At Apprise Wealth Management, we want to help people make better decisions about money. We also read constantly and like sharing some of our favorite commentaries each week.
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Here are this week’s articles as well as a brief description of each:
1. Here’s How Much More Money You’d Have If You Delayed Retirement Until 70, According to Stanford Researchers. Intuitively, delaying retirement should increase the size of your nest egg and, correspondingly, your retirement income. After all, it should increase your savings and lead to a larger Social Security benefit. How much of an impact can delaying retirement have? In one example, researchers ran five different scenarios for a 62-year-old couple currently earning a combined $100,000 with $350,000 in retirement savings. The scenarios ranged from retiring at 62 to working full-time and retiring at 70. Waiting until age 70 nearly doubled the couple’s annual retirement income. Of course, not all of us can (or want to) work until 70. If you don’t, save aggressively. If you’re not sure when you can retire, working with a fiduciary financial advisor such as Apprise Wealth Management could help. If you’d like to explore this topic further, please schedule a free 15-minute call.
2. How Remote Work Is Quietly Remaking Our Lives. More people are working remotely than ever before – 5.3% typically work from home; nearly two-thirds work remotely at least on occasion. While there are some downsides, it can improve your quality of life. For me, only commuting up and down a flight of steps saves considerable time. Studies have found working remotely can increase productivity and lower employee turnover. Lost time due to interruptions, coffee breaks, and socializing is far less likely when we work from home. If you’re a parent worried about childcare, it can provide additional flexibility. Of course, working while your children are home can be challenging. Working remotely can also make it easier to live in an area with a lower cost of living. Over time, the idea of working from the same location every day may seem as antiquated as many things we remember from our youth seem to our children today.
3. 8 Ways to Increase Social Security Benefits. When you retire, your Social Security benefits will likely be a major income source. Many of us do not understand Social Security’s ins and outs. As a result, we claim too early, miss out on important benefits, or fail to use strategies with long-term advantages. Researchers estimate these mistakes can cost as much as $250,000.
4. Why You Never See Your Friends Anymore. The concept of working five days a week from nine-to-five is becoming yet another relic. Our workdays are not nearly as consistent as they used to be. Many hourly workers have fluctuating or on-demand schedules. While hours for salaried employees may be more predictable, they have also grown exceedingly longer. In her 2016 book, Finding Time: The Economics of Work-Life Conflict, economist Heather Boushey stated, “Professionals devote most of their waking hours to their careers.” The proliferation of long and/or unreliable work hours affects our lives in many ways. Families likely pay the steepest price. Our children are impacted, too. Instead of playing with their friends, they are focusing on extracurricular activities to support their college applications.
5. Saved Enough for Retirement? Well, That Depends. People often like to set a specific dollar target for how much money they need to save for retirement. Unfortunately, how much you spend is much more relevant. For example, saving $1 million means something different if you spend $5,000 versus $10,000 per month. Many of us don’t know how much we spend.
We hope you find the above posts valuable. If you would like to talk to us about financial topics including your investments, creating a financial plan, saving for college, or saving for your retirement, please complete our contact form, and we will be in touch. We can schedule a call, a virtual meeting via Zoom, or a meeting at Apprise Wealth Management’s office in Northern Baltimore County.
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For firm disclosures, see here: https://apprisewealth.com/disclosures/
Phil Weiss founded Apprise Wealth Management. He started his financial services career in 1987 working as a tax professional for Deloitte & Touche. For the past 25+ years, he has worked extensively in the areas of financial planning and investment management. Phil is both a CFA charterholder and a CPA.
Located just north of Baltimore, Apprise works with clients face-to-face locally and can also work virtually regardless of location.
