Retirement and Financial Planning

(Information on this page was provided by the Administration on Aging)

Retirement Planning (General)

Decisions About Retirement Living
http://www.aoa.gov/aoa/eldractn/retrlivg.html
This electronic brochure describes the options available to older persons about where to live in retirement. The options described include: 1) independent retirement housing, providing meals, activities, house-keeping and maintenance to more active seniors; 2) "assisted living," providing housing along with supportive services; 3) housing providing nursing care services for seniors who become ill or who require long term care. This brochure -- part of AoA's ElderAction series --was developed by the National Eldercare Institute on Long Term Care and Alzheimer's Disease at the Suncoast Gerontology Center University of South Florida

Retirement (Information from the AARP's Webplace)
http://www.aarp.org/programs/retire/home.html
A simple and straight-forward discussion of retirement including planning options, financial issues, and where to obtain additional information.

Setting Priorities for Retirement Years Foundation (SPRY)
http://www.spry.org/
Provides information about the work of the Spry Foundation to help older people prepare for better retirements. Although much is yet to come, this page has many useful links to other resources on retirement.

The Power Center
http://www.wiser.heinz.org/
Provides information about key issues affecting women in retirement including Social Security, savings and assets, widowhood, divorce, and long term care insurance. This site is a collaboration between WISER -- Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement and the National Center on Women & Aging.

soc.retirement
news:soc.retirement
A USENET newsgroup created by the Seniors Computer Information Project (SCIP) to discuss all aspects of retirement, aging, gerontology, etc. You can get to it either through a newsreader program or the SCIP home page (if your browser is configured to reach your ISP's newsgroup server) at: http://www.crm.mb.ca/scip/cafe.html

Financial Planning for Retirement

Essentials of Retirement Financial Planning

Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement
http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/whatsnew/topten/top10txt.htm
A brochure from the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (US Department of Labor) - this publication explains the basic steps to prepare financially for retirement.

Principles of Retirement Planning
http://www.dtonline.com/prptoc/prptoc.htm
Designed to introduce users to the principles of retirement planning and help them develop their own retirement plans. This is a very well thought-out electronic publication from a major accounting firm. Other financial, tax, and estate planning information is also available on this site.

American Savings Education Council
http://www.asec.org
This site includes information about the programs of ASEC to promote savings as well as:

Ballpark Estimate (http://www.asec.org/toolshm.htm)- A worksheet designed to help individuals quickly identify approximately how much savings they will need to live comfortably in retirement.

Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement (http://www.asec.org/topten.htm ) (a more graphical version of the PBWA document above) and

The Power to Choose (http://www.asec.org/asecpwr1.htm)

Planning For Retirement
http://www.metlife.com/Lifeadvice/Money/Docs/retirementintro.html
An attractive electronic brochure describing some key issues the issues in financial planning for retirement. It was developed by MetLife as part of its Life Advice (http://www.metlife.com/Lifeadvice/index.html) series

Social Security Online
http://www.ssa.gov/programs/programs_intro.html
Provides information about Social Security benefits. Of particular interest are:

(1) Retirement Benefits (http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10035.html) a booklet about Social Security retirement benefits;

(2) Social Security Retirement Planner (http://www.ssa.gov/retire/) - Calculate your retirement benefits using different retirement scenarios, find out how certain types of earnings and pensions can affect your retirement benefits, discover your options if you are close to retirement age, and more; and

(3) Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement online (https://s00dace.ssa.gov/pro/batch-pebes/bp-7004home.shtml) This feature is available only to users with secure browser software that supports SSL encryption. Requests may be submitted Monday through Friday: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM and Saturday: 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, ET. The statement is sent by mail to your address of record.

