If you were born between 1946 and 1964, then you are officially in the baby boomer age group. That being said, during the year 2010, all baby boomers were turning 46 to 64 years old! Are you part of this oh so famous group, if so, Jeanie Ahn of Yahoo Finance wrote in an article today that if you talk to enough baby boomers or new retirees about what they wish they could do differently, chances are many of them would mention a retirement plan do-over of some kind.
And even if you’ve managed to build up a sizable nest egg, executing on the right way to withdraw those funds is just as important as saving. Crucial mistakes along the way can jeopardize the money you’ve worked so hard to save up.
Below are some of the costly mistakes Dorrell says you can avoid:
Regret #1: Relying on your pension
Two summers ago, I think I got about 55 phone calls from clients who expected that they would continue to get a pension from [their company], and all of a sudden they were getting called to a retiree meeting where they were being told: “Here, we’re going to just cash you out,” or, “You can continue with an annuity with this company that we’ve partnered with, but we’re not going to do it anymore.” Others have said, “It’s your responsibility to invest it or put an income stream to yourself from it.”
My advice for people who are left with a bucket of money is to invest it safely. The last thing you want to do is put that money in the stock market and risk it – that may mean back to work you go! And who wants to do that in their 60s?
I would suggest safe bank-insured investments like CDs or money markets. If you can stomach a longer-term investment for a better return, then utilizing a fixed index annuity with an income rider to guarantee an income for life, similar to a pension, is recommended.
Regret #2: Having too many accounts
The most I’ve seen is 16 different retirement accounts at different institutions. It becomes overwhelming. So while they’re trying to have this nest egg, what ends up happening is they have a bunch of scrambled eggs. They have things all over the place and they laugh when we talk about this, but it is a source of concern because they just tend to not open those statements.