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Retirement Calculators: Three Good Options

"Calculators aren't capable of providing a bullet-proof analysis of the complex factors and future unknowns that will determine whether someone has done the planning and saving required to ensure a financially secure retirement. With that caveat, Squared Away found three calculators ... that do a good job. They met our criteria of being reliable, free, and easy to use. Many other calculators were quickly eliminated, because they were indecipherable or created issues on the first try."

Continuing to Work, Even at a Job Without Benefits, Boosts Retirement Income

"Retirement security improved over time for the under-prepared people who continued to work -- in contrast to an erosion in security for the people who, despite falling short, had retired at 62 and locked in a small Social Security check. The most interesting finding concerned the older workers who had extended their employment by switching to no-benefit jobs. Their retirement income in their late 60s replaced 68 percent of their past earnings, on average -- still less than what they need but up dramatically from 52 percent if they had retired early."

How Much Will Your Retirement Taxes Be?

"Households with income in the top 20 percent have nearly $770,000, on average, in retirement savings and other financial assets -- their taxes equal 11 percent of their total retirement income. However, limiting the households to the top 5 percent of the income distribution, the tax rate increases to 16 percent -- and the top 1 percent pays 23 percent. These estimates assume retirees start pulling money out of their taxable 401(k) and IRA accounts when the IRS' required minimum distributions (RMDs) kick in at age 70-1/2 -- this age will increase to 72 next year. The tax rates were very similar under alternate scenarios that assume retirees either start withdrawing savings prior to the RMD or buy an immediate annuity with a survivor's benefit."

Personality Influences Path to Retirement

"Only about a third of the older people who are working full-time will go straight into retirement.... [Some] paths include gradually reducing their hours, occasional consulting, or finding a new job or an Uber stint that is only part-time. Other people 'unretire,' meaning that they retire temporarily from a full-time job only to decide to return to work for a while. A new study finds that the paths older workers choose are influenced by their personality and by how well they're able to hold the line against the natural cognitive decline that accompanies aging."

'Retire Rich!' -- Don't Believe the Sales Pitch

"Many of these exploitative videos are targeted to 20-somethings new to the financial world, who may be more vulnerable and persuadable. But perhaps they are also able to attract hundreds or even thousands of viewers because they offer easy solutions to what may be our most anxiety-producing financial challenge: Will I ever be able to afford to retire?"

Health and Wealth Drive Retirees' Spending

"Previous research has shown that spending drops immediately at the moment the paychecks stop, and a few studies have found that households, once retired, reduce their consumption over time. But a new study that also takes the long view suggests that the spending decline is not what retirees want to do but what is necessitated by their financial and health constraints."

Retirees Get a 401(k) Withdrawal Headache

"More than half of boomers approaching retirement have no money in a 401(k).... For those who do have savings, paralysis is the more common reaction.... Miscalculations can wreak havoc on retirement finances ... [N]ot many people can do the complex calculations required to find an optimal rate of withdrawal.... To preserve their finite resources, retirement experts recommend that boomers ... [1] Track spending and review sources of retirement income.... [2] Delay Social Security.... [3] Carefully plan a withdrawal strategy."

Part D Cost for Brand Name Drugs Rising

"In 2020, this threshold – their own spending plus the subsidies – will rise to $6,350, up from $5,100 in this year. Over the next decade, the threshold will nearly double. Previous years' increases were about $150. As the threshold increases, the dollar amount retirees will pay directly out of their own pockets will rise with it."

Half of Retirees Afraid to Use Savings

"A 2009 study estimated that by the time middle-income retirees are in their 80s, they still had not touched about three-fourths of their savings, and 2016 research found that retirees with substantial assets are the most reluctant spenders. Vanguard recently reported that retirees with very modest savings turn around and reinvest a third of the money they’re required to withdraw under IRS rules after age 70-1/2. People saved all of their lives to make sure they will enjoy retirement. So why are they so reluctant to spend the money for the purpose it was intended?"

Boomers Lament Disappearance of Pensions

"Nearly two-thirds of U.S. workers born in the 1920s through the 1940s -- many of them parents of boomers -- had pensions. But a measly 6 percent of boomers from the tail end of the wave have them. Millennials and members of Generation Z usually wouldn't even consider pensions in their retirement plans. But boomers at one time might've hoped or even expected to enjoy a retirement similar to their pensioned parents."