Retirement

Today, the U.S. retirement infrastructure largely is based upon individuals saving on their own for retirement during their working lives. For this type of system to work, Americans need to accrue a large amount savings by the time they retire. Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t amassing sufficient assets to maintain their current standard of living in

With the stock market seemingly hitting new record highs every day and mortgage rates near record lows, you may be wondering if you should pick up a second home for your future retirement. Perhaps, a vacation home you can enjoy now while you wait for the day you reach financial freedom and decide to end

A funny thing happened on the way to that $56,000-a-year Alzheimer’s drug: Payers are reluctant to pay, providers are reluctant to prescribe, and the price is coming down—at least for some patients. It is a tale  that could push Congress to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Reuters reports that Biogen BIIB , which sells

I suspect that after years of reciting the same headline numbers, we tune them out: The Social Security Old Age and Survivor’s Insurance Trust Fund will not be able to pay full scheduled benefits after the year 2033, one year earlier than forecast in last year’s report; when the Trust Fund is exhausted, it will

Today’s column addresses questions about recalculation of benefits after earning continuing income, how the family maximum that can be claimed on a single record is calculated and how divorced spousal benefits are calculated for business owners. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning,

In her twenties, Mickey became the single mother of three children under five years old. The resulting challenges she faced defined much of her life. She had to support the family on a secretary’s salary and navigate a not-so-friendly professional world while mothering her son and two daughters, paying the bills, and saving for retirement—all

Deciding to take ownership over your retirement and savings goals typically starts with one important step: Automation. Financial experts and voices almost universally begin the savings process with the idea of automation. Why? Because it allows you to move money into either short-term savings or long-term retirement accounts without ever seeing the funds within your

The United States is currently one of the most overheated property markets in the world. Low interest rates, stimulus check savings, and limited housing supply are working together to buoy property prices across the country. Values are up 15% on average over the last year, and it has become harder today to find an affordable

Here at AgingParents.com we see lots of problems. Real estate agents and elder-related issues are among them. This is a real case. Edward is 80 years of age, living in a senior’s home where he is able to care for his physical needs independently. But his mind is not as healthy as the rest of

Earlier this month, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Consumer Price Index report for July 2021, headlines reported year-over-year inflation clocking in at 5.4% for the second straight month. This got many retirement investors asking questions about the impact of inflation on their portfolios. Asking questions is OK. Asking the wrong questions isn’t.

Personal finance is an exercise in mistake management more than the pursuit of perfection. Indeed, the best financial plans are those written in pencil, where numerous erasures are visible. They are novels that remain forever in draft form, in which the author continues to build on the narrative, charting out a series of compelling contingencies

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of the S&P 500 sectors began trading on December 22, 1998. ETFs have revolutionized investing. Among other effects, they allow an investor to slice and dice the major indexes, underweighting and overweighting the sectors according to the outlook of the investor. Recently, the Bespoke Investment Group published a study of how the

Once again demonstrating the Ohio Retirement Study Council’s apparent inability to provide intended legislative oversight of the five state pension systems in Ohio, the Council recently—following years of growing public outcry—finally commissioned a long-overdue fiduciary performance audit of the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio. The last fiduciary audit of the pension in 2006, took

By Kerry Hannon, Next Avenue This caught my eye: More than twice as many middle-income U.S. boomer women than men said they’ve been able to save more for retirement than expected during Covid-19. That’s new survey data from CNO Financial Group CNO , which sells health and life insurance and retirement products. Its survey captured insights

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Managing Editor These are complicated times for the U.S. economy, which means they’re complicated for our personal finances, too. So my “Friends Talk Money” podcast co-hosts Terry Savage and Pam Krueger and I just released an episode to offer some timely, apolitical guidance on saving, borrowing, investing and taxes. I

By Sally Benford, Next Avenue Tere Dillard, of Decatur, Ill., has gotten used to taking her 89-year-old father Jim Lee to what she considers pointless tests ordered by his primary care doctor. One was a CT scan for mild dizziness. As caregiver for her dad and his wife Lenora, who’s 88, it’s not the only

By now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know the many reasons that explain the sudden surge in inflation. What you don’t know—what nobody knows—is whether this surge will sustain itself for the long term or whether it will evaporate just as quickly as it came about. Maybe you don’t need to know that answer.

Average life expectancy in the U.S. declined by 1.5 years in 2020, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is believed to be the largest one-year decline in life expectancy since at least World War II. Life expectancy was 77.3 years in 2020, about the same level as

A friend died last week. We had been friends for over 30 years. While we plan for our financial security in retirement, her passing caused me to question whether we are planning with equal intent and investment for our social wellbeing in older age. For those that began their careers in the 1980s, you will

Isn’t it odd, but no matter how long you’ve been in business, you know if you want to continue your success you must continue to ask seemingly simple questions? Why? Because the answer to the same question evolves over time. To choose a culinary metaphor, consider the answer to the question “How long will it