Overlooked expenses in retirement: Gifts and travel related to gift giving occasions

Posted on October 24, 2017October 24, 2017

Many people who come to me for assistance with retirement income planning are on the cusp of retirement and have never tracked their expenses. If that is the case, no problem, we have methods to estimate spending to get a baseline estimate of your spending needs in retirement.

For those that are trying to get a clearer picture of retirement spending, I often see them list their regular monthly expenses such as utilities, insurance, food, and gasoline. But overlook the irregular expenses such as home and car maintenance, personal property taxes, gifts, etc.; expenses that happen on an irregular basis.

Gift giving in Retirement

To help you think through what you might spend on gifts in a year consider these items:

Consider your:
Immediate family
Extended family
Friends
Your children’s friends, teachers, coaches, etc.

Consider occasions:
Christmas
Hanukkah
Birthdays
Weddings
Graduations
Baby showers
Hostess gifts
Funeral flowers
Get well flowers

Consider travel related to gift giving:
Christmas
Destination or out of town weddings
Baby showers
Funerals

What does this average you annually, divided by twelve; this gives you an estimated amount that you spend per month.

Retirement planning is setting your self up to be able to afford the lifestyle and activities that are important to you. Part of that is determining what is important to you and how much it costs.

Michele Clark in the News: US News and World Report about College Planning and Grandparents

Posted on September 27, 2017August 23, 2018

I was honored to help US News and World Report recently in their article “How Grandparents Can Help Save for College” the author of the article and I discussed how difficult it can be for families to discuss money and saving for college and different ways to broach the subject. We also discussed how the money that a Grandparent has saved for a grandchild can sometimes hurt their financial aid prospects depending on how it is managed. We also discussed different investment vehicles and the pros and cons of each.

Michele Clark in the News: US News and World Report about Mistakes Grandparents Make When Helping Pay for College

Posted on September 27, 2017August 23, 2018

I was honored to help US News and World Report recently in their article “6 Mistakes Grandparents Make When Helping Pay for College” we had a nice long conversation which was used for a couple of articles. Discussed in this article are making sure that you do not miss tax breaks, that if you choose to use savings bonds that you title them correctly, and that you are careful about the timing of your gift to the grandchild so that you do not harm their financial aid chances.

2017 IRA and Retirement Plan Limits Announced

Posted on November 8, 2016November 8, 2016

The 2017 figures have been announced for IRA and employer plan contribution limits.

IRA contribution limits

The maximum amount you can contribute to a traditional IRA or Roth IRA in 2017 is $5,500 (or 100% of your earned income, which ever is less), unchanged from 2016.
The maximum catch-up contribution for those age 50 or older remains at $1,000. (You can contribute to both a traditional and Roth IRA in 2017, but your total contributions can’t exceed these annual limits.)

Traditional IRA deduction limits for 2017

The income limits for determining the deductibility of traditional IRA contributions in 2017 have increased.

If your filing status is single or head of household, you can fully deduct your IRA contribution up to $5,500 in 2017 if your MAGI is $62,000 or less (up from $61,000 in 2016).
If you’re married and filing a joint return, you can fully deduct up to $5,500 in 2017 if your MAGI is $99,000 or less (up from $98,000 in 2016).
And if you’re not covered by an employer plan but your spouse is, and you file a joint return, you can fully deduct up to $5,500 in 2017 if your MAGI is $186,000 or less (up from $184,000 in 2016).

If your 2017 federal income tax filing status is:	Your IRA deduction is limited if your MAGI is between:	Your deduction is eliminated if your MAGI is:
Single or head of household	$62,000 and $72,000	$72,000 or more
Married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er)*	$99,000 and $119,000 (combined)	$119,000 or more (combined)
Married filing separately	$0 and $10,000	$10,000 or more

*If you’re not covered by an employer plan but your spouse is, your deduction is limited if your MAGI is $186,000 to $196,000, and eliminated if your MAGI exceeds $196,000.

Roth IRA contribution limits for 2017

The income limits for determining how much you can contribute to a Roth IRA have also increased for 2017.

