Retirement

Adding crypto to your retirement investments With the recent rise in popularity and price of cryptocurrencies, many people are still trying to figure out how to efficiently invest in the new digital asset class. While would be investors are waiting for the SEC to hopefully grant approval for the creation of crypto ETFs, which would

There’s been a lot of hand wringing about a looming “retirement crisis,” based on studies that project future retirees will have less money to spend in retirement compared to their working years. And indeed, many of these studies conclude that most pre-retirees haven’t saved enough money to reach a common goal for their income in

In the past, older households were more likely to retire debt free with a paid-off mortgage. Those days are over. Student loan debt for older adults, their children, and their grandchildren has been rising for decades. Debt undermining retirement security is a sinister and under-appreciated problem, but the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is

Readers, I am embarrassed to admit that a radical change to our retirement system, tucked into the “Build Back Better” Budget Reconciliation bill, wholly escaped my notice until just recently. As explained by Ashlea Ebeling, also at Forbes, “Under the proposal, starting in 2023, employers with five or more employees would have to offer a retirement

You’ve heard that some people think they pay no fees for their 401(k) plan. You’re not one of them. You know where to look for those ‘hidden’ fees. You also know what you can or cannot do if you think you’re paying too much. What’s more, you know it takes a lot of effort to

The US is currently experiencing an uptick in inflation with CPI rising 5.3% in August. For many, this is inflation troubling while others see it as transitional. However, Social Security recipients may be getting an unexpected boost from the rising prices. Social Security benefits are indexed to inflation. Historically, Social Security benefits prior to 1972

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor We’ve all known that Covid-19 has taken a cruel toll on the health of older Americans. Now, a new study from The Commonwealth Fund foundation finds that the coronavirus has been equally brutal financially. In fact, the 2021 International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults shows Americans 65+ have been facing greater

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Rudyard Kipling famously wrote: “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” And that about sums up a key rule for investing: Make your decisions about when to buy and sell and what to buy and sell based on thinking rationally, not emotionally. It isn’t easy. But my “Friends

By Paul Irving, Next Avenue We learned from the 2020 U.S. Census that the fastest growing metro area in the nation is The Villages, a master-planned retirement community in central Florida. In a demographically changing and urbanizing America, this dominantly white, politically conservative stronghold bucked the trend as retirees lured by warm winters, pastel-hued homes, golf

On August 31 the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare finally issued their 2021 annual report. The news wasn’t good, but not as bad as many expected. Normally the trustees issue their annual report sometime in the Spring. Last year it was issued April 22. This year the actuaries apparently spent more time massaging the

What’s a “hidden” 401(k) fee? As the name suggests, it’s likely one that’s not readily disclosed or easily accessible. If you use this definition, almost all fees are hidden because they’re too hard to find. “The plan sponsor/employer does receive an annual fee disclosure,” says Stuart Robertson, CEO of ShareBuilder 401k in Seattle. “However, this

Parental leave has been on the agenda not merely of Democrats but also of moderate Republicans for quite some time. To be sure, Republican proposals have been far more restrained — Marco Rubio’s ill-fated 2018 proposal to allow parents to “borrow” from their Social Security benefits never went anywhere, but at about the same time,

                              Romance scams surged for seniors during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Senate Aging Committee was told today. Losses reported to the Federal Trade Commission alone by the elderly from phony suitors rose to $139 million last year from $84 million in 2019. The loneliness and isolation during the pandemic made the elderly particularly vulnerable because

The shortage of staff in long-term facilities and home care agencies has gone from a problem to a crisis. ·      Three rural nursing homes in Maine close because they cannot hire enough staff to maintain care for patients and residents. ·      A nursing home in Oklahoma shuts its doors due to a staff shortages. Same in Kansas.

The core of US hegemony is the role of the US dollar as the only world-wide acceptable means of payment. But China would like to supplant the dollar, and the US Congress can make it easy for them — by its inaction. If Congress fails to modify the existing Federal debt ceiling, sometime in October

My recent post summarized a straightforward, two-step retirement income strategy, called the Spend Safely in Retirement Strategy. Although that post provided a brief discussion of the two steps of the plan, it wasn’t possible to provide all the implementation details. This post should help fill that gap.  Step 1: Make your Social Security income as big

Second marriages, third ones, step-siblings and the issues we see at AgingParents.com are a heads-up for everyone with divorced aging parents. Those rivalries among step-siblings and the lack of cohesion in decision making can go very wrong as parents age and need help. Sometimes the “blended family” may be blended enough to work together for

Trusts are an integral part of estate planning. But they are not always suitable beneficiaries for IRAs. In private letter ruling (PLR) 202136004 released on September 10, 2021, the IRS explained why they allowed the surviving spouse of a Roth IRA owner to roll over a distribution from an inherited Roth IRA when the surviving

The last 6 months of 2021 look eerily similar to the 6 months prior to the pandemic crash. What to look for next. When you have charted stocks for 40 years, you can’t help but notice when a pattern you see today reminds you of one you saw in the past. After all, history does

I recently attended a celebration of life for a good friend who passed. It got me thinking about the widow’s penalty and what it means for the surviving spouse, beyond the nightmare of losing a spouse and companion, of course. It is common for spouses to leave their life savings to each other. Yes, there