Does Calculating Your Retirement Needs Even Matter?

March 27, 2012

The resident financial planners at Financial Finesse handle a variety of difficult questions from employees representing many different walks of life and unique backgrounds.  One common area of concern these days is retirement.  In fact, nearly 31% of all employees indicate that retirement is their number one financial planning priority.  A recent helpline caller represented a perfect example of how a seemingly complex retirement planning scenario can be simplified using some quick and easy to use retirement planning tools.  Continue reading “Does Calculating Your Retirement Needs Even Matter?”

Are You Sure You’re Ready to Retire?

March 21, 2012

Last week I received a call from Ann who could not decide if she was ready to retire. Based on the lifestyle she’d like to have in retirement, she needs about $70,000 a year in income. If she retires right now, she will receive $52,000 in pension benefits, $11,000 in Social Security benefits, 80% of her retiree health benefits paid by the company, and have $1,500,000 in savings. Hmm…sounds pretty good, so why on earth is Ann so torn over making this decision? The truth is there are a lot more things to consider than just finances when it comes to retirement. Continue reading “Are You Sure You’re Ready to Retire?”

Sparking the Interest of Retirement Readiness with Your Employees

January 17, 2012

My favorite gift from this past Christmas has to be my new Kindle Fire.  I would have never bought one for myself, however, because I swore that the reading experience from turning the pages of an actual book could not be duplicated.  But now, I am a Kindle convert.  Not only because it gives the look and feel of a real page in a book; I now have access to hundreds of books for FREE in the Amazon bookstore.  Continue reading “Sparking the Interest of Retirement Readiness with Your Employees”

Can We Stall the Coming Retirement Crisis?

May 31, 2011

It is hard not to hear about the pending doom and gloom forecast for the baby boomers approaching retirement.  I was standing in line waiting to pick up my rental car last week and the flat screen TV on the wall had CNN reporting about how boomers “don’t even know what they are going to end up doing” since many are unprepared to face retirement and that Social Security and Medicare may fail as a safety net for the boomers.  The irony is that I was on my way to facilitate a workshop on Retirement Readiness for a company that is proactively preparing their workforce to have a financially secure retirement, bucking the trend of many employers who are putting more of the burden on the workers to save for their own retirement.  So what is the answer to having your employees take charge of their own futures and focus on building a sizeable retirement nest egg? Continue reading “Can We Stall the Coming Retirement Crisis?”

Benefits Planning: Employee Misconceptions

February 08, 2011

Over the past several months, I have observed quite a few common misconceptions that employees have voiced while we discussed their financial situation during a worksite financial coaching session.   The first, and most surprising, is how unaware employees are regarding how their benefits compare to other companies, and that many think that the grass would be greener if they switched employers for a new job offer.  Simply benchmarking your level of benefits to your specific industry can be a real eye-opener for your workforce and can be easily accomplished by communicating this information during open enrollment or at a benefits planning workshop. Continue reading “Benefits Planning: Employee Misconceptions”