Retirement
These notes are a bit random and superficial at this point.
Aside of managing the sources of income, managing one's personal finances in retirement are little different than managing personal finances before retirement. The nature of one's income and expenses are different, but the process would seem to be largely the same.
Fundamentally, the earning years are over, and the retiree is now spending the nest egg they spent a lifetime to accumulate.
With baby boomers retiring now and in the future, there is expected to be significant growth in demand for retirement planning as a financial service. There is also increased attention being paid to the needs of senior citizens and the services that it will become profitable to providing them.
Because of changes in demographics, namely greater personal wealth and longer lifespan, the current and future retirees will differ significantly from previous generations, so much so that it is generally accepted that the traditional approach to retirement planning is obsolete.
For many individuals, the sums of money the must handle in retirement are the most they have had at their disposal in their entire lives, and how to manage the money to last them over a long period of time is something they hadn't considered.
KEY FACTORS
Two key factors - the amount of money and the amount of time
INVESTMENT "NEST EGG"
Since the advent of individual retirement accounts, a growing number of individuals have built and managed their own wealth (rather than relying on social security or pension plans to provide fro all their needs).
A key calculation is how much you have at the beginning of retirement. This is a consequence of earlier behavior, and cannot be affected. It can be managed, which is discussed in a separate section.
DURATION OF RETIREMENT
Retirement: now a phase of life that is significantly longer than in the past.
A key to retirement planning is life expectancy. When the concept of retirement was originally introduced, few people lived past the age of seventy. Now, people live longer and retire earlier.
Longevity is a risk: if a retiree plans their finances to cover them through age 80, what becomes of them if they live to be 85 or 90? There is a growing problem of retirees who outlive their money.
According to mortality tables calculated in 2000, the average male has a 50% chance of living to age 85 and a 25% chance of seeing 92. Women have equal chances of seeing ages 88 and 94.
LIFESTYLE
Some sources treat lifestyle choice as an important factor in retirement: determining what you must do to afford the kind of lifestyle you want to have. Other sources treat it as a consequence: your lifestyle choices are restricted by the amount of money you have been able to save.
Whatever the case, lifestyle is an issue or an option. How much a person wishes to travel, whether they wish to work part-time in retirement, and the kinds of thing they wish to do, will all impact the amount of money they will need each month. Or conversely, if you put money first and lifestyle as a consequence, change "wish to" to "can afford to."
Location is also a factor: certain communities have specific factors that may be financial (cost of housing, consumer prices, property taxes, tax breaks for seniors, etc.) or non-financial (climate, healthcare, cultural activities, social environment, etc.) that attract retirees. In some cases, retirees may relocate to find an environment that is suitable to their desires and financial means. It is also noted that retiring overseas is also a possibility - but the factors are sufficiently complex to merit further comment (see the heading under "Loose Topics")
INFLATION
Until about 1964, when the dollar was taken off the gold standard, inflation was virtually nonexistent, so that the dollars saved would be worth just as much ten or twenty or fifty years later, and one could feasibly save for retirement simply by hoarding cash. But that has changed.
Since the dollar was floated, inflation has been a pitfall for retirees. The term "fixed income" stems from the fact that retirees plan to have a specific dollar amount of income in retirement, and as inflation drives prices higher over time, their income becomes less and less sufficient to provide for their needs. As an example, a 4% rate of inflation means that prices will double every 18 years.
RETIREMENT INCOME
Other than drawing on the investment nest egg, retirees obtain income from pensions, social security, and part-time work.
Presently, retirement income comes from the following sources:
- 36% - Social Security benefits
- 26% - Employment and "other" income
- 19% - Pensions
- 16% - Savings and investments
This profile is changing over time: the amount of income derived from savings and investments is increasing, and social security and pensions are decreasing.
One key task for individuals in retirement is managing income from varying sources. Some sources, like social security and pensions, pay a fixed amount each month and cannot be managed by the individual; but a growing portion of retirement income comes from sources an individual can manage - investment accounts, including IRAs - and careful management is necessary to ensure that the funds will last as long as the retiree.
SOCIAL SECURITY
The precise amount a person received from Social Security depends on their contributions and their age at retirement. Each person receives a statement each year (generally, three months after date of birth) indicating their personal benefits.
A person who continues to work in retirement can still receive benefits, but they will receive a lower amount while they are working (and a higher amount after they fully retire, as a result of the additional funds paid in)
Benefits are based on income, which is calculated as the average of the 35 years in which a person earned the most during their lifetime (a common myth is that it's the last five years prior to retirement - they don't mention whether this used to be the actual formula, merely that it is not so today).