If your filing status is single or head of household, you can contribute the full $5,500 to a Roth IRA in 2017 if your MAGI is $118,000 or less (up from $117,000 in 2016).
And if you’re married and filing a joint return, you can make a full contribution in 2017 if your MAGI is $186,000 or less (up from $184,000 in 2016). (Again, contributions can’t exceed 100% of your earned income.)

If your 2017 federal income tax filing status is:	Your Roth IRA contribution is limited if your MAGI is:	You cannot contribute to a Roth IRA if your MAGI is:
Single or head of household	More than $118,000 but less than $133,000	$133,000 or more
Married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er)	More than $186,000 but less than $196,000 (combined)	$196,000 or more (combined)
Married filing separately	More than $0 but less than $10,000	$10,000 or more

Employer retirement plans

Most of the significant employer retirement plan limits for 2017 remain unchanged from 2016.
The maximum amount you can contribute (your “elective deferrals”) to a 401(k) plan in 2017 is $18,000. This limit also applies to 403(b), 457(b), and SAR-SEP plans, as well as the Federal Thrift Plan.
If you’re age 50 or older, you can also make catch-up contributions of up to $6,000 to these plans in 2017. [Special catch-up limits apply to certain participants in 403(b) and 457(b) plans.]
If you participate in more than one retirement plan, your total elective deferrals can’t exceed the annual limit ($18,000 in 2017 plus any applicable catch-up contribution). Deferrals to 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, SIMPLE plans, and SAR-SEPs are included in this aggregate limit, but deferrals to Section 457(b) plans are not. For example, if you participate in both a 403(b) plan and a 457(b) plan, you can defer the full dollar limit to each plan—a total of $36,000 in 2017 (plus any catch-up contributions).
The amount you can contribute to a SIMPLE IRA or SIMPLE 401(k) plan in 2017 is $12,500, and the catch-up limit for those age 50 or older remains at $3,000.

Plan type:	Annual dollar limit:	Catch-up limit:
401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), SAR-SEP, Federal Thrift Plan	$18,000	$6,000
SIMPLE plans	$12,500	$3,000

Note: Contributions can’t exceed 100% of your income.

The maximum amount that can be allocated to your account in a defined contribution plan [for example, a 401(k) plan or profit-sharing plan] in 2017 is $54,000, up from $53,000 in 2016, plus age 50 catch-up contributions. (This includes both your contributions and your employer’s contributions. Special rules apply if your employer sponsors more than one retirement plan.)
Finally, the maximum amount of compensation that can be taken into account in determining benefits for most plans in 2017 is $270,000 (up from $265,000 in 2016), and the dollar threshold for determining highly compensated employees (when 2017 is the look-back year) is $120,000, unchanged from 2016.

Retirement Income: Estimating How Much You Will Need

Posted on September 2, 2016September 2, 2016

Use your current income as a starting point

You have probably read financial press articles that discuss desired annual retirement income as a percentage of your current income. Depending on the article, that percentage could be anywhere from 60 to 90 percent, or even more. The appeal of this approach lies in its simplicity, and the fact that there’s a fairly common-sense analysis underlying it: Your current income sustains your present lifestyle, so taking that income and reducing it by a specific percentage to reflect the fact that there will be certain expenses you’ll no longer be liable for (e.g., costs associated with working such as lunches out, dry cleaning, commuting, etc.) will, theoretically, allow you to sustain your current lifestyle.

The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t account for your specific situation. If you intend to travel extensively in retirement, for example, you might easily need 100 percent (or more) of your current income to get by. It’s fine to use a percentage of your current income as a benchmark, but it’s worth going through all of your current expenses in detail, and really thinking about how those expenses will change over time as you transition into retirement.

