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Withdrawing Your Funds at Retirement When it is time for you to retire you will be responsible for notifying your retirement account custodians of your change in status. Depending upon your retirement plan, you will have various options. You may wish to receive your money immediately, or you may wish to continue contributing to your account and allowing it to grow for a few more years. There are various ways to receive money from your retirement accounts. Check with qualified people and seek sound advice before signing or doing anything. If you are retiring from a business or a company, your HR representative is there to help you with this process. In addition to talking with your HR resource, you may wish to contact your local Social Security office approximately six months in advance of your planned retirement date. Someone there can provide the information you need and guide you through their process.

Social Security

Social Security benefits have been a godsend for the majority of its recipients. However, you may be in for a surprise at some point in your future because as it now exists, Social Security is unsustainable. Look for some radical changes in the coming years, because if Congress leaves Social Security unchanged, it will cease to exist sometime in the 2030s. Experts say that it will come to an end because much more will be needed in funding than can be generated by workers paying into the program. The Year 2030 sounds so far in the future. It may be distant, but if you aren't prepared for Social Security's eventual demise, you will pay the price with your retirement when you are ready to draw your first check only to find that it isn't there.

WASHINGTON - Millions of Retired Americans face shrinking Social Security checks next year.

The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975. If COLAs are denied, it will be the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.

Though Social Security benefits cannot be decreased, yet the buying power of theri monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

Cost of living adjustments are tied to inflation, which has been negative in 2009.

Advocates say that retirees still face higher prices because they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on health care, declining home values, and shrinking retirement portfolios just as they are relying on those assets for income.

Approximately 50 million retired and disabled Americans receive monthly Social Security benefits. The average benefit for retirees is $1,153 per month. All beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent COLA increase in January, the largest since 1982.

More than 32 million people are in the Medicare prescription drug program. Average monthly premiums are set to increase from $28 this year to $30 next year, though they vary by plan.

Condensed from an article by Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher - Sun Aug 23, 2009.