Friday, 29 April 2016

Want an Early Retirement? 4 Ways to Quit Your Job Sooner -Megan Elliott


a man enjoying retirement on a beach
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Early retirement is possible if you play your cards right. | Source: iStock
After a brutal day in the office, who hasn’t dreamed of throwing off the shackles of a 9-to-5 job for good? Retire early and you could say goodbye to spreadsheets and conference calls, and hello to a life of freedom and relaxation.
For most, the idea of an early retirement is no more than a fantasy. Yet for a select few, retirement by 45, 40, or even (gasp) 35 is a reality. Even better, you don’t need to be born rich to do it. While it won’t be easy, smart planning and aggressive saving in your 20s and 30s can make it feasible to retire decades sooner than most people, even if you don’t have a trust fund to fall back on, say financial experts.
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“Early retirement will not be likely for many, but with proper planning, realistic goals, and discipline it is possible,” Scott Moffitt, the president and CEO of the Summit Financial Group in Loveland, Ohio, told The Cheat Sheet.
If you can’t wait until 65 to say goodbye to your boss, here’s what you need to do to enjoy an early retirement.

1. Start saving – a lot

Forget stashing 10% or 15% of your salary in your 401(k). If you want to retire early, you need to think about saving half of your take-home pay, if not more. The earlier you start saving aggressively, the earlier you’ll be able to retire.
“Millennials who want to retire 15 or 20 years before full retirement age of 67, as defined by Social Security, will need to save a substantial amount of their income, quite possibly as high as 50%,” Moffitt said. “A two-income family should consider living on one income and completely saving the other.”
“If you save a reasonable percentage of your take-home pay, like 50%, and live on the remaining 50%, you’ll be Ready to Rock (aka “financially independent”) in a reasonable number of years,” wrote personal finance blogger Mr. Money Mustache, who retired in his mid-30s.

2. Live frugally

wallet full of cash
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Slash unnecessary spending to make your retirement dreams a reality. | Source: iStock
Think saving half of your salary is impossible? It can be done, super-savers say, but you need to rethink your lifestyle. To save as much as possible, you need to cut back on your spending (and we mean doing more than just giving up your daily lattes). According to Mr. Money Mustache, the trick is realizing “your current middle-class life is an exploding volcano of wastefulness.” Once you accept you don’t need all the stuff you think you do, you can get comfortable with spending way less.
“The number one thing people in their 20s or 30s can do if they hope to retire early is not buy in to the ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’ mentality most Americans take,” Charlie Harriman, a certified estate planner and financial adviser with Cloud Financial Inc., told The Cheat Sheet.
“Learn to live a lifestyle that is comfortable for you and your family but also feels a little tight. If it doesn’t feel tight at all that probably means you are spending more than you should,” he added. As your income rises, don’t increase your spending. Instead, continue to live as you always have and save the extra money, Harriman advises.

3. Plan for future expenses

Sure, you’re young and healthy now. But what happens when a health crisis strikes, or your kids are grown and start looking for help with college expenses? Early retirees need to account for these additional expenses when planning. If you don’t, you may find yourself navigating a difficult return to the workforce.
“Something that can really make early retirement a reality is quitting your full-time career and taking a job you enjoy doing that will provide health insurance for you and your family,” Harriman said. Health care reform has also made it easier for early retirees to secure insurance.
If you have kids, you also need to consider college expenses. “When you are setting your early retirement date, make sure you have taken in to account if your children will be in college and if this is something you plan to help them with,” Harriman said.

4. Invest wisely

money in piggy bank
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Pay close attention to your investments if you hope to retire early. | Source: iStock
Blindly transferring a chunk of your paycheck to your 401(k) every month isn’t going to be enough if you hope to quit work in the next decade or so. You’ve turned retirement saving from a marathon into a sprint, which means you’ll need to take a more hands-on approach to managing your money if you want to reach your goal.
“Your investing window has shrunk if you plan to retire early,” Harriman said. “Monitoring your investments earlier than you would at a normal retirement age is crucial.” Working with a professional can help you set goals and motivate yourself to stick to a plan, he added. “Winging it rarely pays off, especially when it comes to retirement.”
In addition to traditional investments, finding ways to supplement your income once you do stop working full-time can ease the path to life beyond the office. “Creating a passive income stream during retirement years would be beneficial as well. This could be a home-based business, rental property, or something similar,” Moffitt said. “Even $1,000 per month, or $12,000 per year, is the equivalent of an additional $300,000 of investments using the 4% income rule.”
Culled from Money & Career Cheat Sheet

