Two fundamentally different philosophies for retirement income planning, which I call probability-based and safety-first, diverge on the critical issue of where a retirement plan is best served: in the risk/reward trade-offs of a diversified and aggressive investment portfolio that relies primarily on the stock market, or in the contractual protections of insurance products that integrate the power of risk pooling and actuarial science alongside investments. The probability-based approach is generally better understood by the public. It advocates using an aggressive investment portfolio with a large allocation to stocks to meet retirement goals. My earlier book How Much Can I Spend in Retirement? A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Strategies provides an extensive investigation of probability-based approaches. But this investments-only attitude is not the optimal way to build a retirement income plan. There are pitfalls in retirement that we are less familiar with during the accumulation years. The nature of risk changes. Longevity risk is the possibility of living longer than planned, which could mean not having resources to maintain the retiree's standard of living. And once retirement distributions begin, market downturns in the early years can disproportionately harm retirement sustainability. This is sequence-of-returns risk, and it acts to amplify the impacts of market volatility in retirement. Traditional wealth management is not equipped to handle these new risks in a fulfilling way. More assets are required to cover spending goals over a possibly costly retirement triggered by a long life and poor market returns. And yet, there is no assurance that assets will be sufficient. For retirees who are worried about outliving their wealth, probability-based strategies can become excessively conservative and stressful. This book focuses on the other option: safety-first retirement planning. Safety-first advocates support a more bifurcated approach to building retirement income plans that integrates insurance with investments, providing lifetime income protections to cover spending. With risk pooling through insurance, retirees effectively pay an insurance premium that will provide a benefit to support spending in otherwise costly retirements that could deplete an unprotected investment portfolio. Insurance companies can pool sequence and longevity risks across a large base of retirees, much like a traditional defined-benefit company pension plan or Social Security, allowing for retirement spending that is more closely aligned with averages. When bonds are replaced with insurance-based risk pooling assets, retirees can improve the odds of meeting their spending goals while also supporting more legacy at the end of life, especially in the event of a longer-than-average retirement. We walk through this thought process and logic in steps, investigating three basic ways to fund a retirement spending goal: with bonds, with a diversified investment portfolio, and with risk pooling through annuities and life insurance. We consider the potential role for different types of annuities including simple income annuities, variable annuities, and fixed index annuities. I explain how different annuities work and how readers can evaluate them. We also examine the potential for whole life insurance to contribute to a retirement income plan. When we properly consider the range of risks introduced after retirement, I conclude that the integrated strategies preferred by safety-first advocates support more efficient retirement outcomes. Safety-first retirement planning helps to meet financial goals with less worry. This book explains how to evaluate different insurance options and implement these solutions into an integrated retirement plan.

Retirement brings with it the promises of leisure and freedom as well as the risks of boredom and isolation. When retirees rid their schedules of anything resembling the kinds of obligations that once had been imposed by work, they will experience a sometimes-uncomfortable absence of structure. In The Experience of Retirement, the distinguished sociologist Robert S. Weiss provides a detailed description of how some people plan their retirement, what life in retirement is like, and what makes for a fulfilling retirement. His engaging book can thus serve as a most useful guide. Weiss shows us both retirement's benefits and its possible costs, both the relief retirees can feel once free of work's stresses and constraints and the discomfort that can be caused by loss of the positive aspects of working life.The book is based on extensive interviews with eighty-nine men and women before and after their retirement from middle-income careers. Weiss makes vivid their experiences by presenting, in their own words, their descriptions of leaving their careers, considering what to do with their time, confronting issues of income in retirement, dealing, sometimes, with social isolation, and reorganizing their lives. The interviews reveal the way in which retirement affects marriages and other familial relationships. Weiss concludes by presenting advice about retirement based on the actual experiences of retirees. For anyone approaching the age of retirement or already retired and looking for a more satisfying post-career life, for personnel managers, health care professionals, and all those who provide services for the retired, The Experience of Retirement will be an illuminating guidebook to this phase of life.

Using the idea of the social division of welfare as a template, this book assesses different approaches to retirement pensions policy, highlighting their relative strengths and weaknesses. An invaluable resource for social science students and for those who teach them. Economists and pension practitioners will also find food for thought here.

