Did I Save Enough for Retirement?

Tennessee-based finance professional Chester “C. Edziu” Pacana serves as a managing agent and conservative wealth management planner at DeRosa & Associates Inc. As such, Chester Pacana manages annuity and insurance agents in Tennessee and Florida and maintains a strong working knowledge of varying retirement strategies and savings plans.

Figuring out what you need for retirement is complicated and involves the honest evaluation of your total income and monthly expenses.

To start, add up the total amount of money you bring in each month. This income may be in the form of your after-tax pay from work, investment income, and other income sources. However, you must remember that certain income sources are removed once you retire. Work income, for example, will stop after retirement, but Social Security income will begin.

You must also add up the total amount of money you spend on bills and other debts every month. Don’t forget to include monthly estimates for food and entertainment, among other things.

Once you have an idea of how much you need each month, take into consideration your retirement goals and normal increases in salary and inflation. On average, you can expect that your salary will rise by about 2 percent annually. The inflation that will affect your expenses, by contrast, will increase by about 3 percent annually. Considering such increases will give you a better idea of how much you’ll need when you actually retire.

Further, you must consider changes in your lifestyle once you retire. For instance, if you plan on traveling for several weeks or months at a time, your expenses in retirement may be higher than at present.

Studies Show Reading Increases Empathy

As a conservative wealth management planner with DeRosa & Associates in Jamestown, Tennessee, Chester “C. Edziu” Pacana works with high-net-worth individuals, medical professionals, federal employees, and other clients to develop long-term financial strategies. Outside of his professional life, Chester Pacana pursues a diverse range of hobbies that includes hiking, traveling, and reading.

Reading has numerous benefits in addition to simply being an entertaining and informative way to spend leisure time. Besides improving brain function and decision-making, research suggests that reading a specific type of fiction can actually increase the capacity for empathy.

In 2013, researchers at The New School conducted a series of tests that measured subjects’ abilities to interpret the emotions and thought of other people, one of the hallmarks of empathy. After dividing the test subjects into several groups, the researchers assigned each group a different kind of literature to read, including nonfiction, genre fiction, and literary fiction. After the subjects read the assigned literature, each took a test that measures empathy.

The study results indicated that readers of nonfiction and genre fiction, such as books by Danielle Steel or James Patterson, scored much less impressively on the empathy test than those who read literary fiction, which is often defined as fiction that mimics reality and explores character psychology and emotion more than plot. Experts who have examined the test results suggest that readers of literary fiction develop emotional and psychological intelligence through their mental interactions with the characters on the page, and that this can be applied in the real world.

The Three Parts of the Federal Employee Retirement System

An accomplished financial professional, Chester “C. Edziu” Pacana draws upon experience with a range of financial, insurance, and retirement issues in his work as a conservative wealth management planner with DeRosa & Associates in Tennessee. Among other areas of focus, Chester Pacana and the team at DeRosa & Associates offer guidance on topics related to the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS).

Created in 1987, FERS is the retirement plan for all civilian employees who work for the US government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. FERS currently comprises three major parts:

*Basic Benefit Plan: Similar to a pension, this element of the plan will pay the employee a fixed monthly sum, known as a monthly annuity, upon retirement. The amount varies, depending on several factors, including how long the employee worked for the federal government.

*Social Security: Virtually all workers in the United States pay into the Social Security system, which provides a guaranteed stream of payments after retirement age. Federal workers also participate in this system, with contributions made through automatic deductions from regular paychecks.

*Thrift Savings Plan (TSP): Similar to the 401(k) plans that many workers in the private sector have access to, a TSP is an investment vehicle that offers a range of tax benefits and investment options. Automatic contributions to the TSP are taken out of each paycheck, with employees having the option of making additional contributions if they so choose.