Getting the most out of Social Security is anything but simple. As you near retirement, the decisions you make could have a significant impact on the amount of money you receive, and some of these choices are irrevocable. You’ll need to move carefully to maximize your income stream. Start with our beginner's guide to maximizing your Social Security benefits, then work your way through our other Social Security features, guides and news stories.

Sometimes also called qualified tuition programs, 529 plans take their name from a section in the IRS' Code and are administered by individual states and some private financial institutions. Their main advantage: 529 investments grow free from federal or state tax. While originally conceived as a way to save for college, 529 plan funds can now go to a wider array of programs and institutions. There are no age limits for recipients and money can be held in the plans indefinitely. If you'd like to know more about whether a 529 plan is right for you, the different rules and how to set one up, our guides and features should give you all the information you need.

401(k)s are tax-advantaged plans that allow you to put money aside through your employer's payroll deductions. Since their inception 40 years ago, 401(k) plans have become the retirement plan of choice for most employers, largely replacing traditional pension plans. If you'd like to know more about whether a 401(k) is right for you, the different rules and how to set one up, start with our beginner's guide: 10 things you should know about 401(k)s then work your way through our other features and guides on 401(k)s to get all the information you need.

An annuity is an insurance contract where you, the purchaser, pay an insurance company to invest your money, allowing it to grow tax-deferred. In some instances, the annuity later provides a stream of income, which could cover a set length of time or be for life. Annuities can be complicated and they’re not for everyone. Before considering an annuity, there are some basics you should know, including what annuities are, what options they provide and how safe your money will be. Start with our beginner's guide: everything you should know about annuities then work your way through our other features and guides.

A reverse mortgage is a loan on your house that lets you tap your home equity. Like a cash advance, a bank fronts you the money and you have to repay it, with accrued interest, at the end of the loan period. If you’re considering a reverse mortgage, there’s a lot you need to know before signing on the dotted line. There are costs associated with a reverse mortgage, interest and fees, that accumulate during the term. Start with our guide to everything you should know about reverse mortgages, then work your way through our other features, guides and news stories.

Figuring out when to enroll in Medicare and which parts to enroll in can be daunting even for the savviest retirees. There are Part A, Part B, Part D, Medigap plans, Medicare Advantage plans and so on. This is a complicated federal health insurance program for retirement-age Americans so start with our beginner's guide to the essential things you should know about Medicare, then work your way through our other features, guides and news stories.

Starting at age 73, Uncle Sam requires taxpayers to draw down their retirement account savings through RMDs — annual required minimum distributions. And not only do you need to calculate how much must be withdrawn each year, but you must also pay the tax on the distributions. If you'd like to know more about the basic rules, start with our beginner's guide: everything you should know about RMDs then work your way through our other features and guides on smart strategies to minimize taxable distributions and make the most of the money that you must withdraw.

Tax-free income is the dream of every taxpayer. And if you save in a Roth IRA account, it's a reality. These accounts offer big benefits, but the rules for Roths can be complex. If you'd like to know more about Roth IRAs, start with our beginner's guide: everything you should know about Roth IRAs then work your way through our other features and guides on smart strategies to ensure you can end up with a tax-free stream of income down the road.

The traditional IRA is one of the best options in the retirement-savings toolbox. You can open a traditional IRA at a bank or a brokerage, and the universe of investments is wide open to you. But with that freedom comes responsibility. Traditional IRAs have a lot of rules — break one and you could face a penalty. If you'd like to know more about IRAs, start with our beginner's guide: everything you should know about traditional IRAs then work your way through our other features and guides on smart strategies to ensure you can end up with a sizable chunk of change down the road.

Kiplinger's Economic Outlooks are written by the staff of our weekly Kiplinger Letter and are unavailable elsewhere. Click here for a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or more information.

Economic Outlooks — Quick Links

Kiplinger's Economic Outlooks are written by the staff of our weekly Kiplinger Letter and are unavailable elsewhere. Click here for a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or more information.

Read our current forecasts:

• GDP forecast » | Interest rates forecast » | Inflation forecast »
• Energy forecast » | Housing forecast » | Jobs forecast »
• Retail forecast » | Trade forecast » | Business Costs»

Gross Domestic Product Outlook

Read our current GDP forecast »
Gross domestic product is the broadest indicator of the economy, measuring the value of final goods and services produced in the U.S. in a given time period. It is perhaps the most closely watched indicator as well, serving as a guidepost for Federal Reserve interest rate policy and for budgeting in both government and private industry.

