RETIREMENT
INCOME ON THE RETIREMENT
CAFÉ
Increasing Your and My Retirement
Income
A question that arises is: "How can I increase my retirement
income."
Recently Gallup identified the
top 10
sources of retirement
income available to
Americans.
1.
Retirement savings accounts
2. Home equity
3. Pension plans
4. Social security
5. Certificates of deposit
6. Stocks and mutual funds
7.
Retirement jobs
8. Annuities or insurance
plans
9. Inheritance
10. Rent and royalties
It follows that the best way to
increase your retirement income is to increase the amount that
flows from any one of the above ten
sources.
In other words, learn to think
of opportunity instead of security.
Using Home Equity for Retirement
Income
Home equity for retirement income can be
used in two ways. The first option is to have the home sold
outright and the retirees can then rent accommodations or
downsize to a smaller house, using the extra funds for
living expenses.
Another option for using home equity for
retirement income is getting a reverse mortgage. There are
three general ways that retirees can choose to receive the
money from a reverse mortgage. The three options include a
lump sum, fixed lifetime monthly payments, or a line of
credit. More than 60 percent of American retirees getting a
reverse mortgage choose the line of credit, which retirees
can draw on at any time.
The size of the reverse mortgage will depend on the age of the
retirees at the time of application, the type of reverse
mortgage, and how much the house is worth. Generally speaking,
the older the retiree and the more the house is worth, the
larger the reverse mortgage that the retiree can obtain.
Retirees do not have to repay the loan as long as the home
remains the principal residence. Income and credit rating are
not considered when qualifying for a reverse-morgage-based
loan. Although there is no requirement that retirees requalify
during the term of the reverse mortgage, but property taxes and
home insurance must be paid by the retirees and kept
current.
Where American Seniors Get Their Retirement
Income
According to the Center for Retirement
Research at Boston College, American retirees 65 and
older rely heavily on Social Security for their retirement
income. Surprisingly, this is true even at the top-third of
the income bracket.
Unfortunately, the majority of the retired
and soon-to-be retired can't depend exclusively on pension
plans because of the substantial financial losses that their
retirement savings accounts sustained during the Great
Recession.
See this image in better resolution on NPR at:
The above graphs shows that the bottom income tier - the
third of Americans 65 and over with the lowest level of
retirement income (annual income of $16,758 or
less) - receive their
retirement income from:
The middle income tier - the third of Americans 65 and over
with the middle level of retirement income (income between
$16,758 and $37,161 per year) - receive their
retirement income from:
The top income tier - the third of Americans 65 and
over with the highest level of retirement income
(income above $37,161 per year) - receive their
retirement income from:
In short, at least one-third of Americans will have to rely
on Social Security benefits - not pensions - in their
retirement years.
Source: Calculations by the Center for Retirement Research
at Boston College, based on the U.S. Census Bureau 2009
Current Population Survey
Some Retirement
Income Money Quotes
Let's spend
all our money to buy cool stuff. Later we can sell
it all on eBay to pay for our retirement.
- from Glasbergen cartoon
More money
seldom solves someone's money problems.
Intelligence solves problems.
- Robert Kiyosaki, writing in Rich Dad,
Poor Dad.
Shun anything - shares,
property, or the latest hot trend - with recent
sharp appreciation. Bubbles burst. Wait until
prices fall and then stabilize. Never buy in a
market that is rising or falling fast. In the short
term, stick to safe investments, even if you can
only get 5 percent.
- Richard Koch, writing in
Living the 80/20
Way.
When it comes
to making more money, most people look at the world
and see the same opportunities they’ve seen before:
typically, a job. Because they don’t awaken their
mind and expand their vision, they don’t see other
opportunities. Yet opportunities do exist. So how
do you change your thinking so you can see them?
One way to jolt the brain out of its preconceived
category thinking is to bombard it with new
experiences.
- Joe Vitale
Retirement Income Resources to Help
Increase Your and My Retirement Savings and Your and My
Retirement Money
1. Retirement
Income Calculator: Take an
educated guess at how much money you will have to
spend in retirement by estimating your retirement
benefits at this U.S. Government
website.
