{"id":210,"date":"2020-07-22T12:06:31","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/dd\/dd\/?p=210"},"modified":"2020-07-22T13:40:20","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T13:40:20","slug":"retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/?p=210","title":{"rendered":"Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Retirement is coming.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s time to envision retirement. Now that you\u2019re only a decade away from retirement, it\u2019s time to start getting specific about what that will mean for you. For instance, will you travel, volunteer or work part-time? Will you move out of state, or will you stay in the same town but downsize to a smaller place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maximum annual contribution to an HSA for 2020 is $3,550 for singles and $7,100 for families, plus an extra $1,000 if you\u2019re 55 or older. To make the most of the tax advantages of an HSA, pay current medical bills out of pocket while you continue to invest in the HSA and allow the account to grow, says Melissa Sotudeh, a CFP with Halpern Financial, in Rockville, Md. \u201cIt is more valuable to have that growth for your future medical bills,\u201d she says. Once you enroll in Medicare, you can no longer make HSA contributions. (One caveat: You\u2019ll owe a 20% penalty and income taxes on withdrawals made for non-qualified purposes, although the penalty disappears once you turn 65.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay down debt. Start chipping away at high-interest-rate debt, such as credit cards or personal loans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mortgage rates have been so low for so long that homeowners need to weigh whether they are better off accelerating house payments so they\u2019re mortgage-free at retirement or investing the money instead. Another factor to consider: Now that the standard deduction on federal tax returns has nearly doubled, you\u2019ll be less likely to deduct your mortgage interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf wiping out all your debt helps you sleep better, then by all means pay it off, even if you have a 3.5% mortgage,\u201d Beach says. \u201cBut keeping that 3.5% in place is not going to hurt you because over the long term your portfolio should earn more than 3.5%.\u201d (For more advice, see New Strategies for Smart Borrowing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
NY Gov at LGA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To see how much extra you must pay each month to wipe out your mortgage by retirement, use the online prepayment calculator by HSH, the mortgage information site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider long-term care. Long-term care isn\u2019t covered by Medicare\u2014and it\u2019s not cheap. The median annual cost in 2018 was $48,000 for assisted living, $50,340 for a home health aide who works 44 hours a week and $100,380 for a private room in a nursing home, reports Genworth, a long-term-care insurer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could pay the bills out of pocket (in other words, self-insure) if you have the assets. Or consider long-term-care insurance. Consumers often worry that premiums will skyrocket over time or that they will buy the insurance and never use it, says John Ryan, a CFP with Ryan Insurance Strategy Consultants in Greenwood Village, Colo. People who bought policies decades ago were shocked to see steep increases later. But today\u2019s policies are more accurately priced\u2014meaning premiums are higher\u2014than those issued back then, and actuaries are not forecasting severe premium hikes in the future, says Ryan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shop for a long-term-care policy while you\u2019re still young and healthy enough that premiums are more affordable. On average, people need long-term care about three years. Look for a policy with a three-year benefit period with inflation protection. Or see how much long-term care your savings could cover and buy a policy that fills the gap\u2014making sure that you can pay for three years of care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You and your spouse may like the flexibility of a shared-benefit rider that allows you to pool long-term-care benefits for, say, a total of six years and split them as needed. It also allows you to hedge your bets in case one spouse needs care longer than the other one does. Another option is a hybrid policy that combines long-term care and life insurance benefits. The policy will cover long-term-care bills, but if you don\u2019t need care\u2014or not much of it\u2014your heirs will receive a death benefit when you die.
\nPortfolio Checkup, 10 Years Out<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t changed your mix of stocks, bonds and cash for many years, your portfolio is likely overloaded with stocks. You\u2019ll still need stocks to keep up with inflation over time. But you\u2019ll also need to think about how much risk you can take with your portfolio without upending your retirement plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Governor at LGA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a moderate-risk portfolio, consider holding up to 65% in diversified stock funds\u2014about two-thirds of that in U.S. stocks and one-third in foreign stocks\u2014with the rest of the portfolio made up of diversified short- and intermediate-term bond funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Build a stock portfolio that includes a mix of growth and value funds. Consider T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth (symbol PRDGX), Primecap Odyssey Growth (POGRX) and Dodge & Cox Stock (DODGX)\u2014all members of the Kiplinger 25 list of our favorite no-load mutual funds. For international funds, explore Fidelity International Growth (FIGFX) or Oakmark International (OAKIX). Solid bond choices include Fidelity Total Bond (FTBFX) along with Kip 25 members DoubleLine Total Return Bond (DLTNX) and Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade (VFSTX).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides stocks and bonds, you should have up to six months\u2019 worth of living expenses in an emergency fund in case, say, you lose your job or experience a health crisis and need money to pay the bills. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time to envision retirement. Now that you\u2019re only a decade away from retirement, it\u2019s time to start getting specific about what that will mean for you. For instance, will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}