Recent studies have shown that women tend to face unique financial challenges during retirement, including longer life expectancies, lower lifetime earnings, and increased healthcare costs. According to a report by the National Institute on Retirement Security published in March 2021, women are 80% more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older. To address these challenges, experts recommend that women take steps to create a retirement income roadmap that includes maximizing Social Security benefits, saving aggressively, and investing in a diversified portfolio. Additionally, women may want to consider purchasing long-term care insurance to protect against unexpected healthcare costs in retirement.
It's important for you to be involved in the retirement income planning process even
if you're married. While you may plan to be married forever, many women
end up single at some point in their lives due to divorce or death of a spouse.
More women than ever before are employed and responsible for their own retirement planning. What does it mean to you to retire from FedEx? Do you yearn to travel? Pursuing a pastime? Volunteering or establishing a new profession or business? Spending additional time with your grandchildren? Regardless of your objective, you will need a retirement income plan that is designed to support your desired retirement lifestyle and minimize the risk of outliving your savings.
When Will You Retire From FedEx?
Establishing a target age is essential, as the age at which you retire from FedEx will have a significant impact on the amount you must save. For instance, if you retire early from FedEx at age 55 instead of waiting until age 67, you will have 12 fewer years to accumulate funds and more years to live off your retirement savings. Additionally, we'd like FedEx customers to consider:
- The longer you delay your FedEx retirement, the longer you have to accumulate tax-deferred funds in your IRAs and FedEx-sponsored plans such as 401(k)s, or accrue benefits in a traditional pension plan if you're fortunate enough to be covered.
- Medicare coverage typically begins at age 65. Does FedEx provide post-retirement medical benefits? Are you eligible for coverage if you leave FedEx before your retirement age? Do you have health insurance through the employer of your spouse? If not, you may need to consider COBRA or a private individual policy, which may be costly.
- At age 62, you can begin obtaining your Social Security retirement benefit. However, your benefit may be reduced by 25% to 30% compared to if you had waited until complete retirement age. If you delay your FedEx retirement past the age of complete retirement, you may be able to increase your Social Security retirement benefit.
- If you work part-time during retirement, you will earn money and rely less on your retirement savings, allowing more of your savings to grow for the future (and you may also have access to affordable health care).
- Consider staggering your retirements if you and your spouse are both employed and approach retirement age and are married FedEx customers. If one spouse earns substantially more than the other, it is typically prudent for the higher-earning spouse to continue working in order to maximize current income and ease the transition into retirement.
Featured Video
Articles you may find interesting:
- Corporate Employees: 8 Factors When Choosing a Mutual Fund
- Use of Escrow Accounts: Divorce
- Medicare Open Enrollment for Corporate Employees: Cost Changes in 2024!
- Stages of Retirement for Corporate Employees
- 7 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Company
- How Are Workers Impacted by Inflation & Rising Interest Rates?
- Lump-Sum vs Annuity and Rising Interest Rates
- Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (Governing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans)
- Corporate Employees: Do NOT Believe These 6 Retirement Myths!
- 401K, Social Security, Pension – How to Maximize Your Options
- Have You Looked at Your 401(k) Plan Recently?
- 11 Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Planning for Retirement
- Worst Month of Layoffs In Over a Year!
- Corporate Employees: 8 Factors When Choosing a Mutual Fund
- Use of Escrow Accounts: Divorce
- Medicare Open Enrollment for Corporate Employees: Cost Changes in 2024!
- Stages of Retirement for Corporate Employees
- 7 Things to Consider Before Leaving Your Company
- How Are Workers Impacted by Inflation & Rising Interest Rates?
- Lump-Sum vs Annuity and Rising Interest Rates
- Internal Revenue Code Section 409A (Governing Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plans)
- Corporate Employees: Do NOT Believe These 6 Retirement Myths!
- 401K, Social Security, Pension – How to Maximize Your Options
- Have You Looked at Your 401(k) Plan Recently?
- 11 Questions You Should Ask Yourself When Planning for Retirement
- Worst Month of Layoffs In Over a Year!
How Long Will Retirement Last When You Leave FedEx?
We all aspire to live to a ripe old age, but a longer life means you'll have to fund more retirement years. As women tend to live longer than males, the problem is especially acute for them. To protect against the possibility of outliving your investments, you must calculate your life expectancy. You can estimate your life expectancy using government statistics, life insurance tables, or life expectancy calculators. These estimates are based on your age, gender, race, health, lifestyle, and profession, as well as your familial history. However, FedEx customers must keep in mind that these are only estimates. It's impossible to predict how long you'll actually live, but given rising life expectancies, it's probably safest to presume you'll outlive your expectations.