Social Security benefits can begin as early as age 62, but the Social Security Administration has been pushing back the age at which individuals will receive "full" benefits - from age 65 in 2002 to age 67 presently. They are even offering "delayed retirement credits" to individuals who delay retirement - increasing their monthly checks by 6% to 8% per year of delay, up to age 70.
One source suggests that, in hindsight, taking retirement benefits earlier is generally better for individuals who die before reaching the age of 80, and delaying retirement better for those who live beyond that age. It can be difficult to predict, though a person can look to their current physical condition and their family history as hints.
Retiring earlier means that an individual will receive a lower amount per month. The SSA claims that it works out to be about the same total amount, divided over a longer period of time.
One source indicates that, if you had the money to invest on your own, you'd do much better. Every employee pays 6.5% per year to social security and their employers are required to match that contribution.
Depending on a person's overall income, they may be required to pay taxes on their social security benefits.
As to the hubbub over the "death" of social security: most of that is dismissed as posturing and fear mongering, though one never knows the whims of government. It is unlikely that politicians will do anything that causes a vast majority of people to be left bereft after a lifetime of making contributions - and the "problem" in the system will be a short-term one, as a bulge in the population passes. Some conceded that benefits will be less than in the past, and citizens will be made to wait longer to retire, and the amount of contributions may be increased, but there will not be a dramatic and sudden end. More likely, if the system is terminated at all, it will be phased out over two or three generations.
The worst-case scenario for most retirees is running out of money and having to depend on social security. The precise amount of social security benefits (and quite a bit of unfathomable mathematical gymnastics), but generally depend on lifetime income and are capped at a certain amount. The general estimate I found seemed to agree that SS would be about 25% as much as a person made while working, which means social security alone provides for a pretty meager existence.
PENSIONS
Before the advent of 401K and other retirement accounts, it was not uncommon for companies to offer pensions, which constitute a fixed amount to be paid to their workers in retirement as a supplement to social security. Even in the present age, some companies and organizations still offer pensions, so they will remain a component of retirement planning for the foreseeable future.
Typically, an individual has no control over their pension: they simply receive a monthly payment, much like social security. The company managing the pension makes all the decisions (including whether the amount received by pensioners will increase or decrease over time).
There are laws in place to protect pensions, mainly the Pension Protection Act of 2006, to provide some governance and assurance (after a rash of cases of abuse in which pensions funds were misappropriated), but beyond that, pensions can be as varied as the companies that offer them.
In general, the practice seems to be to offer a fixed amount that is increased to counter inflation.
Pensions are taxable income.
It is not uncommon for a company to offer an employee the option to take their pension as a lump sum. This is generally a bad idea, because it is then taxed all at once. A better option is to transfer the funds to a traditional IRA, or simply accept payments from the company per the original plan.
INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
There are a number of different kinds of individual retirement account (IRA) with slightly different characteristics and legal requirements. Generally speaking, they are plans that were funded during a person's working years as a means of saving money for retirement.
The most common forms of IRA are the traditional and Roth. The primary difference is that a traditional IRA was funded with pre-tax dollars and all withdrawals are taxed, whereas a Roth IRA was funded with post-tax dollars and all withdrawals are tax-free.
There are significant penalties for withdrawing fund before the age of 59.5 (though, with a Roth IRA, the amount contributed - not earnings - can be withdrawn after five years), and individuals must take a required minimum distribution (RMB) each year after the age of 70 (a percentage of the total funds in the account must be withdrawn, or suffer a 50% tax penalty).
The ability to withdraw contributions from a Roth IRA without tax consequences make it an attractive vehicle for those who wish to retire early. This isn't something that can be chosen in retirement, but something to consider for a person who is nearing retirement age and wondering if they can retire a few years earlier than planned.
A Roth IRA is also preferred because there is no requirement to take distributions after a fixed age - funds can remain in a Roth indefinitely.
In addition to planning withdrawals, individuals in retirement should continue to manage the allocation of assets in reserve - to ensure that funds needed in the short term are sufficiently liquid and sheltered from risk, mid-term funds are sheltered against inflation, and long-term funds are leveraged for growth.
Sources recommend taking as few distributions from IRA plans as possible each year, for simplicity's sake. Ideally, an individual will withdraw the funds they need for the year at once (from a single account) and manage them externally afterward.
According to one source, it is generally good to keep funds in IRAs as long as possible to allow for tax-free growth, though there are some situations where drawing down the accounts early makes more sense.
