As we finish up our 2017 outlook commentary, we wanted to get back to the basics and provide a simple overview of common retirement income strategies.
Let’s begin with some sources of income:
Social Security. According to a 2012 report by the Social Security Administration, the most used form of retirement income in 2010 was Social Security, with 86 percent of people over 65 receiving payments. This same study found that 65 percent of retirees depend on Social Security for over half of their income. If you believe Social Security will still be around when you retire, you can see that it could play a large role in your income plan. But if you don’t believe you can rely on it, you have a large percentage of income to make up for when you retire.
Pension plans. Pensions and other defined benefit plans are waning in popularity among employers, and many companies have already phased them out. You may have a better chance at pension income if you work for the military or government, but for many future retirees, a pension will not be part of their retirement income plan.
Savings. The final piece of your income plan is your personal savings and investments — which may be the only piece many future retirees will depend on. Investment accounts, real estate, bonds, CDs, dividends, high-interest savings accounts and anything else that appreciates can provide income in your golden years.
And moving on to common strategies:
Your income strategy may combine two or three of the aforementioned income sources, or you may be relying solely on your personal savings. To develop an effective strategy, you’ll need to estimate how long you’ll be in retirement (what year you’ll retire and your life expectancy), the value of your savings (how much you’ve saved, how much you can save before you retire and how much it is expected to appreciate) and how much you need to live on.
Safe withdrawal rate. The 4 percent rule was established as a one-size-fits-all safe withdrawal rate. To follow this rule, retirees would take 4 percent of their entire portfolio’s value in the first year of retirement to use as living expenses. This amount is then what they’d use annually throughout their retirement, adjusting only for inflation. Four percent is considered a safe withdrawal rate because it is not likely to deplete your savings before the end of your life. Many factors render this rule ineffective: excessive inflation, lifestyle changes, unexpected expenses, and longer than expected lifespan. Additionally, 4 percent might not be enough for you to live on, or it might force you to live more frugally than necessary. Nevertheless, it is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind.
Another strategy is to tie your withdrawals to your portfolio’s value, increasing when the market is up and decreasing when it is down. This works well in theory, but only if you can afford to live on a smaller distribution in a bear market.
Annuities. For guaranteed, regular income throughout your retirement, you can consider purchasing an annuity, which you can think of as a cross between an investment account and an insurance plan. You purchase an annuity through an investment company who then professionally invests your money and uses the growth to provide you with a steady income stream. You can choose between different types of annuities to find one that fits your needs best, including the following:
- Fixed annuity. The safest type of annuity, these pay the same amount of money regardless of how the market performs. You won’t have to worry about a down market, but you also won’t reap the benefit of an upswing.
- Variable annuity. On the contrary, a variable annuity varies its payout with market trends. Your income correlates with market fluctuations, which is riskier but also has the capacity for better returns.
- Equity-indexed annuity. Perhaps the best of both worlds, the equity-indexed annuity guarantees a minimum return, but fluctuates with an equity index to provide higher payments in a good market. Returns won’t be as high as actual market returns, but they can be better than a fixed annuity. Here, you have the possibility of high returns without the risk of losing everything.
Other strategies. You can additionally live on income from part-time retirement jobs, rental income on owned real estate, royalties from past work, laddered CDs, and stock dividends (to name a few).
We hope this has provided a quick overview of income strategies during retirement, but we also suspect that you may be feeling overwhelmed with reaching your goals. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@targetedwealthsolutions.com. We look forward to helping you develop, implement, and maintain a robust and effective financial plan!
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