In Rescuing Retirement, Teresa Ghilarducci and Tony James offer a comprehensive yet simple plan to help workers save for retirement, increase retirement savings by earning higher returns, and guarantee lifelong income for everyone. It offers a practical guide to the future of secure retirement.

Find out how harnessing the powerful business principles of design thinking can make retirement your best chapter in life. There is no one right time or way to retire. Retirement is a major life transition; but if you spend the time designing a future filled with promise and possibilities, the prospect can be utterly exciting and revitalizing. In Retirement by Design, professional mentor and coach Ida Abbott shows you how the innovative business principles behind design thinking can be applied to plan a rich, fulfilling, and more meaningful retirement. Her guided workbook uses a business-like approach to leaving business, making your switch much smoother and less jolting. Whether you’re considering a new place to settle down, working through financial planning, strategizing how to unwind a business, or deciding on which organizations you want to stay engaged with, making critical decisions takes a lot of organization, thought, and planning. Abbott shows how the five principles of design thinking will revolutionize your retirement-planning process: Empathy: Get inside the shoes of your future self. What will be important to that version of you? Define: Hone in on what is and will be most critical for you to focus on (whether it’s volunteering, family, activities, or skills). Ideate: Draw, scribble, brainstorm, and throw around as many different retirement scenarios as you can come up with. Prototype: If retiring across the country in Arizona sounds perfect—try it out first. Come up with opportunities to test out your scenarios with short trips and trial time off. Test: This is the fun part—get back to the drawing board and try more retirement scenarios (and future versions of yourself) before sitting down to make those life-changing decisions. The new and innovative, self-coaching approach of Retirement by Design helps you spearhead and navigate a major next step in life. Whether your retirement is 10 years away or swiftly approaching, this workbook ensures you will create a future that is perfectly tailored to you.

Learn everything you need to do in the next five years to create a realistic plan for your retirement with clear, practical advice that is sure to set your future up for success. Most people don’t realize they haven’t saved enough for their retirement until their sixties and by then, it’s often too late to save enough for a comfortable retirement. The 5 Years Before You Retire has helped thousands of people prepare for retirement—even if they waited until the last minute. In this new and updated edition, you’ll find out everything you need to do in the next five years to maximize your current savings and create a realistic plan for your future. Including recent changes in financial planning, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, insurance, and more, this book is the all-inclusive guide to each financial, medial, and familial decision. From taking advantage of the employer match your company offers for your 401k to enrolling in Medicare to discussing housing options with your family, you are completely covered on every aspect of retirement planning. These straightforward strategies explain in detail how you can make the most of your last few years in the workforce and prepare for the future you’ve always wanted. Whether you just started devising a plan or have been saving since your first job, The 5 Years Before You Retire, Updated Edition, will tell you exactly what you need to know to ensure you live comfortably in the years to come.

So much of retirement planning focuses on the financial planning, providing guidance on investment balance, cash flow management, and how much should you save. But very little talks about How-to-Define the hopefully many days after the big day. What about all the non-financial elements of retirement? There is no longer any cookie-cutter vision for retirement life. The old paradigms of retirement are falling away for new 21st Century Retirement Lifestyles. The options can feel endless; some people will tell you what you should do. Unfortunately there is no perfect list of "Five Things To Do" for a happy retirement. So, how do you create YOUR best retirement? Retirement Transition is designed to walk you through creating your own 21st Century Retirement Lifestyle. This book outlines a How-To process based on a proven Innovation Process and has many practical tools and exercises to: Articulate your high priority core VALUES. Know which SKILLS and STRENGTHS you want/have in this next life stage. Understand what MOTIVATES you and what INTERESTS you. Clarify the important ROLES you will have in this next life stage. Generate ideas and insights into your future using a holistic LIFE DOMAINS framework. Craft a LIFE VISION statement and have joint "me, you, we" conversations, if needed. Explore POSSIBILITIES and learn how to CHOOSE which to focus on. Begin ACTIVATING your 21st Century Retirement Lifestyle Vision. Understand your personal BARRIERS to getting new things or new habits started. Patricia West Doyle has over twenty-five years of experience in designing winning products and brands. She has taken her proven Innovation Design Approach and reapplied it to the individual. Along her own retirement transition journey, she researched the non-financial side of retirement planning in depth and became a Certified Retirement Life Coach and a blogger about retirement transition.