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Savings Accounts for Retirees – What to Consider

As a retiree, you know that you are looking for savings accounts that will yield the best interest rates in the shortest period of time, simply because that is the stage of your life you are now in. When you first began working and raising a family, you had decades to look forward to when saving larger sums and, so you could be complacent with accounts that grew slowly, over time.

However, as a retiree, you want to take advantage of your money now while also saving for any future eventualities which might require you to draw significantly from your accounts. Anything from medical bills to assisted living may require you to withdraw sizeable funds, so it’s time to look at the best savings account for a retiree.

Will Your Adult Children Be on Your Account?

One of the things you should seriously consider when choosing the right savings account for you as a retiree is whether or not you will be adding one or more adult children on your account. While it can be risky adding someone to a jointly owned account, many older adults like to have their children as co-owners in the event that they should need to make immediate financial decisions for their aging parents.

Sometimes ill health requires a sizable withdrawal and other times we put our children in charge of everything financial so that we can simply relax in our golden years. A savings account that can fund our living expenses is ideally suited for this purpose, but also, if you should suddenly pass, the portion of money belonging to co-owners of an account isn’t going to be subject to inheritance taxes if jointly owned. That is a huge consideration for retirees and why so many add their children to their accounts even if their children won’t be accessing the account during their lifetime.

Various Types of Savings Accounts to Choose Between

If you are looking for a savings accounts with the best rates, one thing to be aware of is that there are various kinds of savings accounts and not all banks offer the same types. You can choose between traditional savings accounts, Certificates of Deposit (CDs) or even Money Market savings accounts. Some banks offer all three while others have only one or two of those options.

The thing to realize is that with a traditional savings account you can draw as much or as little money as you want at any time that you want but Money Market and CDs operate in a different way. Some are set up in such a way as to incur a monetary penalty if funds are withdrawn before the account reaches maturity and others allow you to write checks against them periodically. This type of account may not penalize you for using your money if you stay within the pre-specified amount and number of withdrawals.

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