Better of Barron’s: Social Safety Claiming, Retiring on Dividends, Data on RMDs

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Among the finest options of digital journalism is the flexibility to know what readers reply to. Barron’s Retirement tries to make use of that data to ship related tales on the matters you most wish to find out about on the subject of saving, investing, and residing in retirement. 

The previous yr has delivered a variety of hits, as you’ll see beneath, on matters working from easy methods to retire overseas to managing your retirement technique amid turbulent markets to retiring on dividends.  

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E-newsletter Signal-up

Retirement

Barron’s brings retirement planning and recommendation to you in a weekly wrap-up of our articles about getting ready for all times after work.

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Nonetheless, not each story works as we hoped or reaches as broad an viewers as we envisioned. Do senior readers wish to know about pot? Can we not care as a lot in regards to the thought of crypto in our workplace retirement accounts because the headlines would make you assume? Or have we simply not come across the fitting headline to attract within the broadest doable viewers?

Regardless of the case, right here is our second annual rundown of the highest 10 most learn Barron’s Retirement shops of the yr up to now, in descending order of the variety of readers who clicked on them: 

April 3

When to say Social Safety is among the most private, and controversial, matters in retirement protection. Seemingly everybody has an opinion. Right here, author Tom Wilk explored his issues on when to say Social Safety on this Dwelling in Retirement column.

I’ve held off claiming Social Safety with some reservations, but it surely stays a vigorous matter of dialog with associates who had been former co-workers. In spite of everything, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, about 50% of individuals take Social Safety earlier than full retirement age and fewer than 10% wait till 70 when advantages attain their most.

“Get the cash now. You’ll by no means make up the distinction should you wait till you’re 70,” suggested a pal, who turned 70 in September and commenced taking it at 66.

Feb. 21  

Barron’s Retirement launched a brand new mailbag function earlier this yr, taking reader questions and going to professionals for recommendation. This one drew a variety of readers, presumably for its headline, however secondary questions on whether or not to repay a mortgage and tax-efficient methods to guard taxable funding holdings from inflation had been fairly informative as effectively. 

July 16

The lengthy bull market that propelled 401(okay) balances for greater than a decade has ended amid hovering inflation, the prospect of a recession, political strife, and the warfare in Ukraine. What’s an anxious retirement saver to do?

To search out out, Barron’s Retirement reporter Elizabeth O’Brien spoke with numerous monetary execs in addition to an skilled within the budding subject of monetary remedy.

Whereas excessive strikes are a foul thought, like pulling your cash out of shares, small tweaks may truly provide help to keep the course, stated Preston Cherry, founder and president of Concurrent Monetary Planning in Inexperienced Bay, Wis., and president of the Monetary Remedy Affiliation. For instance, you may really feel higher dialing again your 401(okay) contribution price by a pair share factors. “If it is advisable elevate slightly liquidity, there’s nothing fallacious with that,” Cherry stated.

June 12

One other installment in our mailbag sequence, this piece seems to be at Congress’s plan to regularly elevate the age for required minimal distributions, to age 75, over the subsequent decade or so. It received’t occur for some time, if it will get authorized in any respect, and in any case it received’t be enacted earlier than this yr’s 72-year-olds should take their first minimal distribution.

Plus, we had solutions to your questions on Social Safety spousal advantages and Social Safety’s controversial Windfall Elimination Provision.

July 4

Retirement protection needn’t be all about spending and saving methods. Simply as vital as fiscal issues are well being issues. That is sensible, as what’s the purpose in maximizing wealth if we’re not wholesome sufficient or don’t stay lengthy sufficient to get pleasure from it.

Barron’s Retirement reporter Neal Templin’s newest have a look at how seniors can enhance or optimize their well being resonated with readers.

You don’t have to run marathons to derive the advantages of train. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults can get the advantages with at the least 150 minutes of average train or 75 minutes of vigorous train every week plus at the least two classes of weight coaching. 

You’ll be able to meet the CDC pointers by going to the gymnasium twice every week and occurring 30-minute walks on the opposite 5 days, says Mary Edwards, director of health on the Cooper Health Heart in Dallas.

Jan. 8

I’ve lengthy wished to write down the phrase “401(okay) millionaire” right into a headline, and this On FIRE column, wanting on the development of savers looking for monetary independence or to retire early, gave me the primary legit probability to take action. 

Since Covid first grabbed headlines, the mix of a market rally, a rise in financial savings, and a lower in borrowing has boosted retirement account balances previous pre-Covid highs. Constancy Investments, for one, reported a file 760,300 401(okay) and particular person retirement accounts with seven-figure sums within the third quarter of 2021.

Whereas the inflow of wealth could stir goals of early retirement, monetary planners say savers want to think about a number of issues. “One of many sticking factors is whether or not you possibly can entry your cash with out being penalized,” says Danielle Harrison, a monetary advisor at Harrison Monetary Planning in Columbia, Mo. One other is whether or not you possibly can mitigate the dangers that include an extended retirement.

June 4

Expat retirement is drawing rising curiosity, but it surely isn’t so simple as selecting a spot and shifting in. From healthcare to taxes, seniors trying to transfer abroad ought to determine on a yr or so of preparation work, reporter Debbie Carlson discovered on this piece on retiring overseas.

April 23

Inventory market downturns early in retirement usually hurt the sturdiness of financial savings, however they can provide retirees prepared to do a little analysis and metal their nerves a possibility to juice longer-term returns.

Retirees of their 60s or early 70s with an extended time horizon can profit from shopping for beaten-up, high-quality firms and dividend payers, as an example. And with planning and analysis there are methods to take the emotion out of shopping for throughout risky instances. 

To paraphrase billionaire investor Warren Buffett, the time to purchase is when others are fearful. 

July 2

Equal isn’t at all times equal when mother and father depart retirement accounts to grownup kids with huge variations in revenue, as reporter Gail MarksJarvis explored on this piece on easy methods to handle your retirement financial savings to restrict the tax hit on heirs.

Earlier than the Safe Act of 2019, grownup kids who inherited retirement accounts had vital leeway to manage what they withdrew yearly and the ensuing taxes. Whereas they needed to take some cash out yearly and pay taxes, they could limit those taxes by spreading those withdrawals over a lifetime. 

Now, for many grownup kids, IRAs and 401(okay)s should be drawn down inside a 10-year interval after a father or mother dies, that means withdrawals—and taxes—may very well be sizable whether or not the disbursements are taken in intervals or in a lump sum by yr 11.

March 18

As extra buyers look to dedicate a portion of their nest eggs to the regular revenue that may come from dividend payers, reporter Lawrence C. Strauss talked with monetary execs about easy methods to diversify holdings, search downturn-resistant firms, and do due diligence on fundamentals.

However retiring on dividends requires energetic engagement and administration, so it pays to additionally perceive the draw back.

Whereas savers want such revenue and progress to cowl what is usually a decadeslong retirement, this method isn’t foolproof and positively isn’t for everybody. Traders who pursue dividend shares for revenue additionally danger dropping principal and even a part of the payout if there’s an financial or enterprise downturn. And youthful buyers may very well be forgoing the longer-term potential of progress shares by pursuing a dividend technique. Savers additionally ought to take into account numerous different potential sources of retirement revenue—bonds are one choice, their total low yields however.

Write to Brian Hershberg at brian.hershberg@dowjones.com