Sterling Wealth Partners

Thirty years ago, this month, the stock market experienced the largest one day drop ever – 508 points or 22.6% for the Dow Jones Industrial Index. Market declines all around the world were even larger, with the Hong Kong exchange dropping 45% in a single day.

In our blog series that we published last year - “Health Care Costs – The Storm Cloud Hanging Over Your Retirement”, we discussed the Fidelity health care cost study that the investment company conducts each year. Well, they just released the results of their study for 2017 and those costs have increased another 5.5% from 2016.

One of the more important and misunderstood benefits available through Social Security is the spousal retirement benefit. The original purpose of the spousal benefit was to provide a retirement income for stay at home spouses who had limited work history because they did not work or spent several years out of the workforce while raising a family.

One of the most important decisions a person nearing retirement needs to make is when to take Social Security. Most people are aware that you can start your benefits as early as age 62 and this often becomes a trigger point for deciding when to retire.

Your Social Security benefit will likely be one of your largest and most important sources of income during retirement. What we know about Social Security benefits are that they are:

·       Guaranteed by the federal government

A recent article in Financial Planning magazine by Dr. Craig Israelson had a great analogy for the benefits of saving for retirement early. He compared using slow and steady saving, which allows for time to do the work of growing your next egg to using a crockpot to cook.

As we have discussed in previous blog posts, we are in an historically long bull market. The current market recovery started roughly March of 2009 and now continues into a 98th month. Given that the average bull market lasts somewhere around 48-60 months, this one is well above the norm for length. Does this mean that a bear market is imminent? Not really.

As you approach your mid-fifties there are some important milestones to be aware of as it pertains to getting ready for retirement. Whether it is your IRA or 401(k), Social Security, or Medicare here are some important dates you should know:

Your 50’s

Choosing an investment portfolio that will help you work toward your financial goals can be a confusing and daunting task. There is an enormous amount of conflicting advice and information available at the touch of a keystroke or through a 30 second sound bite on the financial news.

Since 2009 interest rates (as measured by the Federal Funds Rate) have been near zero, which is well below the historical average rate. As the economy has strengthened the Federal Reserve Bank has increased rates by ¼ %, and has indicated that it may begin to raise rates further.