US News: Investment Suggestions for 2015 Retirees

If you're planning on retiring next year, you're probably beginning to feel a good deal of excitement about the transition.

Emily Brandon, senior retirement editor at U.S. News & World Report, offers several tips for dealing with the process.

• Decide when to begin taking Social Security benefits. In general, the longer you wait, the greater your payouts are.
• Make sure to sign up for Medicare as soon as you're eligible. "You should start submitting the paperwork for Medicare up to three months before age 65," Christopher Rhim, a certified financial planner for Green View Advisors in Norwich, Vt., tells Brandon. "There are some financial penalties if you sign up later."
• Consider rolling over your 401(k) into your IRA. Doing so may save you on fees and give you more investment choices.
• Make a long-term investment plan.
• Pay attention to required minimum distributions for IRAs after age 70 1/2.
• Form a plan to pay for emergencies.

Meanwhile, retirement planner Henry Hebeler, a former vice president of strategic and operational planning at Boeing, offers several elements of a conservative retirement strategy in an article for MarketWatch.

• "Use a planning program that lets you choose a stock allocation in which you can accommodate the swings in security values and inflation," he writes.
• Select a retirement budget level that will support you well beyond your 50 percent life-expectancy age.
• Adjust your retirement plan every year. If your plan includes a budget increase much higher than inflation, consider changing the budget to an average of what you planned for the new year and your budget from the prior year.

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