Since funds in an IRA can be left to a beneficiary, it is also a tax shelter that provides retirement funds for future generations.
TRADITIONAL INVESTMENTS
Especially in instances where individuals plan for an early retirement, some portion of retirement funds may be in traditional investments (as opposed to IRAs) so that age is not a restriction to the withdrawal of funds.
Income from traditional investments is fully taxable.
REAL ESTATE
Another source of wealth for retirees, often overlooked, is their house. Typically, the mortgage is paid off by the time a person retires, and it is possible to liquidate the property to provide funds in retirement. Also, due to tax regulations, $250K of profits from the sale of that residence ($500K for married couples) is tax-free.
Living arrangements in retirement are often dismissed as a lifestyle choice (a person "prefers" to live at home versus moving into an apartment or retirement community or moving in with the kids) - but it should also be considered from a financial perspective, as it may be possible to have a higher monthly income as a result of selling off a house (the interest earned by investing the proceeds from the sale generate more than enough revenue to pay the rent).
It is also possible to reverse-mortgage one's home (a company provides a monthly payment to the owner, who continues to live on the property, and takes possession after a fixed number of years) to obtain additional funds in retirement.
It is also suggested that, if one can get a good enough rate, it may make sense to borrow against the equity in a home and invest those funds at a higher rate (investment proceeds cover the loan payments, and then some).
Also, since the kids are grown, it's often possible to sell off a property, buy a smaller/cheaper one, and keep the difference.
INSURANCE (AS AN INVESTMENT)
Also, for individuals who have "whole life" policies, there is an age (generally 80 or 85) when the policy will endow - paying off its entire value to the insured. This can also add a substantial lump sum to their retirement funds.
EARNINGS
A growing trend is for individuals to continue to work in their retirement - they may elect to receive benefits and work full-time, or work part-time - whether as a method of earning money or a way of remaining active and socially connected.
The degree to which this theory is bearing out is questionable. BLS statistics indicate 10% of men and 20% of women over age 65 continue to work in retirement. I'd prefer to see an age breakdown (as the ability to work decreases with age, lumping people 85+ years old into the statistic drives the numbers down). Another source cites a survey of baby boomers, two-thirds of whom indicate an intention to continue working after retirement.
Social Security benefits will be reduced for working individuals (one may receive partial benefits even while continuing to work), but will be greater in the long run (as social security taxes are still deducted from their paychecks). The reduction is $1 in benefits for every $2 earned above $12,960 in 2007.
Note that this applies to traditional wages (earnings from working for someone else). Some retirees also start a business of their own in retirement (if only a consultancy), but the income from such ventures is too variable to be predicted.
Aside from financial benefits, working in retirement helps to ease the transition, from being an established worker with seniority, rank, and power, to being just another old guy who's in charge of nothing.
SPENDING NEEDS
A key to retirement planning is predicting the spending needs in retirement.
Most people have unrealistic expectations for retirement, particularly for their financial needs in retirement.
Looking to your peers or the generation before as examples of what you will need, financially, has not been reliable.
In general, it is estimated that individuals will need between 60% and 80% of their pre-retirement income to maintain their lifestyle into retirement. However, this figure is hotly debated, and depends greatly on the circumstances and desires of a particular individual.
Another guideline is the "4% Rule" - which indicates that if a person invests conservatively and withdraws 4% of retirement funds each year, they are unlikely to outlive their fortunes.
Another guideline is to look to have an income that is the same as one's pre-retirement income, less any amount that was earmarked to save for retirement
Still other sources abandon guidelines altogether, and tell the individual to "decide on the annual income you want in retirement" when considering savings - or seeing how much you can give yourself when it comes time to retire.
Thus far, I've not found a source that provides much information to advise a person as to how to set their budget, or what goal to set for themselves.
It is also widely accepted that expenses in the active years of early retirement are higher than those in the later years of more sedentary retirement.
One survey by the US Department of Labor seemed to indicate a clear break in the lifestyle habits (and spending) of two phases of retirement: active retirement (when a person is still capable of "going" and "doing) and convalescence (when a person pretty much sits around and waits for death). The over/under age for the two phases tends to be about 75. There are some sharp decreases in certain expenditures (travel, transportation, entertainment, clothing, etc.) in the later phase, though medical care expenses tend to increase.
INSURANCE (AS AN EXPENSE)
One source suggested that insurance needs change in retirement.
