TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) A former director of Shawnee County Parks and Recreation is coming out of retirement to manage the new Evergy Plaza in downtown Topeka. Spectra, the company managing the plaza, announced Monday morning that John Knight will serve as manager of the Evergy Plaza.

Knight worked at the Shawnee County Parks and Rec for more than 30 years. He started serving as director in 2000 and retired back in April.

Knight says hes excited to get to work on the future plaza, which he says should be the future center of Topeka.

Kansas Avenue has been getting more and more events taking place down here, said Knight. All big announcements for the community could happen here. All of the walks, runs, parades all of those type of things could start and stop right here in the plaza and should.

The Evergy Plaza is currently expected to be finished in March 2020.

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EVERGY PLAZA: Former Parks and Rec director coming out of retirement to manage downtown plaza - KSNT News

Five-million dollars sounds like a lot of money.

And for the 22% of Americans who say they have less than $5,000 set aside for retirement, saving that much may seem like an impossible goal.

But what if you could retire with $5 million by the time you were 67? The good news is that it is possible with persistent monthly saving.

Personal finance site NerdWallet crunched the numbers, broken down by age group, to demonstrate how much you'll need to stash away every month.

First, let's go over how it got there. The math assumes you are starting with no money in savings, that your investments will earn 6% annually and that you retire at 67.

You will need to take advantage of tools like your employer's 401(k), which is a tax-advantaged retirement savings account, or a Roth individual retirement account or traditional IRA. Investment options include low-cost index funds.

Now let's dive into the figures. This video takes a look at how to make it happen.

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How much you'll need to invest each month to retire with $5 million at age 20, 30, 40 and beyond - CNBC

The answer depends on how on much you're planning to leave your heirs.

First off, retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, 403(b)s, traditional and Roth IRAs, and others are indeed a part of your taxable estate.

However, unless the total assets of your estate plus any taxable gifts you've already given exceed the lifetime exclusion amount, the IRS can't touch a penny. In 2019, this is $11,400,000, and in 2020, the exclusion is rising to $11,580,000. If you add up the entire value of your assets, only the amount in excess of the exclusion will be taxable. In other words, if you have a $12,000,000 estate and pass away in 2020, just $420,000 of your assets would be subject to estate taxes.

As another example, if your assets (including your retirement savings) add up to say, $5 million, your heirs won't have to pay any estate tax at all.

However, although they may not have to pay estate taxes, it's important to remember that withdrawals from most retirement accounts -- with the exception of Roth accounts -- will be considered taxable income. So, estate tax or not, if your heirs are in a relatively high tax bracket, inheriting your retirement savings could certainly add to their tax bill.

Lastly, it's also a good idea to check with your state. Some states have their own estate taxes and have lower exclusions than the IRS.

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Ask a Fool: If I Leave My Retirement Savings to My Heirs, Will They Pay Estate Tax? - The Motley Fool

Many workers plan and save for retirement in the hopes that they'll manage to enjoy their golden years without financial stress. But if you're not careful, you could end up struggling during retirement despite all that forethought. Here are a few reasons why your golden years could end up costing more than expected.

Healthcare is one of seniors' biggest expenses, and the unknowns of it make it downright terrifying. But while it may be difficult, if not impossible, to get a precise estimate of what medical care will cost you in retirement, you can rely on the data that's out there. To this end, you should know that HealthView Services, a provider of cost-projection software, anticipates healthcare costing $387,644 throughout retirement for the average healthy 65-year-old couple leaving the workforce today.

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Of course, that's just one number, but if you're planning to spend much less on healthcare, you could be throwing your entire retirement budget off course. The takeaway? Read up on healthcare estimates to get a sense of what you're in for.

Many older workers avoid buying long-term care insurance because they don't want to foot the bill for those potentially costly premiums. A long-term care policy, however, could save you thousands upon thousands of dollars in retirement if you wind up needing extensive care. Or, to put it another way, if you don't buy long-term care insurance, you could wind up spending $90,155 a year for nursing-home care, which is the current average price nationwide for a shared room.

Home health aides and assisted-living facilities aren't much cheaper. Currently, they average $52,624 and $48,612, respectively. That's why a long-term care insurance policy could really pay off, and the ideal time to apply is around your mid-50s. At that age, you're more likely to snag a competitive rate on your premiums, and to get approved for a policy in the first place.