Thursday, 28 April 2016

7 Jobs That Make More Money Than the President -Sam Becker


President Obama buys lunch with Illinois governor Pat Quinn
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President Obama buys lunch with Illinois governor Pat Quinn | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
The presidency comes with a number of perks, no matter your economic status going in. First and foremost, you’re the leader of the free world — and your name will be remembered and echoed throughout history. It’s a job that allows you to meet and do pretty much anyone or anything you want, all the while traveling the globe in Air Force One. Oh, and you get to live in The White House; a palace situated in the heart of Washington D.C.
But the job also comes with setbacks. The most obvious of which is that a lot of people really, really don’t like you. They may even try to kill you. For most presidents, no matter what they do, there is going to be a subset of the population that actively despises them — even if they’ve made it their mission to improve their lives. On top of that, you probably don’t get much sleep, you need to be able to physically and mentally withstand years of travel and incredibly stressful situations, and also hold the lives of millions, if not billions, in your hands.
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And for all of that, you actually don’t make a ton of money. The president earns $400,000, with an expense account worth up to $50,000, and $100,000 for travel. Considering what the job calls for, the American people are actually getting a pretty good deal.
Some have argued for paying the president less, with the thought that a public servant should be just that, and come at a discount. Others have argued for paying the president, and other public servants, more. The argument there being that more money will attract candidates of a higher caliber.
There are world leaders who are immensely rich, but a turn as the President of the United States wouldn’t necessary pad their bank accounts any further. Truthfully, many U.S. presidents would likely be able to earn more in the private sector. Here are some jobs that can pay more than the presidency — though not in every individual circumstance.

 1. Business executives

Apple CEO Tim Cook during an Apple media event
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Apple CEO Tim Cook during an Apple media event | Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
You often hear about how CEOs and business executives are overpaid, but they often make tons of money for a reason. Their jobs are incredibly tough, and when the jobs of potentially millions are in your hands, you’re going to want to be paid well. Some executives earn relatively meager salaries, but a lot of them make tens of millions of dollars per year. That sounds better than the paltry $400,000 the president makes.

2. Doctors and surgeons

A doctor holding a syringe
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A doctor holding a syringe | iStock
Physicians, doctors, and surgeons are all held in fairly high regard, and they are typically associated with high earnings. While doctors, on average, earn less than $200,000 per year, it’s not uncommon for them to make much more than that. Specialists can make well into the millions. When you start talking about radiologists, oncologists, and anesthesiologists, the pay scales go up even further.

3. Lawyers

A gavel and cash
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A gavel and cash | iStock
Like the medical field, lawyers and attorneys have a wide range of potential earnings. If you plan to be a public defender, for example, you would make a measly $47,500 per year. But for those working for private clients, who make it to the top of their profession? You can make millions. It’s a lot of hard work, though, and long hours. Not as many as the president, mind you. But a lot.

4. Entertainers

Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man
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Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man | Marvel Studios
Not all movie and TV stars are created equal, but for the big names that put butts in movie theater seats, the asking price is quite high. There are millions of struggling actors and entertainers out there, but the earnings ceiling for entertainers is incredibly high. For example, Robert Downey Jr. is earning tens of millions for a couple turns as Iron Man.

5. Athletes

Stephen Curry warms up before a playoff game
Stephen Curry warms up before a playoff game | Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images
We often criticize professional athletes as being overpaid, but when you consider that their careers are typically very short, and the amounts of money that the leagues and teams are making, it’s actually not that stark of a contrast. Still, like in the entertainment world, there are outliers. It’s not uncommon for athletes in the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB to make tens of millions. And when you factor in soccer players and boxers? Earnings go through the roof.

6. Finance professionals

Leonardo-DiCaprio-in-The-Wolf-of-Wall-Street-640x360.jpg
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street | Paramount
Wall Street attracts a lot of talent with some very big paychecks. You’ve seen The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short, and Wall Street films — all concerning absolutely huge amounts of money. And that’s why people gravitate toward the industry. As a broker, trader, fund manager, etc., there is virtually no limit to what you can earn. More than in the White House.

