Most of us will have a pile of Year End Tax Documents in our mailbox this week.  Financial institutions are required to send out  these tax statements each January.  Your IRA provider will send out a 5498 form and a1009-R if you've done a rollover or distribution from an IRA or retirement account.  Your taxable accounts will generate other statements. 

Bankrate.com provides a great summary of these documents.

Here's an example and link.

 1099-R
If you received a pension or a distribution from an individual retirement account or retirement plan, the 1099-R provides the details of these transactions. The form is issued by your broker, pension plan manager or mutual fund company. You'll also get a 1099-R if you rolled over money in a retirement plan, usually a 401(k) to an IRA, or if you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. A rollover usually is not a taxable event, but a pension payout may be.

Several weeks ago Vanguard released their study on savings in 401k plans they administer.  Here's the recent Fidelity research on Baby Boomers retirement plans.

Fidelity Investments reports that Baby Boomers turning 60 years old this year, at a rate of nearly 8,000 per day, surpassed the $100,000 mark with an average balance of $112,000 in their 401k accounts at the end of 2005.

As the 401k industry marks its 25th anniversary this year, more than 32 million participating Boomers have collectively saved over $1.2 trillion in 401k plans, accounting for nearly 60 percent of overall U.S. 401k retirement savings.

There have been several books published recently that look at retirement planning and calculating the amount we need to accumulate for a secure retirement.  "The Number" by Lee Eisenberg has gotten a lot of attention.  The Wall Street Journal and several business magazines recently reviewed the book.  Mr Eisenberg details the challenges of retirement including inflation, health expenses and long life spans and just how complicated the "Number" really is.

BusinessWeek Online gives us their review.

USAToday.com gives a review.

Ben Stein gives us some helpful information on immediate annuities.

In the olden days of American supremacy in world markets, retirees worked for their employer, got lifetime benefits with cost-of-living increases for pensions and health care, and lived peacefully. For most of us, those days are gone.

There are many aspects to solving this problem, but one comes to mind right away: Purchase a lifetime immediate annuity. This is a contract you make with a financial entity, usually an insurance company, which, in return for your initial payment, guarantees to make monthly payments to you -- for the balance of your life.

Remember, you have until April 15 to fund your 2005 IRA, and you can make your 2006 contribution at any time.  Many people are using the Roth IRA now.  Heres a growth  calculator that demonstrates the growth potential of the Roth IRA.  In 2006 you can contribute $4,000 and investors above age 50 can contribute $5,000.

According to the Department of Labor, Americans move to a new employer once every four years, leaving a trail of old 401(k) and 403(b) plans.  Your money is portable-move it to your own IRA.

The Motley Fool offers some advice and comparisons of IRA custodians.

We've mentioned the Roth 401k is getting a lot of attention this year.  However, many employers are still not offering this plan.  Here's a IRS information sheet.

CNN Money offers some tips for boosting your savings after pension problems.

Bottom line: Workers in pension plans that are frozen or terminated will need to boost their savings now to make up for any shortfall in expected pension income.

How much more? Generally speaking, for workers in their mid-40s through early 60s, they should figure an additional 10 percent to 20 percent of their before-tax pay every year until retirement, according to estimates from Watson Wyatt and the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Ben Stein  suggests a model portfolio for retiree's and gives a quick overview on Monte Carlo simulation.

The quandary of retirement is to squeeze as much money as possible from your savings and still not run out of funds before you die. A key part of solving the problem is to have your investments yield enough income so that you can keep up with the inflation that's inevitable after you receive your gold watch.

International Business Machines Corp. said today it will freeze the pension plans of some 120,000 employees in the United States, effective at the end of next year, and will offer instead a more generous 401(k) plan.

Traditional pensions, which typically promise a specific benefit based on pay and years of service, today cover some 34 million workers and retirees. They pay out some $120 billion in benefits annually, according to employer-group estimates.

Roughly 29,000 of these plans remain today, down from 112,000 in 1985. The surviving plans tend to be very large -- most of the decline has come at small employers -- and are concentrated in older, unionized industries such as the auto industry.

Washington Post article on IBM pension freeze.

As life expectancy rates climb, people are living in retirement much longer than previous generations. And it's happening at a time when Social Security and pensions are becoming less secure.

CNN Money talks about the longevity risk facing future retirees.

         THE STANDARD MEDICARE PART D PLAN
     (Dollar figures are for 2006)           

• Monthly premium of around $37
• $250 deductible
• Medicare plans pay 75 percent of drug costs between $250 and $2,250.
• Between $2,250 and $5,100, beneficiary pays 100 percent of drug costs.
• Once beneficiary has reached $3,600 in out-of-pocket costs, Medicare pays 95 percent.

  Medicare Part D has been confusing-take advantage of some of the resouces on our site to learn more.