Retire Stronger

By Moneysmartz on Tue, April 1, 2008, 8:54 AM | Link

Archived Under: Financial Calculators , New and Notable , Retirement Planning
Tags: AIG Retirement, Financial Calculators, New and Notable, Retirement Planning

Will you have enough savings to retire? How will your savings be managed? Will you place your savings in an annuity?

AIG Retirement's Retire Stronger site, with links to retirement planning, annuity, and mutual fund services and resources, will help answer these questions.

Use the Retire Stronger calculator to determine retirement savings. Don't forget to include Social Security and Pension income for a more accurate view of your needs.

For tips about adding years to your life, download the "live longer retire stronger Playbook."

The answers may be shocking, but knowing needed savings is a start to a stronger retirement.

Financial Calculators Update

By Moneysmartz on Mon, March 24, 2008, 8:26 AM | Link

Archived Under: Financial Calculators , Moneysmartz Guide Updates
Tags: Financial Calculators, Guide Updates

Most financial portals and specialized finance websites offer financial calculators. These calculators are easy to use and best of all they are free. The Moneysmartz Financial Calculators category includes listings from many of the leading financial portals. A click from most of the Moneysmartz listings will bring you to a home calculator page with links to more specialized calculators organized by major category, including investing, mortgages, retirement planning, savings, and insurance. It is easy to get confused by the large number of websites offering financial calculators. The best advice is to stick with a site that you trust and find easy to use and then frequently visit that site as your calculator needs change. A good place to start is the Yahoo! Finance Calculator page with many specialized calculators, including banking and budgeting, career and work, college and education, family and home, insurance, loans, real estate, retirement, and taxes.

Financial Engines

By Moneysmartz on Fri, February 2, 2007, 5:05 PM | Link

Archived Under: Financial Calculators , Financial Goal Setting , Financial Planning , New and Notable
Tags: Financial Calculators, Financial Engines, Financial Goal Setting, Financial Planning

There is little middle ground between paying an advisor for financial planning expertise (visit Fool.com for a comprehensive comparison of financial advisory services and rates) and going it alone. Financial planners offer experience and an array of tools, while the do-it-yourself route affords flexibility and cost savings. If you are looking for the best of both worlds, lower fees and greater sophistication, then Financial Engines may be your solution.

A Forbes favorite for 401(k) advice, Financial Engines is an advanced financial analysis and modeling system created with the assistance of a Nobel Prize-winning economist. For fees ranging from $39.95 per month to $300 annually, the site helps individual investors create a personalized retirement forecast, get advice on taxable and tax-deferred accounts, forecast employee stock options, and forecast non-retirement financial goals.

If you are confident about your ability to interpret the Financial Engines output, then the $39.95 to test the system will be money well spent. At the minimum, after giving Financial Engines a test-drive, you’ll be able to ask smart questions if you choose to work with a financial planner down the road.

Five Questions for a Better Retirement

By Moneysmartz on Wed, November 8, 2006, 12:50 AM Discuss (0) | Link

Archived Under: Financial Calculators , Financial Goal Setting , Moneysmartz Editor , Retirement Planning , The Moneysherpa Pages
Tags: Fidelity, Financial Calculators, Financial Goal Setting, Moneysmartz Editor, Retirement Planning, The Moneysherpa Pages

With the experts telling us how unprepared we are for retirement, it's no surprise that many of us put off retirement planning for as long as possible. If the experts are right, then most Americans will have a day of reckoning when confronting a retirement with inadequate savings.

If you are willing to feel some pain today with the hope of a brighter retirement, then Fidelity's My Plan, requiring answers to five simple questions, is a relatively painless way to determine how much you'll need when you retire and what you need to do to get there.

The My Plan tool is intuitive and pleasant; delivering good and bad news with a smile while providing concrete steps to change your investment habits and begin preparing for a better retirement.