Recommended Reading

• What They Didn't Tell Ya About Money In High School Part 1
• What They Didn't Tell Ya About Money In High School Part 2
• What They Didn't Tell Ya About Money In High School Part 3
• What They Didn't Tell Ya About Money In High School Part 4
• What They Didn't Tell Ya About Money In High School Part 5
• How to Stop The "N.F.L. Syndrome" From Stealing Your Retirement
• To those who want to save more money in 2009 and beyond...
• To single mothers who need to salvage their 401K's...
• How to Save $100 a Week In Three Easy Steps

About Retirement Calculator, Inc.

CBS The Early Show

Watch the video clip

Recommended Reading

• Retirement Calculator
• How to Build A Retirement You Can Fall In Love With
• The "Blue Grass" Retirement Haven You Don't Know About
• How to Heal From a 401K "Burn Notice"
• The Tax-Free Security Blanket For Your Child's College Fund
• How to Get A Guaranteed "Lotto Ticket" For Life!
• How to Pick The Right Mutual Funds For Your 401K
• How to Build Your Own Retirement "Christmas Tree"
• The "Toddler's Secret" For Building a 401K
• How to Grow A Strong 401K For Your Retirement
• Why 20% of Top Earners Get More Out Of Their 401K Plans
• The "Red Zone" 401K Game Plan To Score in Retirement
• How to Escape The 5th Ring Of Financial Hell
• How to Stop the "Pension Pirates" from Stealing your Retirement
• The 7 "Deadly Sins" Of Retirement You Can't Afford to Make
• To 30 Something Married Couples...
• How Raising Your Money IQ Can Give You A Richer Retirement
• To single mothers who need to salvage their 401K's...
• The Nervous Retiree
• Why You Need Retirement Calculator Software
• Analysis of the Economics of Early Social Security Withdrawal

• FREE Retirement Calculator recommended by Ray Martin on the CBS Early Show - Watch the video clip
• FREE Retirement EBook written by Bill Losey, America’s Retirement Strategist
• FREE Retirement Intelligence Information Services Newsletter
• FREE New Social Security Calculator
• FREE Consultation with a certified financial advisor in your area

Investment Planninng Advice

Investment Planning Advice: What Should You Follow?

When it comes to investment planning advice, there is plenty of information that's available to you. Simply opening the newspaper will give you information about the importance of diversifying your investments. Stopping by your local bank can give you a sense of which savings accounts will have the greatest return on your money, and can help you to receive investment planning advice relating to mutual funds and money market accounts that can help you to reach your retirement goals.

However, not all investment planning advice is good advice. It doesn't take a deep delve into memory to reflect on all of the investment planning advice that said everyone would be foolish not to invest in tech stocks or even in Enron; in both of those cases, the investment planning advice did not exactly pan out the way that investors had hoped that it would, and a lot of people are still scrambling to make up for the losses, especially as they are coming closer to retirement.

So how can you determine which investment planning advice you should follow and which investment planning advice you would be far more wise to ignore? Well, one thing that you can do is to work with a tool that will let you take a closer look at individual stocks and mutual fund investments to see how they have performed over time, to see how they are currently performing and to view projections for how they will perform well into the future. Without this information, it will be difficult to determine whether or not you are getting the right investment planning advice.

One tool that will allow you to take a closer look at the advice that you receive is the free retirement calculator that you can download from the bottom of this page. With the free retirement calculator, you will find that you are able to look at your investments - both on an individual basis and at your portfolio on the whole - to see whether or not the investment planning advice you've received in the past was on target, and you will be able to look at projections for how those investments will continue to perform.

However, being able to look at investment planning advice is not the only way in which the free retirement calculator will help you to develop a stronger sense of whether or not you are on track for retirement. In addition, you will be able to use the calculator to take a closer look at the savings accounts that you have to see whether or not you are saving in the best way possible for you - the way that will enable you to reach your retirement goals.

Finally, when you download the free retirement calculator, your contact information will be forwarded to a financial advisor in your area who can go on to give you additional suggestions that can help you to reach your goals.

Investment planning advice is not something that should simply be taken at face value, but it is not something that should be ignored either. It's important to sort out the advice you receive; with this free retirement calculator, you will be able to do just that.

Find a Qualified Financial Planner in Your Area

Do You Know the Answers to These Important Retirement Questions?

• Are you retired or thinking about retiring?
• Do you have enough money to comfortably live throughout your retirement years?
• Would you like FREE face to face advice or retirement consulting from a trusted local financial advisor?
• Are you looking for help to achieve your long-term financial goals?
• Would you like to learn more about Annuities, 401's, Life Insurance and Long Term Care?

Would you like to retire, but aren't sure you can?

Have you wondered if you have enough money to retire, how long it will last, how much you can take out, and the best way to invest?

Everyone who has thought about retirement has asked themselves these and other questions. Now you can get ALL the answers in Retire in a Weekend! This short, simple, humorous, easy-to-understand book answers the 10 most popular questions and addresses the 5 biggest concerns people have about retiring! So stop asking yourself IF you can retire ... with Retire in a Weekend! you'll learn HOW to actually do it.

For a limited time, purchase Retire In a Weekend for $29.95 and receive a free download of Retirement Calculator Premium.

Analysis of the Economics of Early Social Security Withdrawal

Robert J. Phillips
Chief Retirement Consultant

Deciding whether or not to take the early withdrawal of social security at age 62 can be difficult. If you need this income at 62 to fund your retirement the decision is fairly straightforward. Take it early! On the other hand, if you have another source of revenue to fund your retirement your decision will be primarily based on lifestyle, health and investment preferences.

Several factors can affect your decision. First is your life expectancy. If you are in good health and have a family history of living beyond 90 then waiting for full benefits may be best. Two other factors impact this decision. First and most important is the value of money or your expected return from your investments. If you are using other investments instead of social security to fund your retirement you should use the rate of return of these investments as your value of money. There is another way to look at the value of money. If you do not require the social security money to live, you can invest the distributions for the future. The rate of return of this investment is your value of money. If your investments will make larger returns such as stocks this would favor taking the early withdrawal.

The last factor impacting your decision is inflation. Social security includes an annual adjustment based on inflation. You cannot control this variable but you should be aware of its impact. If future inflation is significant it will favor a later full distribution

FREE Social Security Calculator:

We developed a calculator to assist in analyzing the impact of taking early benefits at age 62 or waiting for full benefits at age 66 to 67 depending on the year you were born...If you were born in 1960 or later your full benefits will begin at age 67 and your reduction for early benefits at age 62 will be 30%. If you were born between 1946 and 1960 your full benefits begin as early as age 66. We have included a chart that summarizes information.

To use the calculator you need to input your year of birth. You also need to input a value of money up to 10% and a projected inflation adjustment. The calculator analyzes income generated over time from both the early and full benefit investments. It calculates the age at which full social security will catch up and breakeven with the early withdrawal. If you were born before 1960 your breakeven age will be impacted by the year you were born. An early breakeven age favors waiting for full benefits.

The social security calculator is not the final answer whether to take an early withdrawal but it does give you additional economic data to assist in that decision. Ultimately you must balance income, investments and lifestyle to optimize your enjoyment during your retirement years.