A lot has changed about IRAs in the last couple of years, and more changes are coming if the President and majority in Congress have their way. It’s important to re-assess your strategies. Here are the key changes of the last few years. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) don’t have to begin until age 72 for
Retirement
It’s only been a few weeks since billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos earned their astronaut wings in separate, back-to-back flights to the edge of space. However, in many ways, the debate over whether or not the billionaire space race benefits this planet and its inhabitants is just getting started. At the center of the
A Reference Guide for Social Security Benefits Many people are not aware of the Social Security benefits they are entitled to. I understand why they don’t – it’s very confusing. Here’s a straightforward, easy-to-reference guide to the various benefits available to you that will enable you to make an informed and correct claiming strategy. Let’s
The internet can be quite a useful yet massively confusing place. Searching for instructional videos on saving for retirement with an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) generates more than 450,000 hits. That is a lot of information. It is also way too much information for people who have regular jobs as hair dressers, dentists, home care
The FBI’s investigation into alleged false investment performance at the $67 billion Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System may suggest law enforcement is finally focused upon public pension shenanigans. That’s not likely. If you want to understand how pension looters and high-level investment scammers frequently escape prosecution, begin with studying the legal and regulatory structure
A recent report from the United Nations warns that we’re running out of time to avoid catastrophic worldwide disruptions from global warming. The U.N. report describes the science confirming the evidence that many of us have been experiencing first-hand—extreme temperatures, droughts, wildfires, and flooding. While it’s understandable to feel helpless in the face of such
By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Senior Editor With bank accounts and CDs paying bubkis (Yiddish for nothing) and bonds yielding not much more, the stock market has been about the only way to earn something on your money lately (up 18% overall in 2021). But what if you’re insecure about investing in stocks? Then, you might
Regular readers know that one of my pet peeves are legislation names with too-clever acronyms, and the WISH Act is pure cringe, on this metric: it’s the Well-Being Insurance for Seniors to be at Home Act, introduced by Rep Tom Suozzi (D-NY) at the beginning of July. Its objective is to create a new federal
The Conference Board’s star economist, Dana Peterson maybe humming that catchy tune “Take that Job and Shove it.” Why? The business group reports that workers are quitting at record rates, so employers must scramble even harder to fill out their workforce. Michael Papadopoulos, Associate Economist at The Conference Board, (in a Conference Board email blast) reports curious
“I am more concerned about the return of my money than the return on my money,” said Mark Twain. The famed author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn “ranked among the highest-paid authors in 19th century America,” and married into wealth as well, yet he proved even more adept at losing money, through venture capital and
By Craig Miller, Next Avenue A few years ago, Lee Hilliard and his wife Linda, of Manchester, Conn., were torn over what to do with their investment portfolio. The 72-year-old retired media consultant and his wife, who’s 64, had come into some Chevron CVX shares from Linda’s inheritance in 2016 and then again after her mother
By Constance Brossa, Next Avenue When it comes to helping people work out, Shannan Schaffer is in perpetual beast mode. The former flight attendant taught her first indoor cycle class at a YMCA in Charlotte, N.C. 31 years ago. She’s still at it. “Pedaling to nowhere is my calling,” says Schaffer, who’s in her late 50s,
It is time to change the rules: If you want to work around vulnerable older adults. You must be vaccinated. For their safety. For yours. And for the safety of your own family. Eight months after the vaccine was made widely available to health care workers, only about 60 percent of nursing home staff has
Inflation has been in the news more than usual, as we have seen spikes in the inflation rates during the COVID pandemic. Recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) data has led to an estimated 6.2% Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2022, which could be the most significant cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security benefits in decades.
With a couple of months of inflation data yet to be seen, it looks like those collecting Social Security are in store for a significant increase in 2022. The most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) announcement for the month of June revealed a 5.4% annual rate, and the Senior Citizens League estimates the final number
Until now, the Biden Administration and congressional Democrats have focused on Medicaid’s home-based long-term care program. This week, powerful Hill Democrats turned their attention to nursing homes. And they are offering a tough bargain: More funding in exchange for significant staffing reform. They also are proposing a major federal initiative to encourage the development of
Deferred compensation plans have become an integral way to save for retirement. They typically come in two general forms. The first is a qualified deferred compensation plan that is governed by ERISA rules, which include the more familiar 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The second is less common and technically known as a non-qualified deferred compensation
Yes, COVID-19 makes the advice to work longer in old age a cruel suggestion since older workers were hardest hit in the 2020 recession. But it isn’t just COVID-19 that makes it difficult, the labor market has been forcing older workers out for years. The obsession with telling people to work longer because they don’t have
Today’s column addresses questions about taking survivor’s benefits early before retirement benefits once they’ve increased, potential negative repercussions of taking spousal benefits and how to claim retirement benefits after taking spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc, which markets Maximize
Despite the pandemic, many Gen Z’ers are graduating from college and setting their course for success. This is a generation of young people who know what they want out of life and have the financial literacy tools – from podcasts to online platforms – to save for retirement, maximize their savings and achieve their goals.