Seniors, can we talk?
“How did I get here so fast? Just the other day . . ." does that sound like something you’ve said or thought? Time does fly by. Just the other day you may have been thinking retirement is so very far away. And now you’re here – you’re either thinking about retiring, retiring or already retired. Things are a changin’. As a friend said “the more I think about retiring the farther I push that date back.” It does seem that for many “75” is the new “65”. Many are working longer. Why? Ruth came in the other day and we started talking about this. She said some of her friends absolutely love their jobs and don’t want to walk away from them. Others are finding out that there is no money to fund their business buy sell agreement - the “new potential owners” don’t have any money to pay them for their business. And some are, well, scared. Scared of the unknown. No more pay checks. No immediate way to earn money. A fixed income with unpredictable monthly bills. Interest rates are down (and have been). Your money may not be earning what it was, so you may have less accumulated than you had planned. Ruth and I were talking about my cousin, Mike. (Yes, Ruth knows my cousin. She had a crush on him when he was a soda jerk at the drug store.) Mike is retired and has a Certificate of Deposit (CD) coming due. The interest rates he’s seen are, well, tiny. Mike called the other day and asked about interest rates on annuities. I asked him what he was going to use this money for – to pay monthly bills or to accumulate. If he wants or needs this money to pay monthly bills, he may want something that guarantees a set amount of monthly income based on what he puts in it. He could get, for example, $575 a month guaranteed for the rest of his life – regardless of when he dies. Then when he dies his wife will continue to get the $575 every month until she dies. If interest rates go down, he’ll get $575 a month. If interest rates go up, he’ll get $575 a month. This will make it easy to plan and budget because now he’ll have more “fixed” income that he knows he can count on. If he wants his money to accumulate and earn interest, he may want a plan with a guaranteed interest rate. Current interest rates vary from 2.00% to even 3.00% based on how long you want to leave your money in it. There is an early withdrawal (or surrender) charge just like he has with his CD. Now Ruth wants to know about her options because her CD is getting ready to mature! If you want to talk about “details”, call me at 501-868-6650 and say “Caroline, can we talk about options for me?” Yes, rates are subject to change.
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AuthorCaroline Beauchamp specializes in personalized life and health insurance solutions. Archives
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