Achieving the Retirement You Imagine

Achieving a successful retirement begins with a comprehensive financial strategy that encourages saving. Increasing life expectancies and uninsured healthcare costs make it more important than ever to implement a sound retirement plan without any further delay.

Time is your biggest ally. Getting an early start on regular retirement savings can help you to achieve significant benefits through the power of compounding. Consider the varying amounts of savings that hypothetical annuity and IRA investors would have at age 70 if they, in seven annual installments, started making annual contributions of $5,000 at ages 25, 35 or 50 (assume a rate of return of 6%).

Investors that start saving at age 25 can save about $175,000 more than those that begin at age 35, and almost $300,000 more than those that make no contributions until age 50. Simply by changing a single variable—length of investment time—an investor can achieve significantly improved results.

Everyone should develop sound investment and retirement savings plans customized to help meet expected needs and goals. Recent unprecedented volatility in the stock, bond and commodities markets (in which trillions of savings dollars can evaporate in a matter of days if not hours) illustrates the need for making safe and sound fixed income Providence annuities in our readers’ portfolios.

Since the stock market highs of a year ago, Providence annuity and IRA investors have earned between 4.50 and 5.25% interest without fail, even as many markets tumbled over 40%.

Call Providence and learn how easy it is for you to include a Providence annuity or IRA in your investment portfolio: 1-877-857-2284 (toll free). Or, email Providence: eluciw@provassn.com

Test Your Retirement Awareness

1. Americans continue to worry about whether they will be able to afford a secure retirement. What percentage of Americans describe themselves as very confident” that they are on the right track for a comfortable retirement?
a.         18%
b.         27%
c.         33%

Answer:
a., per the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2008
Retirement Confidence Survey.

2. True or false: You can expect to spend less on day-to-day expenses after you retire.

Answer:
False. The same survey found that only 46% of retirees report spending less in retirement than during their working lives.

3. Based on current U.S. life expectancy rates, what percentage of your life should you expect to spend in retirement?
a. 5%
b. 17%
c. 22%

Answer:
b. The latest government statistics find that the average American today can expect to reach at least 78 years of age.
One who stops working at age 65 will spend almost 17% of his life in retirement. With life spans climbing increasingly
higher, sound tax-deferred or free savings plans are increasingly more critical.

4. Individuals facing retirement need to prepare for rising healthcare costs. Through your retirement, approximately how much can you expect to need for healthcare expenses?

a.      $100,000.00 - $300,000.00
b.      $300,000.00 - $500,000.00
c.  $500,000.00 - $700,000.00

Answer: c. The survey shows that the average low risk 55 year old male needs to have $555,000.00 in savings to be confident that he will have enough to cover his healthcare expenses. Because women live longer, they will need $654,000.000 to achieve the same level of security.

5.  Where do most Americans expect to derive their retirement income?
a. Social Security
b. Company pension
c. A workplace sponsored retirement plan, e.g. a 401(k)