Retirement

IF YOU JUST ENTERED the workforce, it’s time to start preparing for retirement. Over the next four decades, you might pull in tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. It’s lucky you have all that income coming in, because ahead of you lies life’s toughest financial task: amassing enough money so you can retire in comfort. In dry economic terms, your working career is about accumulating enough financial capital, so that one day you’ll no longer need the income from your human capital.

This, alas, is a task that most Americans are not good at. Want to do better? As you ponder how to pay for retirement, it’s helpful to think about your life in three stages—your 20s, 30s and 40s, your 50s and early 60s, and age 65 and beyond—which is how this chapter is divvied up.

• Retirement Readiness
• Three-Legged Stool
• Women and Money
• 20s, 30s and 40s
• Put Retirement First
• Financial Calculators
• Where to Save?
• 50s and Early 60s
• A Good Retirement
• On Track to Retire?
• Adjusting Your Mix
• The 80% Rule
• Estimating Expenses
• Early Retirement
• Playing Catch-Up
• When All Else Fails
• Age 65 and Beyond
• Life Expectancy
• Inflation
• Market Declines
• Retirement Income
• Portfolio Withdrawals
• Your Safety Net
• Four Percent Rule
• Sequence of Returns
• Varying Spending
• Social Security
• Benefits Eligibility
• Early and Late
• Breaking Even
• Spousal Benefits
• Claiming Strategies
• Family Benefits
• Budget Act 2015
• Survivor Benefits
• Benefits if Divorced
• Social Security’s Future
• Pension Plans
• Pension vs. Lump Sum
• Income Annuities
• Pooling Risk
• Immediate Fixed
• Longevity Insurance
• Living Benefits
• Immediate Variable
• Payout Funds
• Spending Home Equity
• Reverse Mortgages
• Jonathan’s Retirement

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