At Kiplinger, we examine what trends are driving GDP up (or down) and forecast its future direction quarter by quarter.

Interest Rates

Read our current interest rates forecast »
Interest rates are of tremendous interest to borrowers (for whom they are a cost) and lenders (a category that includes individuals trying to get some return on their bank savings). Almost everyone is in one or both categories. The level of short-term rates, such as those used by banks when loaning each other money overnight, is set by the Federal Reserve through its Open Market Committee, usually at regularly scheduled Fed meetings.
Generally, the longer the period of the loan, such as with 10-year Treasury Bonds or mortgages, the more important market factors become compared with the Federal Reserve's actions. We forecast both what we expect the Federal Reserve to do in the near term and to what extent that will affect the direction of long-term interest rates.

Inflation Rate

Read our current inflation forecast »
Inflation is the generally rising price of goods and services, or why things cost more. It's measured by the Department of Labor using a sample, dubbed a "market basket," of what people in urban areas in the U.S. actually buy each month. Then each month, data collectors check the prices of those items. From that research, we get the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A component of that index, the core inflation rate, which excludes the more volatile prices of food and energy, is also closely watched. At Kiplinger, we forecast changes in both.

Economists generally believe that moderate inflation is best for an economy. Prices that are rising too quickly cause consumers heartburn, of course, but prices that are flat or falling are a problem, too. This condition, known as deflation, makes debts more expensive to pay back and can lead to declining business investment.

Employment Outlook

Read our current jobs forecast »
If gross domestic product is the broadest indicator of the economy, employment is the one most personally felt. These are people's jobs we're talking about.

Two distinct metrics make up the employment forecast. The more important one is the "payroll report," a summation by the Department of Labor of how many jobs the economy has created (or lost) each month. This data is broken out by sector, such as manufacturing, mining and health care. Note that simply to keep up with population growth, the economy needs to add more than 100,000 jobs every month; otherwise the unemployment rate will rise.

That rate is the other closely watched figure. It's a simple division of the number of people who have looked for work in the prior four weeks but who do not have a job by how many people are currently in the labor force. That simplicity belies some underlying concerns about the unemployment rate. One key concern: Potential workers who aren't actively looking for work aren't included in the calculation.

Energy

Read our current energy forecast »
Like it or not, petroleum and natural gas remain incredibly important to the U.S. economy. Knowing where oil prices are headed is critical to businesses of all stripes, from airlines to plumbing companies. Consumers planning their family budgets and their vacations care, too. Not only do we monitor Department of Energy reports, but we also talk to commodities traders and petroleum engineers to forecast price trends, changes in production technologies and consumer habits.

Housing

Read our current housing forecast »
In addition to being the roof over our heads, housing is an important sector in the economy. Three statistics form the core of our coverage: sales of existing homes (and the prices those sales fetch); sales of new homes; and housing starts, which reflect new construction that is counted in GDP.

Because housing is a diversified and highly regional industry, our reporting and forecasting are informed by other research as well as conversations with industry experts as well.

Retail

Read our current retail forecast »
Consumers are the engine of our economy, and when their spending flags, business feels it. We examine trends that are influencing their habits, such as falling gas prices, to forecast what they'll be buying in the future and how much they'll be willing to shell out both on everyday items and on big-ticket purchases such as cars and trucks.

Trade

Read our current trade forecast »
All nations of consequence trade with others. Those that buy more from other countries than they sell in turn have a trade deficit, and that's been the story for the United States since the mid-1970s.

How big that deficit will be, and whether the changes will result from more (or fewer) imports or more (or fewer) exports, is the crux of our forecasting. We look at specific sectors (such as agriculture) where the United States is doing well selling abroad, as well as what items (such as smartphones) we buy from overseas. We also discuss the strength of the dollar versus foreign currencies and how that affects trade trends.

Business Costs

Read our current business costs forecast »
How much businesses are laying out in investment is critical to other businesses in guiding their own spending. In making our forecasts for the direction of business spending in the quarters and years ahead, we follow two indexes from the Census Bureau: Durable Goods Shipments and Orders and Business Inventories reports.