Our daily roundup of retirement news your clients may be thinking about.
Although clients who turn 62 this year can start collecting Social Security benefits, their full retirement age is raised from 66 to 67, according to this article on Money. While they can still delay their benefits until the age of 70 and increase the monthly benefit payout in the process, the increment in FRA could reduce the increase of benefit. “At every age along the line [they] are receiving a smaller benefit” than they would have before, says a financial planner.
One of the New Year's resolutions that people can keep is merging their retirement accounts so it will be easier for them to keep track of their investments and to build their nest egg, according to this article on Nasdaq. To do this, clients may roll over their old 401(k) assets into their current retirement plan, if the plan offers better options. They may also opt to transfer the funds to an IRA and prefer low-cost target-date retirement funds when they rebalance their portfolio.
Sixty two percent of seniors polled by the American College of Financial Services rolled over their 401(k) assets to an IRA or another account at the time they retired, according to this article on Forbes. The rest of the respondents claimed that they left the 401(k) funds with their employer, at least in the early part of retirement. While no respondents claimed that they spend most of their 401(k) money after retirement, those who have small 401(k) savings are likely to cash out the plan at retirement.
A retired teacher may qualify for Social Security divorced-spouse benefit on her former husband's record when he turns 62, provided she paid into the program in her teaching job, according to this article on USA Today. When she files for the benefit, what she gets will be 50% of her ex-husband's primary insurance amount or her own retirement benefit, whichever is higher, says an expert, adding that retired teachers who didn't pay into Social Security can expect a lower benefit. “This means that if they were to claim Social Security spousal or survivor benefits, the benefit would be reduced by two-thirds of their teacher’s pension amount under the government pension offset (GPO).”
