Smart401k Blog

Photo Credit dflorian1980

It’s a new year. With 2012 underway, many of you have received retirement account statements or a notice to view your information online. (If you haven’t yet, you will soon.)

This provides the perfect opportunity to spend some time examining your investment strategy, and make sure you’re on track to reach your goals. This is also a good time to review appropriate benchmarks to see how your investments stack up.

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We follow lots of really good blogs – mostly related to personal finance and economics. The Blog Round-Up allows us to point you in the direction of some great content from the blogging world. Posts* included in today’s round-up speak to the theme Ideas for Life During Retirement.

This unique post also falls into another series we run called Envisioning Retirement.

More studies and data are showing the benefits of envisioning your own retirement. People who can envision themselves in retirement are more likely to save more money and diligently plan for retirement.

To help you see and feel what your life could be like during retirement, this blog series will provide information and reviews about hobbies, travel and other activities you might enjoy during your retirement years.

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Photo attributions: scrapbooking by shimelle; golf by kulicki; ocean dock by Alaskan Dude; cruise ship by Jesus & Kristle; fishing by Brianmoc; books by indi.ca

More studies and data are showing the benefits of envisioning your own retirement. People who can envision themselves in retirement are more likely to save more money and diligently plan for retirement.

To help you see and feel what your life could be like during retirement, this blog series will provide information and reviews about hobbies, travel and other activities you might enjoy during your retirement years.  (more…)

Most articles about retirement planning focus on you – the future retiree. Oftentimes authors also discuss how spouses’ retirement savings will interact in a retirement strategy. Have you ever thought about how your retirement savings decisions will affect everyone else in your life?

Think about all your family, and even your friends. Your financial situation during retirement could be part of their lives too.  (more…)

An article in the May 23, 2011, edition of MarketWatch digs into the root causes of the problems retirees are facing.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The idyllic, play-golf-and-travel vision of retirement may well be a thing of the past. Most new retirees are either nervous or downright frightened about their golden years, according to a new study.

Uncertainty about the future, fear of poverty, lack of confidence in their investing abilities, and distrust of the financial-services industry were four of the most common feelings expressed by 300 recent or soon-to-be retirees in interviews conducted between 2008 and 2011 …    (more…)

The Situation

An average, middle-class couple is expecting a baby. During the pregnancy, the new parents learn that their baby has special needs. At first, the reality feels overwhelming. In addition to learning how to care for their child, these new parents will need to adjust their entire personal financial picture.

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There was some hubbub recently in the world of retirement planning when Fidelity released some statistics from its 401(k) provider practice. Have you ever wondered how your employer retirement plan account balance compares with other people’s? Read on to see some of the Fidelity statistics, and read further to see why they don’t really matter. (more…)

In my experience speaking with people who are nearing retirement, many think it’s an all-or-nothing deal. A common viewpoint is one day you walk out of the workplace and never return again.

The fact is that, after spending a lifetime in a challenging career, it can be difficult to stop working cold-turkey. A growing trend these days is semi-retirement, or gradual retirement. (more…)

The situation

A couple gets married. Horray! Each newlywed is about 15 years away from the age he/she has always imagined retiring. They’re head-over-heals in love, and they’re in it for the long-haul. But they avoided talking about money prior to taking the plunge. Both people have been independently earning and budgeting for years, so each feels confident that they have a solid financial foundation.

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The news has been filled with stories about debt. Some of us have bitten off more than we can chew.

Lots of families and individuals (and companies and governments) are awakening from a spending frenzy that, in some cases, was decades-long. Now we’re trying to shape up and settle up. If you’re in that boat, how do you balance your debt repayment strategy with your retirement savings strategy? (more…)