Retirement

Looming over the nation’s workers and their families is the dread of being busted in retirement. The pandemic calamity of 2020 has hastened old-age poverty dread because those without work place retirement coverage lost one more year of savings, were left out of the stock market boom, and are one more step towards leaving or

How can Congress and the Administration get working teenagers to save by opening a Child IRA? This is a question that no one is asking. It is, however, the best question that everyone should be asking. You’ve probably seen many reports about the lack of retirement savings. Currently, there’s a debate regarding whether this is

Nobody minds market volatility when it’s in the upward direction. But this week, we got plenty of the type of volatility that we don’t like so much as investors, the kind that inspires headlines with words like “plunge” and that end with exclamation points. It presents an opportunity, therefore, to remind ourselves of one of

Today’s column addresses questions about how spousal benefits are calculated after early retirement benefits when the record holder delays until 70, whether spousal benefits are 50% of age 70 benefits and when survivor’s benefits may become available to surviving spouses. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president

When you are walking through the supermarket, you’re likely to see an array of financial magazines recommending that you wait until 70 to collect Social Security. You may infer from the articles that your full benefit grows by 8% annually until you reach age 70. In other words, the longer you wait to file, the

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Remember the line “There’s an app for that!” Steve Jobs used to say? Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case when it comes to personal finance advisory apps for people over 50, especially for low- and moderate-income older adults. That’s my takeaway from the recent report by the nonprofit

By Mary Siobhan Brier, Next Avenue From 2001 to 2004, Bonnie McGowan found herself dealing with a lengthy discrimination lawsuit. She had purchased 157 acres in New Mexico with plans to build an LGBTQ-friendly retirement village and was promptly sued by the surrounding community. McGowan and her lawyers were able to demonstrate that a housing development

By Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride, Next Avenue Entrepreneurs over 55 are among the most active new business owners in America, starting companies at rates that exceed their younger peers. In fact, 80% of small business owners are over 45, according to the New York Federal Reserve. With a wealth of knowledge gained over years of experience, older

A young woman pleads with her aging mother, “Mom, I think you should do it. Please do it for me.”  Looking down her mother quietly replies, “I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right, I don’t want to lose my privacy.” Her daughter responds swiftly and sternly, “Mom! It’s for your own safety and my

The labor market is slowly recovering, albeit in fits and starts. The current recovery is leaving many older workers behind. They now face the prospect of lengthy spells of unemployment, depleted savings and pressures to retire early with permanently lower Social Security benefits. The recession hit older workers harder this time than somewhat younger workers.

It’s a tired story by now in Illinois: the graduated income tax state constitutional amendment on the ballot this past November failed because of a fundamental lack of trust by the people of Illinois in their elected officials. That’s not just my own claim; new House Speaker Chris Welch said as much, according to the

Today’s column addresses questions about whether it’s best to file at 70 ½ or 70, potential spousal benefits before retirement benefits and when excess spousal benefits might be available. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc, which markets Maximize My Social Security

It’s been almost two years since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced the new Medicare Plan Finder (MPF) in September 2019. I wrote nine posts during the last four months of that year, describing a variety of issues with this new tool. Most disappointing to me was that the new Plan Finder did not

While widely recognized, ESG is an umbrella term that often means different things to different people. But at its core, ESG references environmental, social and corporate governance factors that provide a framework for investors seeking to invest in companies that are creating solutions to the challenges we face in today’s world. The global pandemic has

The federal agency that regulates nursing homes, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will require facilities to publicly report covid-19 vaccination rates for staff and residents starting May 21. The rule is likely to press operators to boost staff vaccine rates to at least the 75 percent rate that industry trade groups have

As recounted on Twitter and the Illinois politics website Capitol Fax, Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot had some strong words on pensions at last week’s investor conference: “We’ve really struggled to get Springfield to pay attention to pensions. . . The problem is not going away, it’s only going to intensify. At some point it’s my

The signs of slipping can be very subtle at first. Mom forgets an appointment. Dad can’t remember how to get somewhere he’s been a zillion times. Your aging parent is just starting to seem a little off, a little more forgetful and it’s happening enough for you to notice. Should you do something or is

The Senior living industry needs to wake up and understand that Baby Boomers just don’t want what their parents and grandparents were offered. No matter how fancy the furniture, how many lakes and golf courses they install on the property, and how large the gym and swimming pool are, baby boomers want an entirely different

About a month ago, Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed legislation that boosted pension benefits for a group of Chicago firefighters, despite the urging of Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot not to do so, because of the cost to the already-woefully-underfunded plan. As I wrote back in January, this change could drop the funded status from 18%

By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue Cynthia Murray, who turns 65 years this month, is a 20-year Walmart WMT associate in Laurel, Md. who puts in 32 hours in a four-day workweek. In February 2021, she got a 30-cent an hour raise boosting her hourly wage to $15.27. But even at that level, Murray can’t afford to