Hi Jan,
Happy Labor Day weekend! If you're taking a long weekend, I hope you get some real time off before the pace of the year picks back up again.
This week we're looking at a decision a lot of you are working through right now: when to start Social Security. Delaying it can mean a larger benefit for the rest of your life, but the years between retiring and claiming can put real pressure on your portfolio if you don't plan for them separately. This week's article walks through how to build a bridge for that gap, using cash, bonds, TIPS, an annuity, or home equity, so you're not forced to sell investments at the wrong time to fund the wait.
| | | | How to Build a Social Security Bridge to Help Manage Sequence Risk Social Security is a particularly valuable source of reliable retirement income. It functions much like a lifetime inflation-adjusted annuity backed by the federal government, providing income for as long as you live and adjusting benefits over time through cost-of-living increases. For married couples, the claiming decision can also affect the survivor benefit available after the first spouse dies. Unlike withdrawals from an investment portfolio, Social Security benefits are designed to continue for life, making Social Security particularly valuable for managing longevity risk.
By Retirement Researcher | | | | Retiring Before 65 and the Healthcare Gap People Underestimate For many successful professionals, retirement becomes a choice before age 65. After decades of saving and building financial flexibility, they may have more freedom to decide when they are ready to leave work and move on to something different. That freedom can come with a few complications, and health insurance is one of the easiest to underestimate. Employer coverage tends to fade into the background while someone is working because the plan is already in place, the employer is paying part of the cost, and most of the decision-making happens during annual enrollment. Leaving work can change that almost overnight.
By McLean Asset Management
| | | | Why Being Safety-First Doesn’t Mean You Need an Annuity
Wade and Alex answer a run of live questions, from annuities and inflation risk in the safety first quadrant to funding the years before claiming Social Security. They also dig into using a single premium annuity inside a Risk Wrap strategy and what to do when Social Security and a pension already cover most of your spending.
| | | | | | | | Alex and I are doing a live YouTube Q&A on Wednesday, Sept. 9th at 12:00 PM ET, and we want your questions. Social Security, this week's bridge strategy, or anything else in your retirement income plan, whatever you're working through, hit reply and we'll add it to the list, or s | | | |