Many seniors enter retirement with their mortgages paid off, and assume that their housing expenses will therefore be minimal. But if that's your plan, don't forget that as homes age, they tend to require additional maintenance and repairs. The result? More spending on your part.

Another thing to keep in mind is that property taxes have a tendency to rise, even if home values aren't following suit. And while there are programs in place to help seniors in this regard, they're generally reserved for lower-income households. In other words, prepare to see your property tax bill climb, and factor that into your anticipated retirement spending.

The income you have access to in retirement might come from a number of sources, many of which are taxable. Take Social Security, for example. Unless you're a low-income household, you can expect to pay taxes on your benefits at the federal level, and some states impose their own taxes on benefits, too.

Then there's your retirement savings. Unless you're housing that money in a Roth IRA or 401(k), your withdrawals will be subject to taxes, as will (in most cases) income you collect from a pension. And if you have cash in the bank accruing interest, or investments in a traditional brokerage account earning money, the IRS will come after its share of that as well. Therefore, understand what taxes you're in for during retirement, so you can budget accordingly.

The last thing you want to do is find yourself cash-strapped during retirement. In the course of your planning, read up on healthcare costs and taxes, plan for homeownership costs, and look into buying a long-term care policy. Doing so could help you make the most of your golden years and avoid financial troubles throughout.

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4 Reasons Retirement Might Cost More Than You Think - The Motley Fool

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After learning to appreciate fine French wine, I sometimes wonder if the whole exercise was a good buzz spoiled.

For years, I prided myself on not spending more than $10 or $15 on a bottle, and often less than that.

Then I decided to retrieve the French I had learned as a young man. I listened to French radio on the internet. And I began weekly breakfasts with a French friend, Patrick, that continue to this day.

Patrick had a cellar full of French wine, much of it good stuff. He had his own way of finding wine. He didnt pay much attention to the hype for specific vintages that floods the internet these days.

Instead, he kept track of the good years for wine production in prime growing areas like Burgundy or Bordeaux. When he spotted attractively priced wine from a good vineyard in a good year, hed buy a case of it.

Following his example, I began buying wine. I never went wild. The bulk of my wine was acquired at $15 to $30 a bottle. But I paid as much as $60 for a few bottles, something the old me never would have done.

Ive put the brakes on my wine buying in the past year. Part of it was a health concern. My doctor told me to cool it on acidic foods and drink. Wine, alas, is quite acidic. I still drink it but only for special meals (or when in France).

Money is another factor. Now that Im working part time in retirement, Im trying to slash costs where possible. Wine is expensive. At a fancy dinner, the wine frequently costs more than the food. This makes no sense.

But the biggest reason Ive stopped buying fancy wine is more basic. It wasnt clear to me that I really know the difference between the good and the great when it comes to the grape.

This spring, I drove around France with another French friend, Mathieu. Our best meal came in Lyon. We ate at a bouchon, one of the traditional Lyonnaise restaurants that specialize in hearty fare. It had a sign on its door proclaiming it opened at noon, and that if customers were in a hurry to eat, they should go elsewhere.

While we were pondering this, the door opened, and a disheveled man clutching a mug of coffee stepped outside. He said the restaurant normally required reservations, but since there were only two of us, he would make an exception.

Good thing. The meal was superb. It started out with grilled pigs feet and a huge block of pt that went from table to table. Then came a quenelle de brochet, or loaf made from fish, and a pot full of lentils and sausage.

We drank a table wine that the restaurant gave us for no charge. It was a local vintage made from the same Gamay grape as Beaojolais. It couldnt have been better.

From then on, I stopped fretting about the wine list in French restaurants. I usually ask for a glass of red or white, depending on what Im eating. The waiter almost always brings me something that does the job.

The French can be unromantic about wine. In 1976, I spent a month living with a couple, friends of my French grandmother, who lived north of Paris. The man, a retired stone mason, bought his wine in bulk for a few francs a bottle. He drank it mixed half and half with water. Drinking wine for him seemed as essential as breathing and about as fancy.

Patrick is a different breed. He has a T-shirt proclaiming: Life is too short for bad wine.