7. Ex-presidents

Former President George W. Bush. left, talks with Oakland Raiders owner Mark Daivs
Former President George W. Bush. left, talks with Oakland Raiders owner Mark Daivs | Bob Levey/Getty Images
Ironically, you can make more money once you’ve served your term as president than you do while you’re actually in the Oval Office. After serving, presidents are paid a pension of just over $200,000 per year. Add to that the huge speaking fees ex-presidents can charge, and things like book deals, and you’re earning way more than you were while in office.
One example? Bill Clinton’s book My Life earned him a $15 million advance. It would take decades to earn that much as president.

More from Money & Career Cheat Sheet

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Saving for Retirement? Here are 8 Terms Every Saver Should Know - Sheiresa Ngo


Piggy bank
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Piggy bank| Source: iStock
Saving for retirement is important for a secure financial future. Without a sufficient nest egg it will be a lot harder to get by during your golden years. One major part of retirement success is understanding some basic terms. Shelly-Ann Eweka, a director of individual advisory services at TIAA, said mastering investment vocabulary is necessary in order to understand the choices you’ll be making with your cash. “We all have different financial situations and goals for the future. In order to choose the right path for retirement, individuals should have a good grasp of key financial terms in order to fully understand various options and tools out there … While financial advisors don’t expect individuals to know every important financial term out there, it’s helpful to have a good base knowledge of these important terms,” Eweka told The Cheat Sheet.

Educate yourself

If you’re looking to build your vocabulary, there are plenty of tools available. You can take a class at your local library, read investing books, or take advantage of online tools. For example, Investopedia has a tool that will send subscribers a new investing word each day. Eweka elaborated on the importance of education:
In today’s connected world, financial advice can be consumed by reading relevant articles, utilizing online tools and calculators, scanning brochures, and watching web videos. All that said, one of the best ways to bolster your financial knowledge is by meeting with a financial advisor. Advisors can help elaborate on key principles and can explain how those particular options and strategies can fit into your tailored plan for retirement.

Involve the whole family

As you embark on your search for more investing knowledge, don’t forget to involve your children. This is a great opportunity to teach them the basics of investing and encourage them to learn as much as they can. Eweka advised:
While many conversations are best kept between your partner or spouse, it’s never too early to educate your children about money. A great way to start educating your child about saving and investing is by providing your child with a weekly allowance and coaching him or her to regularly put money away to save up for something he or she really wants rather than spending it right away. Setting this foundation early on will help your child in every phase of life—getting their first summer job, managing their finances in college, and being on their own for the first time after graduation.
Eweka breaks down some terms you’ll likely encounter as you learn more about retirement savings. Here’s her list of some of the top terms all retirement savers should know.

8 top retirement terms all savers should know

Retirement
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  1. Asset allocation: The strategy of dividing your investments among different assets, such as stocks and bonds. The aim is to put your money in the right place to balance risk and reward. A typical portfolio for a younger saver apportions 90% to stocks and 10% to bonds. Asset allocation adjusts itself automatically in many popular funds, such as target-date funds, based on the risk tolerance and age of the participant.
  2. Compounding: The investments in your retirement account earn interest—and that interest itself earns interest. The longer your money compounds, the faster it grows. Let’s suppose you own stocks are growing at 6% per year; the value of that investment will double in about 12 years but will be worth four times as much in 24 years. The earlier you start saving, the more you benefit from the “magic” of compounding. If saving is delayed, the power of compounding is lost and savers need to defer a greater percentage of their salary to catch up.
  3. Defined contribution plan: Defined contribution plans, such as the 401(k), have largely replaced old-fashioned defined benefit plans (where employees were promised a specific benefit in retirement). Defined contribution plans shifted responsibility from employer to employee, so now you decide how much to contribute and how that money is invested.
  4. Fiduciary: When planning your retirement, you may come across registered investment advisors and ERISA-appointed fiduciaries. “Fiduciary” is a legal term derived from the Latin word for “trust.” As a fiduciary, your advisor is legally required to put your interests above all others (for instance, the commission they may receive for selling you a product) and act with “care, skill, prudence and diligence.” Fiduciaries have a duty to continually monitor your investments and financial situation.
  5. Fixed annuities: In exchange for a lump-sum cash payment, an insurance company can provide you with a steady stream of income for life (or whichever period of time you choose). The money invested in your annuity is guaranteed to earn a fixed rate of return. Typically you need to wait for a set period of time before your payments kick in.
  6. Fixed-income funds: These funds are less risky than equity funds but generally provide less growth. As you near retirement, your portfolio will typically become more weighted toward fixed-income funds, such as bonds.
  7. Mutual fund: Professionally managed funds that pool money from many investors to invest in stocks, bonds and other securities. Typically, the cash you put into your retirement plan will be invested in mutual funds.
  8. Variable annuities: Like a fixed annuity, you are handing over a lump sum in exchange for a steady income in retirement. The difference is you get to choose from a mix of investments. The size of your payments will vary according to how those investments are performing.

