Money In Retirement – How Much Will I Have

You can figure out how much money you’ll have in retirement by identifying your sources of income and assets. Our Finances Section will teach you how. In our Finances Section, we cover every aspect of a senior’s financial and money concerns. But for this article, Carmen and I will give you a brief overview of where most seniors get their income in retirement.

Keep in mind that what you have in retirement – what we’ll call wealth – is generally a spot measure. It’s what you have when you retire. Over your retirement some funds will grow, others will shrink, and some will stay the same.

What Will I Have In Retirement?

Financial planners will look at your assets, pension plans, and government benefits to help determine your money in retirement. There are also ways to expand and extend these resources. At CarePlanIt we like to break up into recurring sources of income, government programs, investments and insurance, trusts, and untapped sources of income.

Recurring Money In Retirement Income

Recurring income includes sources of income that are recurring, stable, and lasts until death (or until you leave your house in the case of reverse mortgages). In the recurring money in retirement category, you’ll look for social security, pensions, disability insurance, and income from a reverse mortgage.

Government Programs

The government provides many programs to assist and boost seniors’ standard of living. Housing and food subsidies, for example, are in this category. We do not include SSI and DSI here, they are included in the category above. Programs in this category include:

Investments & Insurance Money In Retirement

Investments and insurance are things that are held with brokerage and insurance companies. Brokerage and insurance accounts, for example, are in this category. They include the following:

Trusts

Trusts are structured programs where assets and income are made available to a beneficiary of the trust. For example, some seniors may be beneficiaries of family trusts. On the other hand, some seniors set up their estate as a trust and make themselves a beneficiary. Some trusts are revocable, others are irrevocable. For more on trusts see our Section on Trusts here.

Untapped Sources of Money In Retirement

There are areas of wealth that are assets that are not paying out income. In other words, things of value can be converted to cash. These assets can often be converted into income. They include:

Other Resources On Money In Retirement

See our Section on Finances here.

FINRA has a great section on where seniors get their retirement income here.