That doesnt necessarily mean expensive wine. He is clever about finding good wines at a cheap price. Several years ago, he was buying a surprising good 2005 Margaux for $25 a bottle produced by a famous vineyard under a different label. It was the equivalent of buying clothes at Nordstrom Rack.

My new bottom line is that almost any wine shared among good friends is a good wine. It doesnt particularly matter if the sharing concerns a $10 bottle or $100 bottle.

Questions? Comments Write to us at retirement@barrons.com

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Evolution of a Semi-Retired Oenophile: Its the People You Drink With, Not the Price, That Matters - Barron's

Ramsey Solutions financial expert and author of

While many Americans have little to no retirement savings at all,even young savers who do areperhaps too willing to draw from that stash to cover unrelated expenses.

A new survey from TD Ameritrade showed that millennials were more likely than either Generation X or Baby Boomers to tap retirement funds for non-pressing expenses, like vacations or taking a sabbatical from work.

More than half of millennials (53 percent) said they would draw from retirement savings to spend during a job loss, cover medical bills (52 percent) orcover their child's education (52 percent). Just shy of half said they would take pull from retirement savings to pay down credit card debt (48 percent), buy a house (47 percent), cover living expenses during a sabbatical (45 percent), cover living expenses during parental leave (45 percent) or make a move (45 percent).

More than 40 percent said they would do so to buy a car, pay for a vacation, cover wedding expenses or pay down education debt.

MILLENNIALS MAY SOON BECOME THE RICHEST GENERATION EVER

Molly Passantino, senior retirement specialist at TD Ameritrade, noted there are a variety of reasons why it is not advisable to withdraw funds if you can avoid it.

"There is typically a 10 percent penalty on the withdrawal (i.e. if you take out $100k, you really only get $90k),"Passantino said in a statement.

The penalty can be avoided if someone ispermanently disabled and cannot work, hascertain medical expenses, or hasa divorce settlement requiring the division of funds with a spouse or paying an IRS levy. Even under these circumstances, however, individuals will be taxed unless they are pulling from a Roth IRA.

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Americans overall saidthey were most likely to withdraw from their retirement accounts to cover medical bills (49 percent). That was followed by job losses (42 percent), as well as paying down credit card debt and covering a child's education (38 percent each).

Baby Boomers were the least likely to say they would withdraw from their retirement savings though the top expense was medical bills (48 percent). Only 30 percent of respondents said they would do so to cover a job loss or credit card debt, which were the next two likely expenses.

A majority of behind millennials (72 percent) thought they would be able to catch up on retirement savings, with about six in 10expecting to be able to retire by the age of 65.

The survey was conducted among 1,015 U.S. adults aged 23 and older with at least $10,000 in investable assets.

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Passantino recommends that individuals who anticipate having to withdraw from retirement funds for other expenses consider investing in an IRA, which allows withdrawals for certain payments. She noted, however, that people shouldn't make a habit of withdrawing from retirement accounts for other expenses.

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Millennials willing to tap retirement savings to cover basic expenses, study finds - Fox Business

American retirees aren't all flocking to Florida anymore instead, they're heading to places like Colorado, Nevada, and Alaska.

Retirement planner Jeannette Bajalia says that healthcare costs and taxes are going to be on retirees' minds as they plan moves in 2020 and beyond. "Healthcare costs are escalating both for routine medical costs as well as for long-term care," Bajalia told Business Insider. In deciding where to live, she said, "People will be looking for ease of access to, and affordability of, medical care."

Another big factor for people retiring in the new decade will be taxes. "I think most people will be relocating to more tax-friendly states where their money can spread, and instead of paying taxes, they can stay active longer and fund their lifestyles more effectively," Bajalia said.

Below, find 13 states that will likely become hot destinations for retirees over the next decade. These states had the largest growth in senior populations between 2007 and 2017, according to the Administration on Aging's data, pulled from the American Community Survey, and include traditional sun belt favorites like South Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, but also tax havens like New Hampshire and Washington. While the data doesn't distinguish between residents aging into the senior population and newcomers relocating to the state, a significantly larger senior population is bound to make the area more welcoming to those who might want to move.

On this list, five of the 13 states don't tax income. And, many other states on this list have little to no income tax. Plus, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, many of these states have fairly affordable healthcare costs.