Culled from Money & Career Cheat Sheet

Tuesday, 26 April 2016

How to Become a Millionaire by Retirement-By Emily Brandon



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Almost anyone can become a millionaire if they make a commitment to save early in their career and stick with it over several decades. Savvy investors will be helped along by employer contributions and tax breaks and will skillfully avoid high fees that reduce investment returns. Here's how to save $1 million in time for retirement.

Start saving at an early age. If you start saving for retirement at age 25 and save $4,830 per year, or about $400 per month, and earn 7 percent annual investment returns, you will accumulate just over $1 million by age 65. If you wait until age 35 to start saving, you'll need to save over $10,000 per year to hit $1 million by 65, assuming the same investment returns. "For every 10 years that you delay, there is going to be a significant increase in the amount you have to save," says Danna Jacobs, a certified financial planner and founding partner of Legacy Care Wealth in Jersey City, New Jersey. "You are missing out not only on the contributions but on the compounding interest."
Capture employer contributions. If your employer provides a 401(k) match, you can get by saving a little less and still hit $1 million by retirement. A worker who starts saving at 25 and gets a $1,500 annual match could save $1 million by age 65 by tucking away as little as $3,330 per year. A worker who starts saving at 35 and gets the same match would need to tuck away $8,705 annually to hit $1 million by retirement.
However, job changers need to be careful that they get to keep the match. Many companies have vesting schedules that prohibit departing employees from taking the match with them until they work for the firm for a specific number of years, or they allow workers to keep a portion of the match based on their years of service. "Usually you do have to be with your employer for a certain number of years, and sometimes you do leave your employer contributions on the table," Jacobs says. "If it's a sizable amount, a lot of times you can negotiate for a sign-on bonus with your new employer to try to compensate you for those unvested amounts."

Save money on taxes. You can also use tax breaks to grow your money faster. If you put $5,000 in a 401(k) and you are in the 25 percent tax bracket, you will save $1,250 on your tax bill. Income tax won't be due on your contribution until you withdraw it from the account. "When you put the money in the 401(k), it reduces the amount of income you have, so it's less tax you are paying at the end of the year," says Anjali Jariwala, a certified financial planner for FIT Advisors in Chicago. "The savings that you get from being able to defer that income is huge."
However, it's important to note that you will need to accumulate more than $1 million in a retirement account to have a million dollars to spend in retirement because you still need to pay income tax on each distribution. But if you save $1 million in an after-tax Roth IRA, no income tax is typically due on distributions in retirement.
Avoid high-cost funds. Your investments will grow faster if you minimize the fees that are deducted from your returns. If you save for 40 years between ages 25 and 65, but a 1 percent annual fee reduces your returns from 7 percent to 6 percent, you will need to save about $6,260 per year to reach $1 million by retirement, instead of $4,830 per year without the extra 1 percent fee. "You want to be really mindful of costs when it comes to investing," Jariwala says. "Try to get to an allocation you want for the lowest cost possible."
Watch out for penalties. Don't let retirement account penalties reduce your retirement savings. There's a 10 percent early withdrawal penalty if you take money out of a traditional IRA before age 59 1/2 and a 50 percent penalty if you fail to start taking traditional IRA withdrawals after age 70 1/2. Also watch out for taxes and penalties when rolling money over from a 401(k) to an IRA or new 401(k) when you change jobs. "Create an IRA, and each time you leave a job, do a direct rollover," says Michael Powsner, a certified financial planner and founder of Upstart Wealth Management in San Francisco. "Make sure you deposit the funds in the IRA in a timely manner from the time the 401(k) cuts the check."

