Frequently Asked Questions About Retirement Planning 

How can investors make money in flat markets?

Dollar Cost Averaging! Investors lower their average cost per share of stocks by investing the same amount on a regular basis. Markets go up and down during a given period, but dollar cost averaging allows investors to make money in flat markets. 

How can investors get the probable advantage of buying at the bottom and selling at the top? 

Selling at the bottom and buying at the top are natural for most people. By rebalancing a portfolio on a regular basis, profitable asset classes are assured of being sold at the top, while out of favor asset classes will implement purchases at the bottom. Say your portfolio contains 5 asset classes. Historically, 3 will increase and 2 will be temporarily out of favor. By annual rebalancing, the investor sells positions in the 3 performing categories while being forced to purchase positions in the 2 that are at the bottom. Profits are assured in the 3 sold and well positioned in the remaining 2 for the growth over time that will follow. If all asset classes are chosen well in a diversified portfolio, the 2 that are currently out of favor will rebound, in time.

Why is time more important than timing in investing for retirement? 

Over the last 50 years, from 1953 – 2003, the market has increased an average of 13.0% compounded annually. Market timing attempts to remove the downside leaving only the upside remaining, thereby increasing the annual yield. If you do just that, remove all the downside, your return over the last 50 years increases to an average of 15.4% per year. However, if your wrong and take out all the upside years, your return plunges to 6.2%. The risk isn’t equal to the reward. This is especially true of the last 10 years. 50% of the stock markets rise in the last 10 years took place in only 4 of the 120 months. If you were out of the market during those 4 months, you would have missed 50% of the markets gain. Again, not worth the risk. Remaining invested over time rewards investors. Ibbotson Associates from the University of Chicago has asserted that asset classes committed for one year have a 75% chance for success. Asset classes committed for 5 years have a 90% chance for increased equity. However, asset classes committed for a full 10 years have a success probability of 98%! Time, not timing builds wealth in America. 

How can you decrease risk in a portfolio? 

By diversification! This truism can be measured in terms of standard deviation, a measure of risk in terms of volatility. Investing in only one asset class has historically equated to a standard deviation of 15%. Two asset classes reduces the standard deviation to 12.25%. Three reduces portfolio volatility to 11%. Four asset classes in a portfolio reduces the standard deviation to 10.5% and five asset classes down to 10%. Rebalancing the portfolio, as discussed above, back to say 20% of each of the 5 asset classes, can decrease the risk even further.

Is inflation really under control? 

Can retirees really take comfort in the published inflation figures which have ranged between 1% and 2% currently? Absolutely not! The costs of items utilized by retirees are currently increasing at a much higher rate. These include health costs, postage, college, housing, gasoline, automobiles and food. The average inflation rate over the last 50 years has exceeded 3.00%. Investors are well advised to plan for 4-5% inflation in their retirement projections. Better results will only add to their retirement benefits.

Answers courtesy of Fend

Recommended Retirement Planning Websites

Principal Financial Group - The Principal Financial Group is a nationally known provider of 401k plans, mutual funds, retirement plans, investments, life insurance, health insurance, and on-line banking. Online customer service, education.
 
BenefitsLink - BenefitsLink.com is for people and companies involved in providing employer-sponsored employee benefit plans, including for-profit, non-profit and governmental plan sponsors, whether or not regulated by ERISA.

Reviewed Retirement Planning Sites on the Internet

Brentmark Software  - www.brentmark.com/
Brentmark Software develops software for estate, retirement and financial planning professionals. Products include Pension & Roth IRA Analyzer, RetireNow, Estate Planning Tools, Estate Planning QuickView, PFP Notebook, Stock Options Risk Analyzer, College Planning Tools, Investment Scenario Generator, Charitable Financial Planner, IRS Factors Calculator, Savings Bond Toolkit, Pension Distributions Planner, Pension Distributions Calculator and Minimum Distributions Calculator.

Clarity Software, LLC - www.pendcalc.com/
PenD'Calc is Retirement, Distribution & Estate Planning Software. Since 1987 PenD'Calc R&EP™ Software has been performing retirement accumulation, pension distribution and estate planning calculations for advanced planners. (R&EP™ stands for Retirement and Estate Planning.) PenD'Calc Software is a scalable integrated retirement distribution and estate planning software system which focuses on modeling the singular and/or combined impact of various planning options unique to qualified dollar assets on retirement income, estate taxes, and beneficiary income streams.