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Rules of Retirement Planning Have Changed, Experts Say

by KREX News Room
by Cori Coffin

Story Created: Oct 30, 2012 at 10:38 PM MDT

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2012 at 9:05 AM MDT

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - In the wake of this decade's economic collapse, experts say that three out of five middle-class new retirees will outlive their financial assets if they don't plan correctly.

On Tuesday a retirement planning class was held by Grand Junction retirement specialist Barbara Traylor Smith, who says the average senior citizens will have to reduce their standard of living by 24 percent in retirement.

Currently, less than one-third of all households have more than $10,000 in retirement funds.

"It's getting harder and harder for people to be able to retire. The strategies for retirement have changed dramatically in the last several years with the lost decade that we've had," explained Traylor Smith, president of Retirement Outfitters, LLC.

The term "lost decade" refers to the massive losses many people experienced with their 401(k) plans or market investments that wiped out a majority of their life savings.

Experts are now saying retirees need to play it safer than the rules of the past.

Taylor Smith recommends that as retirees gets closer to retirement, they should move money into a safe account instead of risky investments.

She also says to account for inflation, because what a resident needs now is different than what they will need in 10 years.

Traylor Smith also plans to 100 years of age; she says life expectancy is rising, and that not accounting for the extra years could be detrimental to the next generation's financial burden.

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