2.
Millionaires
in the Making: If you didn't become a
millionaire in your regular career you can still become
one as a retiree. Millionaires in the Making are smart about
choosing investments and they get a kick out of socking
away money. They don't spend frivolously but know how to
enjoy life, they keep an emergency, and try to keep debt
to a minimum.
3.
US Government Retirement Website for
Seniors: Official information and
services from the U.S. government for the retired and
soon-to-be retired including money and financial
issues.
4. US Government
Website: Home page of the US Government's
Official Web Portal for all government transactions,
services, and information including links to Social
Security and Retiree Benefits.
5.
Budgeting & Savings Tips For
Retirees: Financial advice on the
right way to change spending habits and learn why the wrong
ways don't work. Budgeting is an important tool to use at
any age, although to many of us it sounds like a four
letter word. Practical ideas for budgeting and saving that
make managing expenses easy.
6.
Fiscal Fitness for Older
Americans: Stretching Your Savings
and Shaping Up Your Financial Strategies. Advice from The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which has been
publishing FDIC Consumer News quarterly since 1993 to help
people protect and stretch their money.
7. The
Money Café: Features a
special webpage on "My Retirement Money." This website
gives you free financial advice on how to make money,
how to save money for retirement, and how to spend your
retirement savings wisely. If you follow the advice on
this website, you will have a happy retirement - both
financially and psychologically.
8.
National Save for Retirement Week: National
Save for Retirement Week is a key event employers use to
inspire their employees to save more for retirement.
9. US
Department of Labor: This page
provides a shortcut to the information and services the
Department of Labor offers on various labor and
employment topics.
10. Career
Success Without a Real Job:
The ideal career book for retirees who would like to
work in retirement to increase their retirement income
but not in a traditional corporate job. In Chapter 6:
Prosperity Comes When You Do the Right Things
with Your Life, this book includes topic such
as More Money Won’t Bring You More Happiness - It Works
the Other Way Around!; Financial Freedom Does Not Have
to Be Just a Dream; Your Prosperity Will Grow to the
Extent That You Do; and Prosperity Spending in
Retirement Is Good for Your Financial Soul.
11. With a focus on the non-financial
aspects of retirement,
How to Retire
Happy, Wild and
Free explores the
myriad choices and decisions we are all confronted with in
living out our retirement lives. Easy to read and well laid
out, the bestselling non-financial retirement book on
Amazon.com emphasizes preparing for retirement long before
you retire. How to Retire Happy, Wild, and
Free is a provocative, entertaining,
down-to-earth, and tremendously inspiring book that will
help you get more joy and satisfaction out of all your
retirement activities.
12.
Retirement Income for Unconventional
Retirees: This webpage on The Joy of
Being Retired Website is for retirees who are motivated and
creative enough to generate income in unconventional ways
such as Internet marketing.
Purchase
How to Retire Happy, Wild, and
Free Today:
Click Here to Purchase on
Amazon.com
More Retirement
Income Money Quotes
Paying attention to simple little
things that most men neglect makes a few men
rich.
- Henry Ford
Money
is what you make it. Depending upon
who you
are - and your frame of mind
- money
can be anything you want it to
be. Money
can be: the root of all evil; or
that which answers all things; or
something that burns a hole in your pocket; or a
means to freedom; or an interesting
concept; or even a stupid concept. Whatever value
you place on money, you must take
responsibility for it.
If money
is evil to you, you created it being
evil. If money is a problem to
you, you created it being a problem. If money
is joy to you, you created this concept. Take
responsibility for your concepts. And be clear
that these are just concepts. Nothing more
and nothing less.
- from
The Lazy Person's Guide to
Success
We have a balance of $0.32 in the
bank … Which made us four-and-a-half trillion
dollars richer than the federal government.
- Jim Borgman
A large income is the best recipe
for happiness I ever heard of.
- Jane Austen
COPYRIGHT © 2010 by
Ernie J.
Zelinski
Author of
The World's Best Retirement
Book
All Rights
Reserved
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