Don't plan on a lavish retirement. While becoming a millionaire seems like a worthy retirement goal, the money is only likely to produce a modest retirement income when spread over several decades of retirement. If you draw down 4 percent per year, this nest egg will produce about $40,000 of retirement income per year. When combined with Social Security income, $1 million in savings could produce a comfortable retirement lifestyle in some parts of the country, but in high-cost cities it might not be enough. "You're not going to be able to live in New York City or San Francisco on that type of income," Powsner says.


Culled from US News & World Report

Monday, 25 April 2016

The Payoff: There are 5 things you should always negotiate-By Mandi Woodruff

Don't leave money on the table

There are some things in life you would be crazy not to negotiate. I’ll tell you when it’s worth it right now on The Payoff.
Your job benefits. Your salary is just the starting point when you are negotiating a job offer. If you don’t settle on a number you like, see if they can make up for it with other benefits like a signing bonus, extra time off or the flexibility to work from home. Some jobs might be willing to pay for your cell phone, internet bill and even buy you a computer just for work. Those little bonuses add up.
Your credit card fees. The key to getting credit card companies to drop fees is having an account in good standing. They should be fine waiving a late fee or interest charges if you’re making payments on time most of the time. You can even try getting them to waive your annual fee or lower your interest rate if you’ve been a good customer all year.
Your rent.  If you’re renting at an unpopular time of year – like winter – your landlord might be willing to knock a few bucks off your monthly rent. If that doesn’t work, see if they’ll lower the rent if you agree to a two- or three-year lease. It never hurts to ask.
Your bills — all of them! Don’t appreciate that new cable bill increase? Call up your provider and see if they’ll give you a break, and throw in a line about how good a competitor’s pricing looks. If you’re paying out of pocket for a medical procedure, ask your doctor’s billing department if they offer a discount for paying in cash. At least once a year, shop around for lower auto insurance rates. Your insurer just might match them.
Any large purchase. Any time you’re plunking down more than a couple grand on one item, you should negotiate. That wad of cash in your hand is all the leverage you need. It can be a new bedroom set, a wedding venue, or a home renovation. Never take the first offer and always ask if there is room to negotiate. 

