How living longer can hurt your retirement planning + MORE May 15th

Monday Makeover looks at single woman who earns $60,000-a-year, is mortgage-free and wonders if rent from a basement apartment can help with her retirement

Ideally, the road to getting your marriage ready for retirement will start the day you and your spouse say take your vows. However, for most people, retirement is not at the top of the list when they embark on married life. With sound financial planning and good communication, a couple can successfully navigate this major life change and enjoy their retirement for years to come.

Get Your Marriage Ready for Retirement
If you were to ask a bunch of people at random to describe what retirement meant to them, you would get several different answers. The “traditional” picture of spending one’s Golden Years puttering around the house and working on hobbies is no longer the norm for today’s active seniors. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many people want, and expect, retirement to be a kind of “second act” where they will get to do things they didn’t have the time or money to do when they were younger.
For some people, that may mean stopping work entirely and moving from an employee collecting a salary to drawing an income from their investments…

If you’re like most moderately conservative income investors, you probably agree that relatively safe, reliable, boring investments are good. That means keeping the core of your fixed income in investment-grade bonds or GICs.
However, if you’re adventurous you may consider adding a touch of spice to your portfolio: you might allocate 10% or 20% of your fixed income to more specialized investments.

READ: A Goldilocks strategy: Building a balanced portfolio for retirement

The key is being selective. Look for investments with clear benefits not provided by core investments. You’ll want good prospects for reasonable returns without taking on too much credit risk or interest-rate sensitivity. Ideally they should perform differently from the broad stock and bond markets, so they can help even out the ups and downs in your overall portfolio. Here are three funds worth considering:
PIMCO Monthly Income Fund: This fund was runner-up for Morningstar’s Fixed Income Fund Manager of the year for 2013…

We’re living two years longer on average, according to new statistics. Here’s how to use that information to make sure you don’t outlive your savings.