Project you retirement expenses

Your annual income during retirement should be enough (or more than enough) to meet your retirement expenses. That’s why estimating those expenses is a big piece of the retirement planning puzzle. But you may have a hard time identifying all of your expenses and projecting how much you’ll be spending in each area, especially if retirement is still far off. To help you get started, here are some common retirement expenses:

Food
Housing: Rent or mortgage payments, property taxes, homeowners insurance, HOA fees, property upkeep and repairs
Utilities: Gas, electric, water, telephone, cell phone, Internet, cable TV, trash
Transportation: Car purchases or payments, auto insurance, gas, maintenance and repairs, public transportation
Insurance: Medical, Medicare Supplement, dental, life, long-term care
Health-care costs not covered by insurance: Deductibles, co-payments, prescription drugs
Care for yourself, your parents, or others: Costs for a nursing home, home health aide, or other type of assisted living
Taxes: Federal and state income tax, capital gains tax, personal property tax
Travel: for fun, to visit family, to go to family events such as weddings and funerals
Clothing
Debts: Personal loans, business loans, credit card payments
Education: Children’s or grandchildren’s college expenses
Gifts: Charitable and personal such as Christmas, birthday, wedding
Recreation: dining out, hobbies, leisure activities, season tickets to sports or entertainment
Miscellaneous: Personal grooming, pets, club memberships, household items

Don’t forget that the cost of living will go up over time. The average annual rate of inflation over the past 20 years has been approximately 2.3 percent. (Source: Consumer price index (CPI-U) data published by the U.S. Department of Labor, January 2015.) And keep in mind that your retirement expenses may change from year to year. For example, you may pay off your home mortgage or your children’s education early in retirement. Other expenses, such as health care and insurance, will increase as you age. To protect against these variables, build a comfortable cushion into your estimates (it’s always best to be conservative). Keep in mind that some expenses have historically gone up at a rate greater than inflation. For example, in our retirement projections we inflate healthcare expenses at a rate of 6%.

Decide when you will retire

To determine your total retirement needs, you can’t just estimate how much annual income you need. You also have to estimate how long you’ll be retired. Why? The longer your retirement, the more years of income you’ll need to fund it. The length of your retirement will depend partly on when you plan to retire. This important decision typically revolves around your personal goals and financial situation. For example, you may see yourself retiring at 50 to get the most out of your retirement. Maybe a booming stock market or a generous early retirement package will make that possible. Although it’s great to have the flexibility to choose when you’ll retire, it’s important to remember that retiring at 50 will end up costing you a lot more than retiring at 65.

Estimate your life expectancy

The age at which you retire isn’t the only factor that determines how long you’ll be retired. The other important factor is your lifespan. We all hope to live to an old age, but a longer life means that you’ll have even more years of retirement to fund. You may even run the risk of outliving your savings and other income sources. To guard against that risk, you’ll need to estimate your life expectancy. You can use government statistics, life insurance tables, or a life expectancy calculator to get a reasonable estimate of how long you’ll live. Experts base these estimates on your age, gender, race, health, lifestyle, occupation, and family history. But remember, these are just estimates. There’s no way to predict how long you’ll actually live, but with life expectancies on the rise, it’s probably best to assume you’ll live longer than you expect.

Identify your sources of retirement income

Once you have an idea of your retirement income needs, your next step is to assess how prepared you are to meet those needs. In other words, what sources of retirement income will be available to you? Your employer may offer a traditional pension that will pay you monthly benefits. In addition, you can likely count on Social Security to provide a portion of your retirement income. To get an estimate of your Social Security benefits, visit the Social Security Administration website (www.ssa.gov). Additional sources of retirement income may include a 401(k) or other retirement plan, IRAs, annuities, and other investments. The amount of income you receive from those sources will depend on the amount you invest, the rate of investment return, and other factors. Finally, if you plan to work during retirement, your job earnings will be another source of income.

Make up any income shortfall

If you’re lucky, your expected income sources will be more than enough to fund even a lengthy retirement. But what if it looks like you’ll come up short? Don’t panic–there are probably steps that you can take to bridge the gap. We can help you figure out the best ways to do that, but here are a few suggestions:

Try to cut current expenses now so you’ll have more money to save for retirement
Consider delaying your retirement for a few years (or longer)
Lower your expectations for retirement so you won’t need as much money (no beach house on the Riviera, for example)
Work part-time during retirement for extra income

The best way to determine if you are on track for the retirement you envision, is to get started now on a financial plan. You don’t have to go it alone; you can enlist the help of a professional. Contact us today.