Project Your Retirement Expenses
Once you've determined when your FedEx retirement will likely begin, how long it may last, and the type of retirement lifestyle you desire, it's time to estimate how much money you'll need. Underestimating the amount you'll need to save by the time you retire from FedEx is one of the biggest retirement planning errors you can make. It is commonly stated that you will need 70 to 80 percent of your pre-retirement income in retirement. However, the issue with this strategy is that it does not account for your unique circumstances.
Consider whether your current expenses will remain the same, increase, decrease, or even disappear by the time you retire from FedEx. While some expenses, such as a mortgage or commuting costs, may diminish as you age, others, such as health care and insurance, may increase. If travel or hobbies will be a part of your retirement, be sure to include the associated expenditures. Also, remember to consider the prospective impact of inflation and taxes.
Identify Your Sources of Income
The next stage, after determining your retirement income requirements, is to evaluate your (or you and your spouse's) ability to meet those needs. In other terms, what retirement income sources will you have access to? FedEx may provide a traditional pension plan with periodic benefits. In addition, it is likely that Social Security will contribute to your retirement income. Other sources of retirement income may include IRAs, annuities, and other investments.
The quantity of income you receive from these sources depends on the amount you invest, the rate of return on your investments, and other variables. Lastly, if you intend to work during your FedEx retirement, your earnings will be an additional source of income. When you compare your projected expenses to your expected sources of retirement income, you may discover that you will not have sufficient funds to meet your needs and objectives. This difference, or 'gap,' must be closed as part of your retirement income strategy. In general, if you face a shortfall, you have five options: save more now, delay your FedEx retirement or work during retirement, attempt to increase the returns on your retirement assets, find new sources of retirement income, or reduce your retirement spending.
Transitioning Into Retirement
Even after that special day arrives, you will continue to have responsibilities. So that your retirement savings last as long as you need them to, you will need to carefully manage your assets.
- We recommend that our FedEx clients regularly evaluate their portfolios. According to conventional wisdom, retirees should prioritize the security of their principal above all else. As a result, as they approach retirement, some individuals transfer their portfolio towards fixed-income investments, such as bonds and money market accounts. The issue with this strategy is that you will effectively lose purchasing power if your investment returns do not maintain pace with inflation. While it is generally prudent for your portfolio to become increasingly conservative as you age, it may be prudent to maintain at least a portion in growth investments.
Conclusion
A Retirement Income Roadmap for Women is like a GPS for a road trip. Just as a GPS helps drivers navigate through unfamiliar terrain to reach their destination, a Retirement Income Roadmap guides women towards a financially secure retirement. By providing a clear path with step-by-step directions, it helps women avoid financial roadblocks and detours that can derail their retirement plans. Just as drivers need to stay alert and adjust their route when necessary, women also need to regularly review and update their retirement plan to ensure they stay on course and reach their financial goals.
What are the implications of the Funding Target Attainment Percentage for FedEx Corporation employees, and how does it impact the security of the pension benefits offered by FedEx Corporation? This question seeks to explore the nuances of the funding target attainment percentage as reported in the annual funding notice, examining how this metric not only reflects the financial health of FedEx Corporation's pension plan but also how it affects employee confidence in future benefit payments and retirement planning.
Funding Target Attainment Percentage: The Funding Target Attainment Percentage for FedEx Corporation indicates the degree to which the pension plan is funded. A percentage of 101.33% for 2022 suggests that the plan has sufficient assets to cover its liabilities, providing security for employees' pension benefits. This high percentage likely increases employee confidence in the stability and reliability of their future pension payouts, essential for long-term retirement planning.
How does the merger of the FedEx Freight Pension Plan into the FedEx Corporate Employees’ Pension Plan influence the benefits currently available to FedEx Corporation employees? This question aims to delve into the practical changes that may arise due to this merger, assessing whether it aligns with employee expectations regarding their pension benefits and how the transition process is managed by FedEx Corporation.
Merger of Pension Plans: The merger of the FedEx Freight Pension Plan into the FedEx Corporate Employees’ Pension Plan appears to have been strategically managed to maintain benefit stability. Despite increasing liabilities by 5.3%, the merger was structured to ensure no negative impact on the benefit amounts payable to participants from either plan, preserving the expected pension benefits for all affected FedEx Corporation employees.