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13 places everyone will be flocking to for retirement in the 2020s - Business Insider

The fattest state in the country also sounds like a pretty great place to go out to pasture, if getting the biggest bang for your retirement buck is the priority.

According to BLS data cited by cost-estimating website HowMuch.net, Mississippi, at $617,661 in savings needed, is the most affordable state to spend your golden years. The average across the U.S. comes in at $904,452.

Of course, there are drawbacks to riding it out in Mississippi.

Along with the fattest crown, for instance, the Magnolia State also has the dubious distinction of the lowest life expectancy at 74.5 years. On the flip side, Hawaii, which is the most expensive place to retire, comes in at 81.5 years, the highest. The average life expectancy nationwide is 78.6 years.

HowMuch.net created this map to illustrate the findings:

As you can see, each state is colored a shade of pink the darker the shade, the higher the savings needed for retirement. Each state also has a purple circle with a size corresponding to the average retirement age in that state.

The average yearly expenses across the country for someone over the age of 65 is $51,624, but that figure comes in at $44,758 in the low-cost-of-living Mississippi and a whopping $99,170 on the other end of the spectrum in the Aloha State.

To account for a comfortable retirement, HowMuch.net added an extra 20% on those expenses, and then adjusted by each states cost of living index.

Regardless of where they live, most Americans are not saving enough in order to fund their retirement, HowMuch.nets Juan Carlos wrote.

Read: Americans are unprepared for retirement heres how to fix that

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Are you on track? This is how much it costs to retire comfortably in each state - MarketWatch

This is BETTER Business, a new personal finance segment hosted by Stephanie Ruhle. Each week, Stephanie breaks down the financial headlines and how they'll affect your wallet and shares compelling conversations with industry leaders, entrepreneurs and people who've cracked their own personal money codes.

Are you saving enough for retirement? If youre already in your 50s or 60s, you may be all set. But for millennials and Generation X this information is crucial, so listen up.

Standard advice is to save 15 percent of your paycheck, but new research from MIT suggests the figure is much much higher, as reported by CNBC Make It.

According to the research, if you want to retire by 65 and plan to live off just half of your salary when you stop working you'll need to save 40 percent of your income over the next 30 years.

Why so much? Well, investment returns aren't forecasted be as high as they have been historically.

Your parents may have been lucky to see an average of 10 percent returns for their 401k investments, but realistically you should expect to see 3 percent over the next ten years.

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So lets say saving half of your paycheck isnt possible it really isnt an option for a lot of people. What can you do? Adjust your future plans. Here are some things to consider:

Staying in your job longer means you can put off dipping into your retirement savings. Even working part-time after you retire will help cover monthly costs.

Benefits from social security are much greater if you wait until age 70 compared to the age of eligibility at 62. That difference could help you make ends meet.

Have you been prioritizing the gym or eating better? How about that yearly physical? Now's the time. One of the biggest costs in retirement is health care costs. Take care of yourself while youre young, fit and healthy, its an investment in a different sense.

If you're currently in an area with a high-cost of living, your savings will go a lot further if you can move somewhere cheaper. Whether that's downsizing your home or moving to a state with a lower cost of living, it's worthwhile to do the math and keep your options open.

Its important to start thinking about this stuff now so you can plan ahead and secure a better life in the future.

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Worried about retirement funds? These three things can help close the gap - NBC News

How much money will you need to retire?

According to a recent analysis by GoBankingRates.com, it takes more than $1 million to have a comfortable retirement in any state in America. That figure grows to more than $2 million if youre planning to retire in Hawaii or the District of Columbia.

The average age most people retire varies from state to state as well. The GoBankingRates.com analysis showed the average retirement age in every single state is below 67, though the District of Columbia comes in higher. On average, people in the U.S. retire at age 64.

The average retirement age in Alabama is a few years younger - 62. Thats one of the lowest average ages in the country.

The lowest average retirement age was 61 in West Virginia and Alaska.

At 67, the highest average retirement age was in the District of Columbia, followed by Hawaii (66); Massachusetts (66); and South Dakota (66).

The study showed the annual cost of a comfortable retirement in Alabama was $55,425, one of the lower figures in the country (you can compare that to $100,879 per year in Washington, D.C.)

You can see how every state ranks here.

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This is the average retirement age in Alabama - AL.com