Yahoo finance

Friday, 22 April 2016

How Retirees Should Assess Their Liquid Assets-By Christine Benz



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This article is part of our “Get It Done” week on Morningstar.com: All week we will feature articles and videos offering guidance on ways to help tackle those nagging items on your financial to-do list. Find more content like this here: www.morningstar.com/goto/GetItDone
Cash: It’s the asset class investors love to hate. Even as a declining interest-rate environment has helped both stocks and bonds deliver decent returns over the past decade, poor cash investors have had to settle for ever-lower yields. Today, money market yields are barely positive, and even higher-yielding cash options like high-yield savings accounts won’t likely keep up with inflation over the long run. Nor are cash yields likely to get appreciably better any time soon, as the Federal Reserve has telegraphed its intention to move slowly on rate hikes, lest it disrupt a not precisely booming economy.
But even though cash looks like a big “why bother?” today, it remains an essential ingredient in all financial plans, including those of retirees. Not only can it help meet unplanned expenses, which occur in retirement just as at other life stages, but it can also help on the peace-of-mind front. A cash component is the linchpin of “the bucket strategy” for retirement portfolios, enabling retirees to tolerate the fluctuations that will accompany the stock and bond components of their portfolios. And given that market valuations aren’t especially cheap today, opportunistic investors may also like the idea of maintaining some “dry powder” that they can put to work in beaten-down assets, whether stocks or bonds.
Yet even as cash provides stability and liquidity, low yields are an opportunity cost, so it’s important to not go overboard. If you’re retired or getting close to retirement, here are some key steps to take as you assess the liquidity component of your portfolio.
Step 1: Reassess Your Emergency FundGiven that one of the key reasons to hold an emergency fund is to tide you over in case of unexpected job loss, it may not seem necessary to maintain an emergency fund once you stop working. But at least some type of an emergency fund remains essential in retirement, too, in that it can allow you to cover large, unexpected expenses without having to raid your long-term assets. Think new cars, new roofs, big vet or dental bills, or emergency calls to aid family members.
Just how large your in-retirement emergency fund should be depends on your personal circumstances. What “lumpy” expenses have tended to catch you off guard in the past? What new ones could crop up in retirement? In a past Morningstar.com Discuss forum thread, summarized in this article, many posters said that dental bills were the biggest cost that surprised them in retirement. And despite Medicare Part D coverage, pharmaceutical costs can represent another big-ticket, out-of-pocket outlay for many retiree households. (Of course, if you have a recurring prescription expense, it’s wise to factor that into your household budget and find the Part D plan that best covers the prescriptions that you take.) If you own a home (especially an aging one) and are on the hook for ongoing maintenance costs, that argues for a larger emergency fund than if you’re a renter; people who own cars or have pets are also likely to have unplanned outlays from time to time. It’s also a fact of life that financially healthy family members are sometimes asked to help adult children or siblings who are in a financial bind; if you’ve been a financial savior for your relatives in the past, you could find yourself in that spot in the future, too.
Step 2: Consider the Bucket SystemIn addition to setting aside an emergency fund, retirees may also want to consider a cash component as part of their long-term portfolios. The virtue of that cash “bucket” is that in difficult market environments, either for stocks or bonds, the retiree can leave the long-term portfolio components undisturbed and in place to recover. That makes sense from an investment standpoint, and can also provide valuable peace of mind in turbulent market environments like 2008. The retiree can spend from bucket 1 on an ongoing basis, periodically refilling it with income distributions or rebalancing proceeds. Alternatively, the retiree can leave the cash undisturbed, to be spent only in catastrophic situations when income distributions and/or rebalancing proceeds are insufficient to meet living expenses in a given year.
But holding too much cash in bucket 1 can drag on a portfolio. Thus, I’ve typically recommended that investors hold anywhere from six months’ to two years’ worth of living expenses in cash instruments; in my recent discussion with financial planner Harold Evensky, the architect of the “bucket” approach to portfolio planning, he suggests that holding one year’s worth of living expenses in cash is a good rule of thumb.
Step 3: Identify Next-Line ReservesIn addition to lining up cash to serve as your emergency fund and supply living expenses in case of a downturn in your long-term portfolio, it’s also valuable to identify “next-line reserves” in case your cash runs dry. In my model bucket portfolios, for example, I’ve stairstepped the portfolios by risk level: In addition to cash, I’ve maintained exposure to a high-quality short-term bond fund. If, in a catastrophic market environment the cash in the portfolio runs dry, the short-term bond fund could be tapped in a pinch; even in a terrible market environment, such a fund is unlikely to incur steep losses. For retired investors who forego cash/bucket 1 as part of their investment portfolios, identifying next-line reserves is essential.
Retirees might also consider home equity as a source of liquidity in a pinch. This article discusses the idea of maintaining a “standby reverse mortgage” to help a retiree limit the opportunity cost of cash while also maintaining access to liquidity during a downturn in the investment portfolio.
Step 4: Maximize Yield--to a PointTrue, it’s hard to get excited about earning 1% on anything, and that’s about as high a yield as you’re apt to get on cash accounts today. But look at it this way--1% of $100,000 is $1,000, whereas 0.25%--the yield on some lesser-yielding cash accounts--is just $250. That $750 differential could be a month’s worth of groceries, or a two-night stay in a luxury hotel. Depending on the amount of cash you’ve set aside, it’s worth your while to shop around for the best yield you can find. Today, online savings banks will tend to offer the best combination of decent yields and FDIC protections. And the more you invest, the more attractive your yield is apt to be. Thus, it can be a good idea to consolidate your cash holdings into a single receptacle, if practical.
Stable-value funds, discussed here, are another way to earn a higher yield than true cash instruments, and may prove especially valuable when there's a more meaningful yield differential between cash and intermediate-term bonds. While stable-value funds court more risks than true cash instruments, they've historically been quite safe. You can only find stable-value funds within company retirement plans, though, so to maintain access to them, you'd need to leave assets behind in your plan rather than rolling them over to an IRA.
Retirees will want to be careful about reaching too far for yield, however. While some cash alternatives do promise a higher yield than does true cash, they might give up something in exchange--liquidity, stability, or both. This article discusses how to evaluate the trade-offs of cash alternatives

Culled from morningstar