Back last month, I observed that supporters of greater federal government funding of child and eldercare, in the form of the American Jobs Plan spending, had taken to calling this “infrastructure spending” by redefining infrastructure away from referring to basic physical systems such as roads, electric or water systems, to a new meaning of “job-enabling
Retirement
Early retirement is a very common goal, but how exactly do you define “early?” For most people, “early” means stopping work before the availability of benefits that are used by retirees like Social Security and Medicare. Uncertainty over whether retirement savings can last without these programs is often the reason people put off retirement. If
A new public opinion survey shows broad bipartisan backing for more public support for long-term care, especially at home, even as congressional Republicans appear to be lining up against the idea. According a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 63 percent of respondents say government should support programs to help
One third of adults over 65 still have never used the internet, and half don’t even have internet access at home. In San Francisco, “the epicenter of tech,” 40% of older adults do not have basic digital literacy skills. Today, millions are disconnected to culture, but also opportunity. Before we can worry about the intricacies
By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Odds are, you want to age in place — living in your home later in life, rather than in a long-term care establishment. There are three ways to make that dream more likely to be a reality. My “Friends Talk Money” podcast co-hosts and I, plus “Retirement Secrets” author Kim
Economic growth accelerated sharply in the first three months of 2021. The economy expanded by an annualized inflation-adjusted rate of 6.4% in the first three months of 2021, accelerating growth from the prior three months and thus extending growth for the third quarter in a row. As a result, the economy was 0.4% larger than
The Federal Reserve says not to worry about the 2.6% jump in the CPI. But the bond market is skeptical and it may be time to get yourself some protection. In the past year: —house prices have gone up 12%. —lumber prices have tripled. —shares of mediocre companies like The New York Times, American Water
By David Robinson, Next Avenue Earlier this year saw a frenzy in “meme stocks” like GameStop GME . You’ll remember: speculators — many of them in their 20s and 30s — clamored to buy shares, sometimes with borrowed funds, based on tips they’d heard, only to see those stocks plummet after soaring. More recently, we’ve seen
Your pension board (and pensions worldwide) is doing the exact opposite of what legendary investor Warren Buffett has told it to do—with predictably disastrous results. To protect your retirement security, you need to regularly remind the people managing your pension to follow Buffett’s expert advice and give up trying to outsmart him. In case you’ve
By Julia Yarbough, Next Avenue Miami-Dade (Fla.) Fire Rescue firefighter and paramedic James Weldon, 55, recalls the myriad of emotions pumping through him during a routine rescue call when he was a rookie 17 years ago. Not because of the severity of the medical treatment, but for the words the female patient in her 80s hurled his
If you have been following the new changes in the law governing inherited IRAs, you need to know that the current IRS Publication 590-B (2020), the bible on individual retirement account withdrawals, contains an error. I confirmed this with an IRS spokesperson, who stated that the RMD example for inherited IRAs in IRS Publication 590-B
When COVID-19 first shutdown the economy, fears spiraled, ranging from would businesses survive, to could this destroy the American economic system and ruin the future of retirement. It turns out, from a retirement perspective, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. With vaccination rates rising, the end of the pandemic is within
There is some good news to come out of 2020 and 2021 after all, and it’s concerning the 401(k)-retirement investment vehicle. Employers and Employees alike stand to reap significant benefit from new legislation that represents some of the most sweeping changes to the retirement space in decades. On January 1st, 2021, the Setting Every Community
Social Security paperwork nightmares from the need of some people to send in drivers licenses, birth certificates, and passports to a lengthy and complex application form required for disability benefits dominated a Senate hearing today on the giant program. Requiring applicants to put important original documents in the mail that they regularly need to have
Prince’s estate and the legal actions following his death deliver important estate planning lessons to most of the rest of us. Prince Rogers Nelson, the entertainer known generally as Prince, was a successful musician, entertainer, and record producer. He died at age 57 and left a valuable and complicated estate that was made more complicated
“I’ve climbed more than 60 mountains since I retired 18 months ago,” said Glen Anderson who lives in the Pacific Northwest. “The climb up Mount Adams was twelve miles, a 6700-foot ascent and at the top, I was at 12,276 feet elevation.” The COVID pandemic did not stop Anderson from making the most of his
April is National Financial Literacy Month. What began with the National Endowment for Financial Education as Youth Financial Literacy Day in 2000, has evolved into a month-long observance for people of all ages to learn about and improve their finances. Financial literacy is critical for understanding how to save, earn, borrow, invest, and protect your
For several decades, parents have had the option of saving for college through 529 plans. Although Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code didn’t appear until 1996, the first such plan is generally recognized as the Michigan Education Trust, which began in 1986. While based in part on Federal tax law, each state must sponsor
The problem with financial literacy is that it gets off on the wrong foot. The very moniker is condescending, implying that those it serves are financially illiterate, that they have no idea whatsoever how to use money. Thus, in addition to condescension, we must add inaccuracy to the list of financial literacy’s foibles, because having
This year and perhaps next could turn out to be the best time in a long time to convert a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. That’s primarily because of a widespread belief that increases in income and estate taxes are likely to be enacted in the next year or two. Also, Stealth Taxes, such