Is retirement planning overcomplicated by most? (pension, moving, spouse, relative)

[Serious Conversation]

We are often told we need this or that much to retire and a whole industry has developed around advising, the peddling of products, and retirement preparation. Does it get too complicated?

Let's assume you are debt free upon reaching retirement age. That much is critical. Is all you need to do cash flow projected expenses? Is how you get there important, whether you draw down existing investments, have some sort of passive income, or continue to work?

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

We are often told we need this or that much to retire and a whole industry has developed around advising, the peddling of products, and retirement preparation. Does it get too complicated?

Let's assume you are debt free upon reaching retirement age. That much is critical. Is all you need to do cash flow projected expenses? Is how you get there important, whether you draw down existing investments, have some sort of passive income, or continue to work?

Some want to maximize their potential income stream as they have a retirement lifestyle in mind for themselves. Yes those peddling the products want to confuse so you feel like you need them. Not everyone feels the need to be anymore debt free in retirement than before. It depends on their income sources and the cost of that debt.

[mathjak107]

EMIGRATIONS , you have 6 moving targets all working against one another . expenses, market returns, market sequences, interest rates ,life expectancy and inflation.

throw in taxes and what could be simpler to project?

add in the fact that any conditions backtested and allowed for in modern retirement planning theory such as in bill bengens work or the trinity study are not the same conditions faced today . never ever before were retirees faced with high stock valuations and such low interest rates at the same time which is what what we have from this moment on going forward.

it took 35 for rates to get this low and the trip back up to the historical norm can take years if not a decade or longer..

this is uncharted territory and unconventional times which may very well call for unconventional investing ,unconventional products and the new knowledge to go with it.

if things go well it isn't complicated at all but if they don't, protecting and sustaining that income can be very complex.

[Heidi60]

See whether this will answer some of your tax questions, which can be big bite:

http://research.prudential.com/docum...ityNov2012.pdf

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

We are often told we need this or that much to retire and a whole industry has developed around advising, the peddling of products, and retirement preparation. Does it get too complicated?

Let's assume you are debt free upon reaching retirement age. That much is critical. Is all you need to do cash flow projected expenses? Is how you get there important, whether you draw down existing investments, have some sort of passive income, or continue to work?

Having a pension is a good foundation for steady, reliable income.
If you don't have a pension the next best thing is an annuity.

Then all the other actions you do with your money are to add upon it.
The old adage of not putting all your eggs into one basket still holds true even in retirement.

I'm debt free and because of that I don't need a big steady income.
My pension covers my bills and I have some left over.
I do substitute teaching and that's my slush fund for projects around my ranch.
As of yet I have not touched my 401K and SS is a number of years off for me.

I do have a trading account where I take my profits and put into my MM account.
At the end of the year I saw how much I "earned" with sub teaching and put that amount into a Roth.

So far this is working out for me.

[jghorton]

Is retirement planning over-complicated by most?

It appears that many folks think it is over-complicated and thus under-prepare, in lieu of implementing a manageable plan in time to seriously influence the outcome.

[mlb]

I see people around me who are so immobilized by the enormity of the subject and the planning - that they do nothing.

I work at a gov't entity - and we have a decent 401K plan through a professional organization of municipal workers. There are approximately 500 workers at my entity.

Three years ago they were expanding the stocks - adding TD Ameritrade as part of the overall package. The stocks that were available previously were limited.

When I and my spouse asked what paperwork we had to fill out to expand into TDA - we were told we were only one of TWO employees who requested that information.

Three years later we still are.

[Aggiebuttercup]

I just started a new job, and at HR orientation a financial planner came to explain the 403b plan. He started by asking each of us in the room to say how much of a percent of salary we thought we needed to save to be prepared for retirement. The group ranged in age from early 20s - late 50s.

Of the 30 people in the room, only 4 of us provided a number (ranging from 5-20%). The other 26 people gave a variation of "I have no idea".

Some of those people later asked questions about what they needed to fill out to say they didn't want any of their money going to the 403b.

I was shocked at how few people had any idea at all of what they'd need, and showed even less interest in learning.

[DaveinMtAiry]

That is really sad to read. What are people thinking?

[jstriding]

Part of why I find retirement planning complicated, is that at least in the U.S., the major expenses (healthcare) is still "evolving", so what is the reasonable financial buffer in catastrophic health event? Then when should one buy long term care insurance? Maybe we can do some type of budget but what is relatively consistent is easy to project and prepare for. It's the unpredictable stuff (life event, sudden illnesses, freak accidents) that's hard to "plan".