Quicken.Com/Retirement
http://www.quicken.com/retirement/
A very useful site with many, many resources covering all areas of retirement financial planning. A few of the features are: an interactive retirement planner, information about a variety of savings and investment vehicles such as 401K and Roth IRA plans, advice about estate planning, and much more.
See also AOL's related Retirement site: http://quicken.aol.com/retirement/

GE Center for Financial Learning
http://www.financiallearning.com
Very well done site designed to improve the financial knowledge of the public. Includes sections on retirement and estate planning. The site contains articles, retirement and estate calculators (note comment below on retirement calculators), financial planning information, online courses and workshops and much more.

MoneyAdvisor
http://www.moneyadvisor.com/
MoneyAdvisor is a Financial HELP Directory for aid in resolving questions related to money. Its goal is to provide the tools for consumers to make decisions about their finances. These links to free calculators and links to on-line government agencies/financial institutions provide timely and useful information. Of particular interest are the Retirement Saving Calculator (http://www.timevalue.com/masave.htm) and the Future Value/Annuity Calculator (http://www.interest.com/hugh/calc/annuity.cgi) which lets the user calculate how much to put away tax deferred to get a certain amount of money in the future, and how much one could expect to draw out of that money.

MSN Moneycentral.Retirement
http://moneycentral.msn.com/retire/home.asp
Contains many articles on retirement financial issues as well as a download of a trial of planning software.

Retirement Planning Tips
http://www.financiallywired.com/financiallywired/retirement_planning/tips.html
More retirement planning tips.

Financial Calculators and Planners may be a useful planning tools for some. However, they may use various assumptions which may not always be clear. The results of such calculations should be used only as general estimates. This issue has been discussed in the media recently (e.g., Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek, June 21, 1999, p. 59)

Ballpark Estimate (http://www.asec.org/toolshm.htm)- A worksheet designed to help individuals quickly identify approximately how much savings they will need to live comfortably in retirement - from the American Savings Education Council (see above).. The Smart Money Retirement Planner
http://www.smartmoney.com/ac/retirement/
Includes a retirement calculator plus considerable information on many important issues, e.g., worksheets and articles on how much to save, how to invest, how to avoid penalties, and more.

Retirement Calculator
http://personal.fidelity.com/fidbin/retire_image?00
The Retirement Planning Calculator assists users to develop long-range savings strategies by helping to address four basic issues: When do you plan to retire -- and how long do you expect your retirement income will need to last? How much money do you estimate you'll need to support your lifestyle after you've left the workforce? From which sources will you receive income during retirement? How much should you start saving now to help you meet your retirement goals? The 15 short questions that follow will help you estimate your retirement savings goal and how much more you may need to save to help get you there.

Financial Calculators
http://www.centura.com/formulas/whatif.html
Easy-to-use calculators which help determine how much you can borrow, or how much you should invest for particular financial goals. Includes personal loans, auto loans, home loans, investment/savings. The investment/savings calculator is especially useful for planning how to reach retirement savings goals.

Retirement Planning Calculator
http://www.leggmason.com/Invest/Retire/retire1.html
A simple calculator program for determining retirement investment needs.

Financial Calc
http://www.fincalc.com/
A site where you can generate personalized financial plans such as retirement, college funding, insurance needs, mortgage refinance, credit card payoff, etc. Many feature require downloading of free plug-in program from the links provided.

Financial Engines
http://www.financialengines.com/
A more sophisticated approach than most others, this site analyzes your investments, simulates how they might perform in thousands of economic scenarios and estimates the chance that you'll have enough to retire. It also provides advice on investment decisions. This site is free for individuals not sponsored by their companies. This site was co-founded by William F. Sharpe, a Nobel prize winning economist on the faculty of Stanford University.

More on Investments and Finances for Retirement

Consumer Information on Reverse Mortgages
http://www.reverse.org/
Contains a wealth of information about reverse mortgages for the consumer including frequently asked questions (with answers), a calculator, cautions, and much more. This site is noncommercial and is sponsored by the one of the leading national experts on reverse mortgages (Ken Scholen) and his National Center for Home Equity Conversion.

