Another Calculator and more

[urn2bfree]

I just discovered another website today called NewRetirement.com which looks interesting to folks on this forum. It has a calculator and a place to post questions. It is a marketing tool to sell stuff, but I was surprised by what I have seen so far in its even handedness about financial products. There is a social security calculator. Annuity calculator and a reverse mortgage calculator on the site.

I am not vouching for the site as totally legit, but it may be worth looking at for those seeking more information.

 

[REWahoo]

Proceed with caution as I see a number of red flags. The link at the bottom "For Professionals" shows the site owners generate income from advisors who pay $50/mo to "win new clients online," "filter and engage the users you want" and "track the success of your leads".

This also causes me concern:

NewRetirement spends millions of dollars a year in online marketing...

While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this, I question how helpful or unbiased the calculators may be if the purpose of the website is to generate leads for financial professionals. I did not try any of their calculators.

 

[Independent]

Yep, this looks like a lead generation service for "financial advisors".

I tried the calculator. It suggested that I would be money ahead by buying an annuity. It suggested that I spend $280,000 out of my $500,000 assets. If I did this, and started payments at 82, I could get annual payments of $117,300, which represents a gain $883,000 (according to their numbers).

This benefit is calculated by multiplying the estimated yearly income that your annuity investment could purchase at your retirement age by the number of years between your retirement age and ten years past your life expectancy -- less the cost of the annuity.

If I understand that, they are saying that between 82 and 92 I'd collect $1,173,000 in monthly payments. That would cover my $280,000 premium and leave me with a "profit" of $893,000 (numbers are rounded somewhat).

Okay, a deferred, zero-cash value annuity is potentially a good retirement planning tool. But, the math they did is grossly misleading.

 

[Katsmeow]

I also note that the calculator is very pessimistic giving far different results than literally every other calculator I've used. One reason is that it assumes that income taxes after retirement will be 20%.