Retirement

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

Women study, earn, and work more than they did 100 years ago – a sign of progress in the fight against sex discrimination.  However, women with equivalent skills and education still earn less than men, which adds up to much worse retirement security in old age.  As a result of lower lifetime earnings, lower retirement

Some headlines are sure to draw eyeballs. Case in point, each time the Social Security Administration issues its annual report, there will be a series of articles discussing the fact the that the Social Security trust fund will run out of money. The attention is especially likely in years like this one where the time

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Don’t hate Michael Clinton for the ways he’s roaring into the second half of life — running marathons in every continent (even Antarctica), launching a foundation that makes random acts of kindness grants and enrolling in a master’s program in nonprofit management at Columbia University. Instead, try to emulate and learn from

By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue In the quest to rethink and reimagine the second half of life, growing numbers of professionals, white-collar workers and highly skilled trade people are making the transition to the nonprofit sector. And they’re often delighted about it. I talked to two of them recently about this — Donna Svendsen and

For some fortunate older adults, 2020 and 2021 have proved to be financial boon years. They spent less than in normal years because they weren’t traveling, weren’t eating out, weren’t paying for theater tickets and expensive excursions, and those who are invested in the stock market have seen their portfolios soar. However, the stay-at-home years

By Kimberly A. Eddleston and Jonas Ruzek, Next Avenue Editor’s note: This article is co-written by a member of the board of editors at EIX.org from The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, which is a funder of a Next Avenue. The new, buzzy Netflix NFLX documentary on the late, beloved, iconic public broadcasting TV host, painter Bob Ross — “Bob

Recent Proposal The House Democrats are proposing a $3.5 trillion spending plan. To support that package the Democrats have proposed tax increases to fund a large portion of that plan. The House Ways and Means Committee just issued statutory language for the tax increase proposal. While the tax legislative process will no doubt evolve with

Ordinary common sense and experts in psychology and neurobiology say most people at older ages want a long, healthy life; satisfaction (with a bit of joy and happiness thrown in); and agency (more specifically, most people want “locus of control”). Some people might express these aspirations in terms of what they don’t want: i.e. ‘I

Forbes compared more than 500 locations in America on everything from air quality to availability of doctors. But unlike other retirement lists, this one places greater emphasis on access to leisure pursuits —from the arts, learning and fine dining to hiking, skiing, sailing and golf.  Last year, Penny and Brad Bibey sold their Camarillo, Calif.,

ICUs are overflowing into hallways, filled with Covid patients. Hospitals are short of staffing to care for the critically ill. In some states, people are being turned away at emergency rooms and administrators desperately search for another hospital to take the patients they can’t accept. They are too full for even one more person in

Today’s column addresses questions about whether and where domestic partners can qualify as married for Social Security benefits, potential effects of selling a home while receiving Social Security disability benefits and ways to increase benefit rates for people who never married. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and

Here is a dilemma many Medicare beneficiaries face: My physician ordered a new medication to treat a longstanding medical problem. The pharmacist said my drug plan doesn’t cover this drug. I really need to take it. What can I do? This is not a rare event. Yet, many beneficiaries are surprised to discover that an

Not since the 1960s have so many critical policy issues that affect older adults come together in Congress at one time. Over the next few months, lawmakers will decide whether to both increase and fundamentally refocus federal support for older adults and younger people with disabilities. Those reforms would assist those who need long-term services

The Ways and Means Committee released the first draft of a major tax bill this week. While it is mostly aimed at increasing taxes to pay for other social policies and government infrastructure initiatives, there are a number of provisions that would change retirement planning.    You can see a summary by the Ways and Means Committee here. Most of