Carrying much life insurance is generally not a wise use of funds (though a whole life or universal life policy may need to be maintained): Life insurance is needed to cover lost income - and as a person isn't working, there is no income to insure. Moreover, a person's children are usually grown and economically independent at this point (and would not suffer for loss of a parent's income) and their spouse is generally their benefactor. Insurance beyond the amount needed to cover funeral costs (if those cannot be paid from savings) and make up for the portion of income (such as social security) lost by the spouse is about all one needs.
The cost of health insurance, on the other hand, is highly advisable, and considerably more important to obtain. Thos who retire early will pay quite a bit for private insurance (even for continuing insurance benefits from an employer). At age 65, Medicare kicks in - but that doesn't cover everything, so "Medicare supplement insurance" is advisable, as is long-term care insurance. It is advisable to purchase this insurance early, as the rate is generally fixed for life, and the younger (and healthier) you are, the less it will cost.
MEDICAL EXPENSES
Some estimates indicate retirees will spend as much as one quarter of their income on medical costs.
A March 2008 study suggested that a retiring couple will need $225,000 in savings to cover medical costs, up from $160,000 in 2002.
Current expenses, premiums, and deductibles will increase as a person ages.
Recommendation: use current health state to predict what problems may arise.
Example: insurance premium for a couple is $669 per month, significantly higher than employer-sponsored coverage. Deductibles and uncovered expenses were $7,000 annually. The couple used in the example was generally healthy, no current medical problems.
Cost-savings leads to reckless behavior. Examples given are pill-splitting (taking half dosages) or dosage management (taking higher doses less frequently) to save on prescription costs. As a result, the health condition worsens and ends up costing more in bills for treatment than was saved on medication.
Medicare, a benefit of the social security administration, is available to seniors to cover some of the more fundamental medical needs.
EFFECTS OF INFLATION
A common mistake in retirement planning is treating expenses as a fixed amount. Especially since retirement may last thirty years or more, costs will increase over time, and a retiree who sets a specific budget without anticipating the increasing costs will find himself in tighter and tighter straits as time and inflation march on.
Difficulty encountered is that costs are rising faster than predicted in some areas, particularly medical care, and retirees are struggling to adjust their fixed budgets.
BUDGETING
Budgeting in retirement remains mostly the same as budgeting before retirement: balancing spending against income. The primary difference is that the individual has more control over their income (although their short-term behavior may impact their long-term income), the nature of their expenses will change, and there is no longer a need to save for retirement.
The first year (or first few years) of retirement are key, as this is the period in which drastic lifestyle changes are made. Once an individual settles into their retirement lifestyle, it becomes easier to predict their future needs.
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
The way that investments are managed in retirement differs significantly from investment in earlier phases of life. Primarily, in that retirement is something that's saved for in earlier life, and in retirement that investment pool is drawn upon.
Dropping interest rates means lower returns on low-risk investments such as municipal bonds and high-grade corporate paper.
Traditionally, the investment nest egg was managed to preserve it against inflation, but it was not managed with a goal of growth.
RISK TOLERANCE
Traditionally, retirement funds are invested conservatively, as the investor is counting on their portfolio for their regular income. As an individual nears retirement, his portfolio is shifted from stocks to bonds and eventually to T-Bills.
While this made sense when the typical span of retirement was less than ten years, it is currently not uncommon for retirement to last thirty years or more. In those cases, it does not make sense to treat the date of retirement as the "end" date for investments (which, in financial planning, means the funds are used or withdrawn from the market on that date).
Those who retire at age 65 may have 25, 30, or more years in retirement, and this longer span of time enables - even requires - such a person to be more aggressive in their investment strategy in order to preserve their wealth against inflation, and to take advantages of opportunities to experience gains in long-term assets.
With this in mind, the general rule of investing applies: funds that will be needed in the short run must be invested very carefully, in low-risk or no-risk investments, whereas funds that will not be needed for 10 or 20 years can be invested more aggressively.
Failure to invest aggressively means that an individual may need to wait longer to retire (to build a larger egg), or to live more meagerly in retirement, as inflation fritters away the value of their investments and they fail to be aggressive enough to preserve their wealth.
One source suggests a constant 60/40 blend (equities vs. bonds) to ensure that there are sufficient short-term liquidity and long-term growth to support withdrawing 4.5% per year throughout retirement.
BOND LADDERING
A bond ladder is a portfolio of bonds with maturity dates that are staggered, so that the interest payments from the bonds provide a regular quarterly or monthly income for the investor. Bonds are held until maturity and, when they mature, the funds are reinvested in new bonds, such that only the interest payments are withdrawn.