The Financial Data Finder
Interactive version: http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin/DB_Search/db_search.cgi?setup_file=finance.setup.cgi
Text version: http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/dept/fin/fdf/osudata.htm
This extremely comprehensive and rich resource provides pointers to data providers, including Canadian, Australian, United Kingdom, and Spanish, as well as U.S. providers; historical data; free and for-fee current quotations; market news and analysis; and business libraries. "Couch potato" investing tips are also provided. Most links have brief annotations. There are also links to other Internet finance resources.

1998 U.S. New Retirement Guide
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980629/29reti.htm
U.S. News's ultimate retirement calculator, an interactive tool that calculates the amount of money needed for retirement and how to attain it.

410Kafe.com
http://www.401kafe.com/
A very designed resource for participants in 401K plans with everything which you wanted to know or should want to know about 410K retirement investment plans. This site takes great care to insure that its information is presented in an easy to understand form. Also includes information about the ABCs of investing.

Ernst & Young Tax and Financial Planning Corner
http://www.wiley.com/products/subject/finance/ey/ey.html
Intended as a resource for taxpayers during the 1998 tax season and beyond. The Corner offers a range of tips and tools to assist you in your tax and financial planning. Of particular interest is the Financial Planning Resources section which includes retirement planning tips (updated weekly) and a CashFlow Analyzer to calculate how much you will need in retirement (this figure is needed in the retirement calculators listed above).

The New England Retirement Planning Center
http://www.tne.com/needs/retirement/retirement.cfm
Allows visitors to develop their own personal retirement financial model. Features include an interactive retirement calculator, a step-by-step retirement tutorial and a comprehensive index of topics.

Managing Your Money: Planning for Retirement
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/mym/columns/retire/retire.htm
Contains articles on key retirement planning topics such as long term planning, IRAs, 401ks and more.

1999 Facts on Savings and Investing Campaign
http://www.investoreducation.org/
Links to a variety organizational web sites on such investment topics as selecting a broker, mutual funds, internet investing as well as as older investors and estate planning. The web site is by the Alliance for Investor Education.

FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Worksheet Program
http://www.huduser.org/publications/hsgfin/hecm.html
Link to download an executable worksheet program for home equity conversion planning.

Catalog of US Government Publications Related to Finances
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/money.htm
This is a section of the online catalog of the Consumer Information Center at Pueblo, Colorado. Each publication is described and ordering information is given -- some of the publications are free; some cost 50 cents. Several are available online.

Probate and Estate Planning Resources on the Web
http://www.icle.org/practice/probate.htm
Links to estate planning web sites and listserves from the Michigan State Bar web site.

Crash Course in Wills & Trusts
http://www.mtpalermo.com/
Developed by a private attorney based on his adult education course, this site contains a lot of practical advice. The coverage is broader than the name implies - including powers of attorney, advance medical directives, life insurance & long term care insurance.

RicEdelman.Com - Retirement Planning
http://www.ricedelman.com/planning/retirement/default.asp
Articles on key issues in financial planning for retirement which highlight significant pitfalls and strategies to avoid them. This is part of a larger site with articles on other financial planning issues including estate planning. NOTE: This site is listed for its general information; no endorsement is necessarily implied of the site's advice or publications.

Nolo.com - Self Help Law Center
http://www.nolo.com/ChunkOA/OA.index.html
The section on older persons contains fact sheets on many financial and legal issues relating to retirement including pensions, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and long term care. There is also a separate section on Wills & Estate Planning. NOTE: This site is listed for its general information; no endorsement is necessarily implied of the self-help approach or the publications.

Employee Benefit Research Institute
http://www.ebri.org/
Research and other information about employee benefits such as retirement.

ElderWeb - Financial Planning
http://www.elderweb.com/finance.htm
Contains many links to financial, tax, and estate planning issues; part of a major "meta-site" with links to many aging sites.