Retirement

Thirty-five years ago, Ken Dychtwald, PhD, wrote a landmark book, Age Wave. It was a thoughtful and well researched analysis on the impact of the baby boom population on the U.S. Dr. Dychtwald (Ken) went on to write many more books (19 in all) about the aging of America, but in this writer’s opinion, Age

Really, I don’t want to be doing this. I just want a fact-based discussion on retirement income security, so we can fix what needs fixing and stop worrying about things we shouldn’t be worrying about. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, it is. Back in August I published an entire study through the American

What role do family members play in caring for frail older adults and younger people with disabilities? What can society do to make it easier for them? I got thinking about this when Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance suggested that families could lower their daycare costs if “grandma and grandpa” took on more child

One of the biggest obstacles investors face on the road to a secure retirement is the pursuit of perfection. This may seem counterintuitive. Our culture touts “practice makes perfect”, we should be continuously training to achieve perfection. Unfortunately, in the world of investing, striving for perfection generally leads to inaction and missed opportunities. Continuously searching

You probably find lots of junk mail in your mailbox. But, if you are one of the 50 million beneficiaries with Part D prescription drug coverage, either through a stand-alone Part D drug plan or incorporated into a Medicare Advantage plan, pay attention now. Buried in that stack of mail will be the Annual Notice

It’s an issue for some adult children with aging parents. When the elders need care, there is resistance to using the parent’s own funds to cover the cost of caregiving. It’s puzzling. For example, faithful son (FS) has been taking care of his mom by himself for 25 years. He lives in her home and

The simplest oversights can cause the biggest problems for heirs, especially those intended to inherit retirement accounts. Over the years, I’ve seen a number of court cases in which the logical beneficiary of a retirement plan is denied the benefits because of an incomplete or outdated beneficiary designation. In the latest case, a woman worked

With more than half of marriages ending in divorce and disagreements over money regularly cited as one of the foremost reasons for the split, don’t you think it might be a good idea to talk about how we can avoid financial disagreements? Well, that might be nice, but we can’t. We can’t avoid disagreements in

CTA and Estate Plans and Trusts The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) is a mandate that requires most smaller closely held business entities to file a rather invasive report with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the Treasury Department. The CTA has been written about extensively, but it seems that most business entities, and their owners

Forbes screened more than 800 U.S. locales for everything from climate risk to crime to doctor availability. Those that made the cut were compared on leisure offerings—from the arts, fine dining and learning to hiking, skiing, watersports and golf. Here are the top 25. By William P. Barrett, Senior Contributor Jill and David DeForest Colvig

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Samuel Scheer and his wife, Rosetta Cohen, are long-time residents of western Massachusetts. But they love the arts and culture scene in New York City so much that they recently bought a more spacious apartment in the Big Apple with the thought that eventually it might

For the past several years, one of the areas in which I have focused is on helping people prepare for retirement or as I like to say: What’s next in life? To prepare for retirement, one of the most important tips is to have conversations with your significant other. Share your vision of the future

Not too long ago, one of my teammates and I talked about watching Alone, a series that follows ten experienced contestants as they attempt to outlast each other in a wilderness environment, foraging, hunting, fishing, building shelters, and relying on their survival skills. Each participant has to film themselves, and whoever is able to last

There’s been a dramatic twist in online imposter scams. In the traditional imposter scam, the crooks pretend to be a government agency or well-known company. They generally use emails, texts, or phone calls to try to induce targets to part with money or sensitive personal information. In the latest scams, which so far appear to

It’s that time of year when many of those who have Part D prescription drug coverage experience sticker shock. Here is a sample of what’s happening with my clients. Can this be right? The $141 copay for my expensive eye drops just shot up to $520 and the costs for my other drugs dropped to

The job market in the United States has been drum tight since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite a sharp rise in unemployment during the initial pandemic shutdown, the labor market has recovered over the four years since. Even with the most recent jobs report, the unemployment rate remains at historically low levels, averaging

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis in August after rising the same level in July—over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.5% before seasonal adjustment. You won’t just

The year-end 2024 crunch is coming. What should you consider and do now? So much is happening that affects your estate planning, and you need to evaluate it. Your estate planning world is changing in dramatic ways. Getting a big-picture view of many dynamics can help you consider what you should be doing. Corporate Transparency

The bigger your retirement account withdrawals, the higher your tax bracket will be in retirement. The good news is that you may owe fewer taxes in retirement than when you were in the workforce. There are no Social Security payroll deductions from your retirement account withdrawals. Everyone should have a plan to mitigate the tax

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Have you noticed how much information appears in both mainstream and social media about American pensioners planning or wishing to retire abroad? If you’re among those dreaming of retiring abroad, you’re in good company. According to Fortune, “boomers are leaving America to retire abroad in droves