The advantage of bond laddering is that a bond may be held to maturity and incur only one trading commission (when it is purchased) and that the income from a bond is fixed according to the bond itself.
While the amount of payments are fixed, inflation also becomes a concern: while the current interest rate generally accounts for inflation, bonds purchased in previous years will not - so while the investor will receive a constant dollar amount, it will not increase to account for inflation.
ANNUITIES
A separate document contains notes on annuities. For the present document, a few basic facts should suffice:
For a typical annuity, an investor buys an annuity for a fixed sum of money, and receives a regular payment, either for a fixed number of years or until their death The income from an annuity generally does not fluctuate. It is not indexed for inflation, nor does it lose money if the market takes a downturn.
Annuity contracts differ: there are some that have variable rates, some that will pay a spouse or heir after the death of a principal, etc. With such a large portion of the population nearing retirement, companies that offer annuities are scrambling to refine their products to make them more attractive and competitive.
For the vast majority of investors, annuities are a bad deal. A small number of investors, those who have saved so little that a minor fluctuation in market interest rates would put them in dire straits, may find the acceptable or preferable to other options.
INVESTMENT OPTIONS
One source categorized typical investment classes according to risk, income, and growth potential. A three-character code is used here - RMG (risk, income, growth):
- LLL - Treasury Bills
- LLL - CDs
- LLL - Annuities
- LML - Municipal Bonds
- MLM - Dividend-Paying Stocks
- MML - Corporate Bonds
- HHM - High-Yield Bonds
- HHH - Growth Stocks
- HHH - International Stocks
CASE STUDY
An example: an individual with $400,000 in assets facing a 25-year retirement can withdraw $18,000 their first year. This assumes a 5% return on investment, a 4% rate of inflation, and does not consider the income tax impact.
RETIREMENT PLANNING
Sources generally break retirement planning into three stages
ACCUMULATION
Ideally, retirement planning starts early: an individual begins saving for retirement when they start working, keeps an eye on their progress, and adjust as necessary over the years. Either that, or they realize later in life that they ought to think about it, and struggle to catch up. Whatever the case, savings strategies are beyond the scope of the present document.
PLANNING
As a person approaches retirement (generally, around age 50), they begin to look ahead to determine when it is feasible for them to retire. They gather information about their investments (employer pensions, social security, IRAs, and other investments); consider their expenses; and look at their various options (what to do with themselves).
One key factor is gathering information about the various accounts that a person has with various companies. This is becoming increasingly complex, as job-hopping was rare with older generations, and became more common over the years: An individual who changes jobs every five years (4.7 is average) will have had nine different employers over a 45-year career and may have retirement benefits (pension, IRA, etc.) from each of them.
Typically, the bulk of retirement planning is done in the years shortly before retirement. While it is possible to begin planning earlier, market fluctuations will affect investments (whether invested personally or the invested portion of a retirement benefit), and the further ahead one begins, the more variance will occur. The figures become more settled in the ten years before retirement, as investments are shifted to safer investments and the time range is shorter.
That last sentence is becoming obsolete: as noted before, retirement lasts longer than it used to, so it is both possible and advisable for a significant proportion of the retirement funds to remain aggressively invested for a longer period of time.
However, major downturns in the economy may require major shifts in thinking and planning. Individuals who retired shortly after the dot-com bust of the late 1990's, especially those who remained aggressively invested, were severely disappointed.
In modern times, the goal is generally to reallocate assets prior to retirement, to ensure that short-term funds are sufficiently liquid and preserved against risk, and funds that will be needed further in the future are invested accordingly.
It is during this phase when an individual seriously considers the feasibility of retirement - based on their savings and other benefits that will contribute to their retirement income, near-retirees have a clearer picture of when they may retire, and can plan accordingly to retire on time, late, or early and the degree to which the ability to finance their ideals is feasible under various scenarios.
Another major task at this time is long-term debt management: if one owes a substantial amount on a mortgage, or has extensive personal debts, paying them down in advance of retirement is generally considered to be a good idea.
IMPLEMENTATION
In retirement, there is a need to monitor progress and make adjustments. Plans may need to change if spending habits, investment performance, and interest rates fluctuate; if there is a drastic or unexpected change in health; etc. Stuff happens.
Not all changes are necessarily for the worse: one may need less medical care than anticipated or an investment may outperform expectations, providing the retiree more rather than less income in future years.
