Announcing Our Series on Longevity

• Traditional retirement vehicles such as 401(k)s and IRAs are complex and don’t translate into reliable income during retirement
• There are retirement tools available to help you plan for a long retirement

The long story short? We’re living longer. In fact age 90 is the average lifespan for a non-smoker entering retirement today.

But that’s a good thing! That’s more time you can spend pursuing hobbies, continuing work, and spending time with family.

There’s another aspect to longer lifespans though — you’ll have to do a little more to prepare yourself financially. This is especially important because retirement ages are not increasing at the same rate as lifespans. At the same time, employers and governments are doing less to support individuals in retirement. This forces everyday hardworking people to handle saving for retirement on top of paying bills and sending kids to college. On top of that, retirement savings vehicles like 401(k)s and IRAs are complex and don’t translate into reliable income.

It’s always the right time to start thinking about preparing for retirement, especially now that we’re living longer. To start, consider these questions:

1. Can you roughly approximate how much you’ll be spending each month in retirement?
2. Will your Social Security (and pension, if you have one) generate enough income to cover your spending?
3. Do you need another income stream to supplement the Social Security and assets you may have accumulated?

These are really hard questions to answer, but we’re here to help. Over the next few articles, we’ll review things you should consider about retirement and the different financial tools available that can secure your retirement.