Retirement

Young adults in the U.S. have been skeptical about Social Security at least since the days when I was one of them. Today’s younger generations are no different, and that’s affecting their retirement planning. About 47% of non-retirees believe Social Security won’t pay them any retirement benefits, according to a 2023 Gallup survey reported in

In May of 2016, I wrote an article titled “Leadership Has a Shelf Life.” I described how leaders often stay too long because of the uncertainty of what’s next for them and for the organization. It is hard to do what is in the best interests of the organization and also in one’s best interests.

When our parents get old, family members do have an opportunity to share the load of ensuring their safety and care. It doesn’t always work out well, with family conflicts being as they are. But in many situations, siblings can help one another in tending to the needs of a parent in declining health. The

When discussing Social Security filing strategies with clients, I often run across the confusion between a spousal benefit and a survivor benefit. There is a difference as they are two totally separate benefits. When your spouse passes away, the ability to collect a spousal benefit or continue to receive a spousal benefit ends as your

We are tempted to both give and receive bad advice when we wish something were true. I wish, for example, that college and career advice could be as simple as “follow your passions.” But it’s not. “Follow your passions” may be part of great college and career advice, but it falls woefully short on its

It’s a common problem these days, with nearly one in seven older people diagnosed with some kind of dementia. These folks lose their financial judgment early in the process of cognitive decline. Caring family members get alarmed, and try to reason with their impaired elder. That leads to conflict, as reason fails. Is there a

The Inflation Reduction Act is keeping drug plan sponsors, pharmacies, Medicare educators and anyone who works with Medicare drug plans very busy. So far, the IRA has: Dropped any cost sharing for Part D vaccines Capped insulin costs at $35, and Eliminated the 5% Catastrophic Coverage coinsurance. Many more changes are coming. The biggest one

Are you a pre-retiree or retiree who’s nervous about the recent stock market volatility? Worried that it might be the start of a stock market crash, as predicted recently by a few pundits? Unfortunately, “worry” is not a strategy! Instead, you’ll want to plan ahead to survive stock market crashes without knowing when they’ll happen,

Protecting retirement assets through analysis of various topics, such as time horizon, income needs, risk tolerance, and more, is often best discussed with a wealth advisor acting under fiduciary standards. A prudent wealth advisor closely monitors their clients’ normal activities and actions to help safeguard against potential elderly exploitation of assets. Elderly exploitation, commonly referred

Weight-loss drugs have been all the news recently. There are finally medications that can help people lose weight and that is a good thing. In recent years, obesity rates have nearly doubled among older adults in the U.S. Two of every five Americans ages 65 and older are obese. Wegovy is one drug that some

Did you know more people turn 65 each day in America than are born? And by 2030, there will be more people over 60 than those under 18? This generation of “elders” in the developed world is “the longest lived, wealthiest, healthiest, most highly educated, and largest percentage of elder population in history,” says John

When you think about retirement, you might picture sunny Florida with its warm climate and retirement communities. But it’s not the best state to retire, according to a new report from Bankrate, which just issued its annual ranking of the best states to retire in the U.S. To come up with the comprehensive analysis, Bankrate

Until recently, I’ve never been enamored with the notion of living a longer-than-average lifespan. Perhaps this is because my primary observation was that old age didn’t look all that appealing. I’d observed grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and aged family friends face a seemingly hyperbolic hill of discomfort, disease, and, ultimately, death. Sure, I wanted

Former president Donald Trump’s plan to repeal the tax on Social Security benefits would lower taxes for US households by an average of $550, according to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center. But that tax cut would come with a big price: By reducing Social Security and Medicare hospital insurance (HI) revenues by

Just about any Medicare beneficiary who takes prescription medications has heard about the donut hole. It has had quite an interesting history. When Part D prescription drug coverage began in 2006, those who landed in the donut hole had to pay 100% of the cost for every drug. That’s likely the reason that the official

Conventional wisdom regarding Traditional IRA’s is to not take distributions from your Traditional IRA because you will have to pay tax on it. Let the assets in your Traditional IRA continue to grow tax deferred and take distributions based on the IRS Required Minimum Distribution rules (RMD’S). Another strategy is to convert your Traditional IRA

The dreaded brain disease, Alzheimer’s, is considered difficult to diagnose. For one thing, it comes on gradually in most cases and initially has no physical symptoms like pain or trouble moving around. Doctors usually first hear that a person has some problems with short term memory. Not much happens until that gets worse. Then, they

One of the most commonly quoted pieces of investment advice (or cliché) is you want to buy low and sell high. It’s as simplistic, as it’s unhelpful. Despite the obviousness of the advice, there’s only one proven way to do this consistently: through a tactic called rebalancing. It’s an important wrinkle to remember as the

Retirement accounts are protected from creditors and lawsuits most of the time, but not all the time. You should know the circumstances when an IRA or other retirement account might be vulnerable. In general, qualified retirement accounts are protected from creditors, whether or not bankruptcy is declared, by the federal Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection

Ah, summer vacation – that blissful stretch of freedom we all crave. But what if that vacation never ended? Many people imagine that retirement might be their endless vacation. Picture this: You’re lounging on a beach, sipping a piña colada, thinking, “This must be what retirement feels like.” Hold that thought because we’re about to