預算。
一種解決方案是充分利用健康儲蓄賬戶（HSA）。您可以省未來的醫療費用並獲得扣稅。更好的是對合格的醫療費用提款不徵收收益稅。請諮詢您的雇主，因為HSA通常是員工福利計劃的一部分。您必須擁有高自付額的健康計劃，如果你有聯邦老人保險就不能有HSA資格。
威脅第三：通貨膨脹。根據美國勞工統計局的數據，在過去的50年裡，通貨膨脹率平均每年約為4％。在20年內，今天1美元的價值僅為46仙。確保您的投資組合多樣化。請記住，你的退休生活可能會是數十年，因此退休時放棄股票可能並不是明智的決定。
第四威脅：儲蓄用完了。人活得長久，本來是好事，但另一個問題是錢不夠用。一個30歲的人可以活到83歲。但是，如果你現在65歲，你可能活到86歲。解決方案是定期計劃，以確保您的退休賬戶和投資可以跟上你的生活費用。給自己準備一個後備方案，以防你的生活費用超出你的預期。
為了在遇到突然死亡的情況下保護你的家人，請確保你有一個資產計劃。資產規劃律師可以幫助您制定適合你的資產計劃。
參考: MD Magazine (Aug. 2, 2018) “Four Big Retirement Threats and How to Protect Yourself”