In terms of investment strategies, what measures does FedEx Corporation implement to ensure that its pension plan investments align with the long-term liabilities expected to be paid out to retirees? This question encourages an exploration of the investment policies in place, examining the asset allocations and risk management strategies that FedEx Corporation employs to ensure sustainable funding for its pension obligations, which could potentially include detailed analyses of stocks, debts, and alternative investments.
Investment Strategies: FedEx Corporation employs a diversified investment strategy across equities, fixed income, and alternative investments, aiming to meet long-term pension liabilities. This approach, which includes both active management strategies and the limited use of derivatives, is designed to generate returns that exceed market indices, thus ensuring adequate funding of pension obligations.
What options do employees of FedEx Corporation have for accessing their pension plan statements, and how frequently are these statements generated? The focus here is to understand the communication strategies employed by FedEx Corporation regarding pension benefit statements, including technological access points and the importance of these documents for employee financial planning.
Pension Plan Statements: FedEx Corporation provides annual pension plan statements through their Retirement Service Center, available electronically each fall. Employees can access their statements online or request them if notifications are not received, ensuring transparency and aiding in personal financial planning.
How are contributions to the FedEx Corporation Employees’ Pension Plan determined, and what role do excess contributions play in the plan's overall funding strategy? This question aims to educate employees about how the company balances mandatory contribution levels with potential excess contributions, exploring how these factors interact to influence the plan's solvency and employee benefits.
Contributions to the Pension Plan: Contributions to the FedEx Corporation Employees' Pension Plan are calculated to meet at least the minimum legal requirement and potentially include voluntary excess contributions. These excess contributions can help manage the plan's funding level and ensure its solvency, benefiting overall pension security for employees.
What types of benefits are guaranteed under the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for FedEx Corporation employees, and what limitations exist that employees should be aware of? By focusing on the guaranteed benefits, this question prompts a discussion on the security of specific benefits provided by FedEx Corporation and highlights limitations, allowing employees to understand their rights fully.
PBGC Guarantee: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation guarantees certain types of benefits for FedEx Corporation employees, such as pension benefits at normal retirement age and most early retirement benefits. However, there are limitations, such as exclusions for benefits without vested rights and recently increased benefits, which employees should be aware of to fully understand their pension security.
In what ways does the FedEx Corporation plan to adjust its pension funding strategy in light of changing federal laws that impact pension obligations? Employees are encouraged to consider how legislative changes influence corporate policies surrounding retirement benefits and the proactive strategies FedEx Corporation might take to remain compliant while ensuring the security of employee pensions.
Adjustments to Funding Strategy: FedEx Corporation is likely to adjust its pension funding strategy in response to legislative changes affecting pension obligations, such as those introduced by recent acts adjusting how pension liabilities are calculated. This proactive approach aims to ensure compliance with new laws while continuing to secure the financial health of the pension plan.
What are the steps that FedEx Corporation employees must take if they are considering retirement, particularly in how to navigate the pension plan and gain access to their benefits? This question aims to provide clarity on the retirement process, ensuring that employees are equipped with the necessary information regarding required documentation, timelines, and points of contact within FedEx Corporation.
Steps for Retirement Planning: Employees considering retirement should contact the FedEx Retirement Service Center to navigate their pension plan benefits. This process involves understanding necessary documentation, timelines, and available support, facilitating a smooth transition into retirement.
How does FedEx Corporation plan to manage potential funding shortfalls in the pension plan, and what mechanisms are in place for notifying plan participants should such an event occur? Employees would need to understand the proactive measures put in place by FedEx Corporation to address funding-related challenges while also knowing what this means for their benefits.
Managing Funding Shortfalls: In the event of potential funding shortfalls, FedEx Corporation has policies in place to manage such situations, including strategic contributions to mitigate shortfalls. The company maintains transparency with plan participants about funding levels and any significant changes affecting the pension plan.
For those seeking more information about their pensions and retirement options, how can FedEx Corporation employees contact relevant departments, and what resources are available for assistance? This question provides an opportunity for employees to familiarize themselves with contact points such as the FedEx Retirement Service Center, emphasizing the importance of open communication channels for addressing inquiries related to their pensions. Feel free to consult the provided document for more in-depth exploration of these topics.
Contacting for Pension Information: FedEx Corporation employees seeking more information about their pensions or retirement options can contact the FedEx Retirement Service Center. This center provides essential resources and support, ensuring employees have access to all necessary information regarding their retirement planning.
-2.png)
.webp)