Planning for retirement can be a scary thought, whether it is just around the corner or years in the future. Martin Hawes, one of New Zealand's best-known experts on personal finance, answers all of the questions that may be keeping you up at night: How much will I need to retire? Can I ever afford to stop working? How do I make sure my money lasts as long as I do? Working out how you can achieve a regular monthly retirement income is more difficult than it used to be. Historically low interest rates (despite the current blip) plus longer life expectancy means the old method of parking your nest egg in a savings account and living off the interest is no longer an option. Hawes guides you step-by-step through the planning process, showing you how you can safely create a regular income for the rest of your life. 'Cracking Open the Nest Egg' will help you to confidently take control of your financial future and achieve the kind of retirement you always dreamed of.

Planning for retirement can be a scary thought, whether it is just around the corner or years in the future. Martin Hawes, one of New Zealand's best-known experts on personal financial answers all of the questions that may be keeping you up at night: How much will I need to retire? Can I ever afford to stop working? How do I make sure my money lasts as long as I do?Working out how you can achieve a regular monthly retirement income is more difficult than it used to be. Historically low interest rates (despite the current blip) plus longer life expectancy means the old method of parking your nest egg in a savings account and living off the interest is no longer an option. Hawes guides you step-by-step through the planning process, showing you how you can safely create a regular income for the rest of your life. Cracking Open the Nest Egg will help you to confidently take control of your financial future and achieve the kind of retirement you always dreamed of.

In this paper we analyze income sources in retirement, particularly the role played by withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts. IRAs comprise a relatively small but rapidly growing source of retirement income. Using a cross-section of tax returns from tax year 2002, we find that roughly half of all primary taxpayers aged 70 to 75 had IRA withdrawals that year. This percentage is likely to rise as self-funded and rollover IRAs become even more common. Second, using a ten-year panel of taxpayers aged 57 to 63 in 1987 we find roughly 42 percent of IRA owners first tap their accounts within a two-year window before or after retirement. These on-time tappers make fairly consistent withdrawals after retirement, accounting for about eight percent of income, on average. About 12 percent of IRA owners tap their accounts at least two years prior to retirement. While these early tappers do not seem to deplete their accounts immediately, there is some evidence of account depletion within the ten years following a first withdrawal. Finally, we find that about 45 percent of taxpayers wait to tap their accounts until at least two years after retirement, and often until required to do so by law. These late tappers evidently have sufficient income and assets to finance at least the early years of retirement using non-IRA sources of income. These households are most likely wealthier than the average retiree household, and are maximizing the IRA's tax benefit by keeping assets in the IRA as long as possible.

When you are planning for retirement and eventually retire, you are faced with cracking open your nest egg. You have only one chance to get it right. This essential handbook will give you the insight and tools necessary for that success. Sunny Side Up is a retirement planning guide that anyone can understand at any stage of planning. This guide will help you plan for a long and prosperous retirement. Certified Financial Planner(R), Roch Tranel is CEO and founder of The Tranel Financial Group located in Libertyville, Illinois. Roch has been helping individuals reach clarity and confidence about their financial future since 1988. Benjamin Pahl is a Financial Advisor and Director of Financial Institutions at The Tranel Financial Group. Passionate about helping others, Ben has an ability to assess a client's complex situation, simplify it and help them design an actionable plan to reach their financial goals.

Updated with a new chapter that draws on behavioral finance, the field that studies the psychology of investment decisions, the bestselling guide to investing evaluates the full range of financial opportunities.

The million-copy bestseller, revised and updated with new investment strategies for retirement and the insights of behavioral finance. Updated with a new chapter that draws on behavioral finance, the field that studies the psychology of investment decisions, here is the best-selling, authoritative, and gimmick-free guide to investing. Burton Malkiel evaluates the full range of investment opportunities, from stocks, bonds, and money markets to real estate investment trusts and insurance, home ownership, and tangible assets such as gold and collectibles. This edition includes new strategies for rearranging your portfolio for retirement, along with the book’s classic life-cycle guide to investing, which matches the needs of investors in any age bracket. A Random Walk Down Wall Street long ago established itself as a must-read, the first book to purchase before starting a portfolio. So whether you want to brief yourself on the ways of the market before talking to a broker or follow Malkiel’s easy steps to managing your own portfolio, this book remains the best investing guide money can buy.

Get it while you can ... Complex, ever-changing, and controversial, the future of our current system of Social Security and Medicare is uncertain. This indispensable guide explains the proposed changes and current status of these important social programs. Completely revised to incorporate changes to compensation scales and survivor benefits, and with an expanded section on Medicare and the new drug programs, this book is the most up-to-date overview of Social Security and Medicare currently available. * Revised and updated with the latest 2006 statistics on income scales and cost of living; such Social Security Benefits as survivor benefits and disability payments; tax codes; and more * Completely new chapters on Medicare, the Medicare Drug Programs, and the current political climate and proposed changes * Completely revised section on resources

A Best Book For Investors Pick by the Wall Street Journal’s “Weekend Investor” Whether you’re considering your first 401k contribution, contemplating retirement, or anywhere in between, A Random Walk Down Wall Street is the best investment guide money can buy. In this new edition, Burton G. Malkiel shares authoritative insights spanning the full range of investment opportunities—including valuable new material on cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and “tax-loss harvesting”—to help you chart a calm course through the turbulent waters of today’s financial markets.

Presents an informative guide to financial investment, explaining how to maximize gains and minimize losses and examining a broad spectrum of financial opportunities, from mutual funds to real estate to gold.