 Retirement?  |
Retirement?
As Khalsas, Our Medium Age is 43.
Sikh Dharma Development Office
A large percentage of us are self employed, and most do not have even a current Will let alone a retirement or estate plan. A priority of the Development Office is to: a) encourage all Khalsa households to do your planning;
b) design retirement, estate, and bequest plans for all income levels; c) educate and introduce these plans to all Khalsa households; d) secure the future for our families and Sikh Dharma.
- Only 24% of partners share financial responsibilities. In the majority of American households, women are now responsible. However, when men and women live together, a man is more likely to be responsible (53% of men versus 40% of women) More than half (51%) of Boomers expect an inheritance of $100,000 or more, with the median value estimated to be $135,000. 69% expect real estate, 68% expect cash, and 33% expect stocks and bonds. Given the typical 55-year old’s 32-year life expectancy, $10.4 trillion will be changing hands between now and the year 2026. The "peak" year is expected to be 2017 with the intergenerational transfer continuing through the year 2044. Over 114 million individual estates will make up the transfer, resulting in an average amount of just over $90,000. Philanthropy Today, September 1995
- An alarming number of Americans--as many as 6 out of 10--put off saving for retirement altogether, falsely believing they will be able to live on their Social Security benefits and company pension. In most cases, Social Security and pensions do not cover total retirement expenses. This means relying on personal savings and investments to make up the difference. But government figures show that our national savings rate is paltry--fluctuating around 5% of after-tax income. Nationwide Life Insurance in Columbus, Ohio.
- Avoiding a plan for the future altogether is not an option, says Bob Tillman, director of Hometown Mississippi Retirement, the official retirement ‘relocation’ program for the state of Mississippi.
- Inflation chips away at out purchasing power every year. With proper investing, your money should grow faster than inflation in both your pre-retirement and retirement years. Depending upon your age, are you saving 10% to 15% of your income? Have you stashed away 25% to 50% of your annual income in an emergency cash fund? Are your investments aggressive enough for the long term? What investment mix does your portfolio of mutual funds provide? Have you investigated the tax benefits of annuities and life insurance? Often the impetus for a financial plan is retirement planning, but you also need to take into consideration the needs for children’s education, credit, mortgages, estate planning, life insurance -- the whole gamut. Retirement planning cannot be done in a vacuum.
- To maintain your current standard of living during retirement, here’s a commonly used formula: Anticipate you will need 70% of the income you earned during your final year of working. Guardian Life Insurance Company in New York City.
- A recent Merrill Lynch study shows that baby boomers are saving barely a pittance the amount they’ll need to make it through their golden years. As the boomers move through their peak earning years, their kids -- the baby-boom echo, born between 1977 and 1993 -- and their elderly parents will make additional demands on that income, as the former attend college and the latter require more medical care. Boomers must have an increasing obsession with retirement. Fortune, Dec. 25, 1995