Improving After-Tax Returns, Retirement Income, and Bequests through Tax-Smart Household Management

As has been chronicled for many years by many researchers, a wave of almost 80 million Baby Boomers is moving into retirement. And tens of millions more are already there. Due to a host of factors, these retired or soon to be retired individuals are becoming increasingly responsible for developing their own retirement accumulation and decumulation strategies, and are much less reliant on employers or the government for help. The percentage of workers covered by defined benefit pension plans fell by nearly half from 1980 to 2008, from 38% to 20%.1 In contrast, the percentage of workers covered by a defined contribution pension plan has increased four-fold, from 8% to 31%, between 1980 and 2008.2 Employees are feeling even more of a pinch as 22% of companies report reducing their contributions to defined contribution plans.3 Expanding Complexity, Challenge and Opportunity for Investors and Advisors This means that investors and their financial advisors are responsible for managing and ensuring a greater and growing portion of a retiree’s income.