Retirement

You’ve no doubt heard that the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period started January 1. Also going on right now is the General Enrollment Period (GEP). It is not as well known but it is very important for those who do not have complete Medicare coverage. These questions address the important points. What is the General

“Nobody wants to hear your story, they want to be invited into a story,” Donald Miller told me, in a recent interview about his new book, Building A StoryBrand 2.0. That’s it. That’s how financial planning—or perhaps more accurately, financial planners—have got the story all wrong. And regardless of the type of business that you’re

Congress and the IRS made inheriting an IRA a very complicated, confusing event. Inherited IRAs are accompanied by a host of little-known rules that are traps for the unwary. In this post, I discuss the classic misunderstandings and mistakes about inherited IRAs. I’m not going to discuss the more recent difficulties brought by the enactment

The devastating wildfires that are ravaging Los Angeles are a stark reminder of how vulnerable older adults can be during disasters. Tragically, some elders who were mobility challenged or who had no transportation to allow them to escape, lost their lives in those fires. This highlights the critical need for proactive disaster preparedness. If your

Despite his vow to close the U.S. borders to nearly all immigrants and deport millions of others, President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll continue special H-1B work visas for tech workers. That decision came in response to some of his Silicon Valley supporters, who insist foreign labor is critical because there are not enough U.S.-born engineers

In workshops, I like to ask participants if they have a legal will—a written document that outlines how they want to distribute their financial assets. And hands shoot up. Then I ask them if they have an ethical will. Very few hands go up. An ethical will is often called a legacy letter. Both are

A decade ago, I couldn’t spell septuagenarian, and yet now, at 72, I am one. A decade ago, I thought I would retire in my 60s. And yet here I am working in my 70s. The reality is that some of us don’t retire until we are into our 70s or even 80s. Some never

Is 10 million enough to retire? The crux of retirement planning is figuring out what level of income your assets can safely support over your retirement lifetime and how that compares to your current living expenses. In another words, your ability to retire on [insert any amount of money] mostly depends on how much income

As I perused the ubiquitous “Best Books of the Year” lists from thought leaders whose reading prowess I respect, one book I hadn’t read kept popping up, so I decided to explore it over the holiday stretch. Aided by its curious title, The Courage To Be Disliked is a parabolic conversation between a youth and

How much should you withdraw from your retirement savings in 2025 to help pay for your living expenses throughout the year? There are many reasonable answers to this question, some that are fairly straightforward and others that are quite complicated to understand and implement. The right solution for you depends on several factors, including your

Last year, Southwest Airlines pilots approved a new contract under which pilots earned a substantial pay increase: a 50% salary increase over the life of the five-year contract. The airline’s 11,000 pilots reportedly were negotiating not just for better pay, but also for improved retirement benefits and disability insurance along with a revised scheduling process.

The annual Open Enrollment Period ended December 7 and on January 1, another one began. First, the Basics The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs from January 1-March 31 and is just for those who elected Medicare Advantage. During this period, they can: Switch to another Medicare Advantage plan with or without prescription drug coverage,

In early November I was invited to tour the Sacramento, California PACE operation. PACE is an acronym that stands for Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly. I had heard of PACE and had even toured a PACE operation in San Diego during an aging services conference back in 2017. Its comprehensiveness had impressed me

The Congressional Research Service found that by the end of 2023, more than 2 million Social Security beneficiaries had their retirement incomes reduced because of two programs: the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). The Social Security Fairness Act, which was signed into law on Sunday, eliminates this benefit reduction. Who is

Later this year, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) will reintroduce his public catastrophic long-term care insurance bill, called the WISH Act. Suozzi is doing all the right things: Looking for Republican support and trying to engage the private insurance industry, long-term care providers, and employers, as well as advocates for older adults and people with disabilities.

It’s uncomfortable. The idea that you have to tell your elders what to do or take over things for them seems strange. The people who once guided and protected you may now need you to do the same for them. For many adult children, this shift in roles can be challenging. You don’t want to

After working with terminally ill patients for years, Bonnie Ware often heard her patients express regrets as they reflected on their lives. So she wrote the popular book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Ware believes the book resonates with people as a reminder that we “only have a limited time to live the

What We All Agree About Social Security: Insolvency Looms Large Federal policymakers and the general public—to the extent that they pay attention—agree on the core financial dynamics of Social Security. According to the 2024 Trustees Report, Social Security’s total income in 2023 was $1,351 billion, while its expenditures reached $1,392 billion. This resulted in a

Social Security is more confusing than ever. Myths abound. Below, you’ll find a complete set of 25 facts to help you understand Social Security and its benefits more than ever. These are facts that I hope you can save and use now or in the future. You are always paid your own benefit first no

After Kisses on New Year’s Eve, 229 Americans Have Already Paid Their Social Security Tax Fifteen minutes past midnight on New Year’s eve Elon Musk will have paid all of his Social Security tax on earnings from Tesla. If all of Musk’s income was taxed he would pay all his Social Security tax in about