ESTATE PLANNING
Estate planning - developing a plan for remaining assets after your death - is a separate area of concern, though it is usually considered in the retirement planning process.
There may be instances in which an individual must manage their spending and investments in retirement to manage the amount that will be passed on to heirs via their estate.
In general, the estate is managed to preserve wealth for certain purposes - to have sufficient funds for one's heirs to accomplish specific goals (providing for the education of one's grandchildren.) In other cases, the goal may actually be to reduce the size of an estate, whether for tax purposes or to prevent a large inheritance from adversely affecting one's heirs.
On the topic of death:
- Social Security benefits terminate upon a person's death, though in most cases a portion of the benefit will be paid to a surviving spouse
- Most pensions terminate upon death, with a portion of benefits paid to a surviving spouse, though the terms of a pension may vary
- Terms of annuities vary. Generally, an annuity that pays for a fixed number of years may be part of the estate, with heirs collecting future payments.
- Funds in an IRA are part of the individual's estate
- Funds in traditional investments are part of the estate
As with retirement planning, estate planning is something that investors should consider much sooner than they do - but statistically, the demand for estate planning tends to peak at retirement age.
LOOSE TOPICS
TAXATION
Depending on an individual's income sources and total income, they are likely to owe taxes on some portion of their retirements when they are withdrawn in retirement. The figures used in this document should be treated as gross, rather than net, and tax planning should be considered. If a person is in a 20% tax bracket and needs $20,000 per year, they must plan for $25,000 in gross income to provide that amount.
With the advent of IRAs, it is predicted that more individuals will retire wealthy (over $1M in assets) - so taxation is a concern. Such individuals may prefer tax-sheltered investments (municipal bonds) in lieu of commercial ones, as their net income will be higher as a result. It may also be possible for individuals to donate, rather than cash in, appreciated assets, and use the deduction to offset other taxes.
It is stated that many retirees, especially those who saved substantial amounts for retirement, can find themselves in the same tax bracket, or even a higher one, compared to the one they were in before they retired.
Also, there are no special tax breaks for senior citizens. There may be some breaks on the state and local level (such as lower real estate taxes), but from a federal perspective, there is little to nothing. Senior citizens get a slightly higher standard deduction - but those who itemize their deductions do not benefit from this at all.
RETIREMENT ABROAD
An option whose appeal waxes and wanes over the ages is the concept of retiring abroad - moving to a country with a weaker economy, where one can live very well (sometimes, extremely well) on a smaller amount.
Aside of the general concerns with living abroad (quality of life, healthcare, domestic stability, cultural differences, maintaining citizenship, etc.), there are a handful of financial concerns.
Social Security may not send payments to certain countries (Cuba, North Korea, and a few others) and a person's right to receive benefits may be voided if they convert to foreign citizenship.
The IRS will still expect a cut, even if you live abroad, and the foreign government may expect you to pay their taxes as well. In some instances, the US has negotiated a tax treaty for citizens who live abroad, but the precise terms will differ depending on the country.
Foreign nations are not immune to inflation (in fact, where countries are developing rapidly, the rate tends to be higher) and, if your nest egg is held in American dollars, your income may suffer from fluctuations in the currency exchange rate.
Medicare coverage is not available in foreign nations, and other insurance (continued from employment) may be restricted or unavailable as well.
It may be wise to enlist an accountant and an attorney in the target country who have experience assisting Americans who live abroad.
EARLY RETIREMENT
The concept of early retirement comes and goes, generally with the performance of the stock market. It was a hot topic (and a viable prospect) in the 1990's, prior to the dot-com crash, after which point peoples' savings were significantly reduced. Presently (2008), many are in a position where they have largely regained their losses, and it's expected to become a topic of interest again, once the economy picks up steam.
Fundamentally, early retirement is an option for those who have experienced a windfall, or are dedicated savers, and have amassed substantial savings that allow them to retire "early" - though earliness is rather subjective. There are a few landmarks that most people use in considering retirement:
- Age 55: most companies allow an individual to receive pension payments at this age (provided they meet certain other conditions)
- Age 59.5, one can begin drawing on IRAs without additional penalties
- Age 62, one can begin receiving Social Security benefits
- Age 65: the "traditional" age of retirement
- Age 67 (and increasing): the date at which a person qualifies for full social security benefits
- Age 70.5, one is required to spend down IRAs by taking mandatory minimum distributions.
The ability to retire "early" generally depends on saving enough capital in traditional (non-retirement) investments to enable a person to quit working (or quit working full-time) and live off these investments until pensions and retirement savings kick in.