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Retirement Calculator, Inc. provides the tools and resources necessary to assist you in making critical economic decisions regarding your retirement future.

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Colleen's Corner

Asset Allocation

Often financial "experts" make asset allocation difficult to understand. My goal in this series of articles is for you to understand asset allocation thoroughly, in an easy to understand format.
NATIONAL OVERNIGHT AVERAGESTODAY+/-LAST WEEK
30 yr fixed mtg 5.34% 5.51%
15 yr fixed mtg 4.94% 4.92%
5/1 ARM 4.94% 4.84%
30 yr fixed jumbo mtg 6.49% 6.54%
5/1 jumbo ARM 5.24% 5.23%
Rates may include points
NATIONAL OVERNIGHT AVERAGESTODAY+/-LAST WEEK
$30K HELOC 5.06% 5.04%
$50K HELOC 4.80% 4.77%
$30K home equity loan 8.38% 8.35%
$50K home equity loan 8.23% 8.21%
$75K home equity loan 8.22% 8.20%
Rates may include points
NATIONAL OVERNIGHT AVERAGESTODAY+/-LAST WEEK
36 month new car loan 7.14% 7.15%
48 month new car loan 7.30% 7.30%
60 month new car loan 7.40% 7.39%
36 month used car loan 7.77% 7.78%
Rates may include points
NATIONAL OVERNIGHT AVERAGESTODAY+/-LAST WEEK
6 month CD 1.38% 1.33%
1 yr CD 1.73% 1.76%
5 yr CD 2.58% 2.61%
1 yr IRA CD 1.54% 1.57%
5 yr IRA CD 2.50% 2.41%
Rates may include points
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Advisor Financial Rated

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Which Is More Important to Your Financial Future: Understanding Your Savings and Investments or a Rated Financial Advisor?

If you listen to some people, a rated financial advisor is the single most important component of your retirement plan. With a rated financial advisor, they say, you will be able to be confident that your retirement savings accounts are growing at a favorable rate. They also say that a rated financial advisor can give you a sense of security about your investments - that, when you use a rated financial advisor you will be able to be sure that you have the right investment strategy for you.

However, think for a moment on this question: If you do not understand your retirement savings and investments, how can you be sure that your financial advisor - regardless of how well rated he or she may be - is telling you the truth? Similarly, if you do not understand your retirement goals and what steps are necessary for you to take in order to achieve them, how can you be sure that you will reach those goals?

One thing that you can do is to download the free retirement calculator that is available by clicking the red button at the bottom of this page. With it, you will be able to enter information about the retirement savings accounts that you have. With it, you will be able to enter information about the stocks, bonds and mutual funds that you are currently investing in. You will be able to see how those stocks, bonds and mutual funds have performed over time, and you will be able to see projections for how they will perform over the next twenty five years.

The projections that you will see will take into consideration the way in which the performance is affected by changing interest rates. Those projections will also take into consideration the way in which rising inflation will affect the value of your savings and investments over time.

But more importantly, you will be able to look at other factors as well. You will be able to see - without taking a rated financial advisor at his or her word - how changes you make to your savings and investment plans will affect your retirement income. You will be able to see how your future income will be affected by withdrawals that you make from your retirement savings accounts. You will also be able to determine how your investment portfolio would be affected if you were to make changes to the stocks, bonds or mutual funds that you have invested in.

In that way, you will be able to explore your options without taking a risk. You will be able to better control the ways in which your savings and investment accounts perform, and you will not have to be afraid that the financial advisor who you chose because of a rating is not leading you astray.

Instead, after you have downloaded the free retirement calculator and have had the opportunity to analyze your retirement savings and investments with it, you will be contacted for a free consultation with a retirement counselor. This financial advisor will work with you to answer the questions that have come up for you after using the retirement calculator. He or she will be able to work with you to make the changes necessary to secure your financial future.

During that consultation, you will be able to work with your new knowledge about your savings and investments and a professional to develop a new strategy to ensure that you are able to achieve your retirement goals. And you will be able to turn that strategy into a plan that you will be able to put into action.

Why settle for the advice of a financial planner when you can understand your savings and investments? Why rely on someone else's suggestions when you can look at the changes you could make to your savings and investment strategy - changes that could ensure that your future is all that you hope it will be?

Download the free retirement calculator - just click the red button below. Take control and reach your retirement goals.

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Retirement Homes is a comprehensive directory of retirement homes, retirement communities, senior housing, long term care and elder care facilities. Retirement Homes will help you learn about all your retirement living, senior housing, and long term care options in the USA and Canada.

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Analysis of the Economics of Early Social Security Withdrawal

Robert J. Phillips
Chief Retirement Consultant

Deciding whether or not to take the early withdrawal of social security at age 62 can be difficult. If you need this income at 62 to fund your retirement the decision is fairly straightforward. Take it early! On the other hand, if you have another source of revenue to fund your retirement your decision will be primarily based on lifestyle, health and investment preferences.

Several factors can affect your decision. First is your life expectancy. If you are in good health and have a family history of living beyond 90 then waiting for full benefits may be best. Two other factors impact this decision. First and most important is the value of money or your expected return from your investments. If you are using other investments instead of social security to fund your retirement you should use the rate of return of these investments as your value of money. There is another way to look at the value of money. If you do not require the social security money to live, you can invest the distributions for the future. The rate of return of this investment is your value of money. If your investments will make larger returns such as stocks this would favor taking the early withdrawal.

The last factor impacting your decision is inflation. Social security includes an annual adjustment based on inflation. You cannot control this variable but you should be aware of its impact. If future inflation is significant it will favor a later full distribution

FREE Social Security Calculator:

Find Out Your Breakeven Age

We developed a calculator to assist in analyzing the impact of taking early benefits at age 62 or waiting for full benefits at age 66 to 67 depending on the year you were born...If you were born in 1960 or later your full benefits will begin at age 67 and your reduction for early benefits at age 62 will be 30%. If you were born between 1946 and 1960 your full benefits begin as early as age 66. We have included a chart that summarizes information.

To use the calculator you need to input your year of birth. You also need to input a value of money up to 10% and a projected inflation adjustment. The calculator analyzes income generated over time from both the early and full benefit investments. It calculates the age at which full social security will catch up and breakeven with the early withdrawal. If you were born before 1960 your breakeven age will be impacted by the year you were born. An early breakeven age favors waiting for full benefits.

The social security calculator is not the final answer whether to take an early withdrawal but it does give you additional economic data to assist in that decision. Ultimately you must balance income, investments and lifestyle to optimize your enjoyment during your retirement years.