FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: How To Plan For Retirement If You're Afraid You Might Live Too Long

How Americans Can Better Prepare For Retirement (Vanguard)

Olivia Mitchell at Vanguard says there are two camps when it comes to the question of how well prepared Americans are for retirement. One camp thinks 15-20% will be "unable to maintain an adequate living standard in retirement," while others think the number is actually closer to 50%. So how can Americans better prepare for retirement?

"Clearly one part is that we must save more. Another part is that we must think a lot more about insurance," said Olivia Mitchell. "My research focuses on annuities, especially payout annuities, and other vehicles to help people protect their savings against their living too long, or longevity risk."

"The notion is that even if you do accumulate a nice nest egg, since you never know exactly when you're going to die, there's some role in the household portfolio for insurance against outliving your assets. This would not apply to those with very low incomes, but certainly it does for the larger middle class: there's real potential and need to think about longevity protection in the form of insurance."

A Long View On Stocks (Pragmatic Capitalism)

Humans can't live for 189 years, but if they did and they had invested in stocks, they would be very rich today points out Cullen Roche at Pragmatic Capitalism.

He points out a few key data points from a Merrill Lynch report. 1. "In the long-run stock prices rise." 2. "$1 invested in US large company stocks in 1824 would be worth roughly $427 today in nominal terms." 3. "An even better stat for the bulls: $1 invested in US large company stocks in 1824 would be worth close to $4,225,000 with dividends reinvested, illustrating the power of compounding." 4. "The great equity bull markets - 1860-1872 = 332% total return; 1920-1928 = 423% total return; and (the greatest of them all) 1982-1999 = 1654% total return." 5. "From the March 2009 lows to their all-time high on August 2nd 2013, US large cap stocks have returned 177%."

Advisors Need To Pay Attention To The Personal Aspect Of Personal Finance (The Wall Street Journal)

Financial advisors need to get to know their clients better, writes Tim Maurer of Maryland-based Financial Consulate in a new WSJ column. Maurer believes the first conversation with a client is very revealing and will give advisors clues about what they want from the process.

"Asking open-ended questions about their needs and expectations helps me get into a more personal conversation with clients. Instead of starting to immediately review bank and brokerage statements and put together a balance sheet, I'm beginning by getting an understanding of what it is they want to gain from this process."

BlackRock: 3 Reasons Investors Should Consider European Stocks (Advisor Perspectives)

For the first time in a three years investors haven't had to deal with a recession and crisis in Europe writes BlackRock's Russ Koesterich. So, it's probably a good time for investors to increase their exposure to European stocks. This is for three key reasons: 1. "Europe's economy is stabilizing." 2. " Eurozone equities are cheap relative to U.S. stocks." 3. "There's less risk that the euro will be dissolved." Koesterich does not however think that investors that are already overweight the region add to their position.

PIMCO: The Bond Sell-Off Is Overdone (FA Mag)

The bond sell off has been overdone because markets have misread the Fed taper, according to Scott Mather of PIMCO. "Markets have misinterpreted and overshot," Mather told FA Mag. "It’s most likely that the Fed is at zero for another couple of years and the markets are, in our view, overshooting in bringing forward rate hikes at a time when both inflation and growth are well below the Fed’s targets."