Most retirement plans dive deeply into details on the financial factors, but hardly any effort is devoted to the factor that contributes the most to a successful retirement. Since the pandemic began, however, people are spending more time than usual considering the really important retirement questions. As the pandemic forced lifestyle changes on people and
Retirement
On March 11th, 2021, President Biden signed the latest COVID-19 stimulus package, known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The Act comes just in time, because many COVID-19 relief measures were set to expire on March 14th. The American Rescue Plan Act authorized and allocated $28.6 billion to the Restaurant Revitalization Fund program.
By Kerry Hannon, Next Avenue It was the shockwave of rejection letters from hiring managers that goaded Guadalupe Hirt and Barbara Brooks to launch SecondActWomen, a Denver-based company designed to help working women in their 50s and older (and also some in their 40s) start companies, pivot careers and stay employed. “They didn’t even give
If you inherited an IRA (individual retirement account), the law says you must take distributions or pay a severe penalty to the U.S. Treasury. How severe? Fifty percent of the amount that should have been withdrawn, but wasn’t. These mandated withdrawals are called required minimum distributions or RMDs; in the case of inheritance, RMDs are
The Employee Retention Credit program was enacted as part of the CARES Act on March 27, 2020, to provide reimbursement of wages for businesses affected by the COVID-19 virus and incentivize employers to maintain a pre-pandemic level workforce. The 2020 Employee Retention Credit was not available for PPP borrowers and required a loss in revenue
Pre-retirees and retirees may be understandably concerned about their exposure to stock market risk, particularly in these uncertain times. Let’s take a look at how a hypothetical 65-year-old couple might think about this decision. Suppose Jack and Mary have $400,000 in retirement savings and they’re invested in a target date fund with the classic “60/40”
When reviewing a client’s 401(k) plan, I get pretty jazzed if I see a decent Target Date Fund (TDF) option within their investment lineup. I firmly believe that a TDF is one of the best default investment vehicles within most corporate retirement plans. The way a TDF works is simple. You pick the fund that
Most people make the wrong decisions about when to claim their Social Security retirement benefits. Only about 4% make the optimum claiming decision, according to a study released a couple of years ago by financial services firm United Capital. The researchers had access to data from a long-term health study of Americans and were able
Included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed by President Biden on Thursday is an $86 billion aid package for participants of about 185 to over 300 employer-union pension plans. If aid had not been available more than a million retired retail clerks, candy makers, truck drivers, construction workers and others would have faced severe cuts in
The 401(k) has become the go-to retirement plan for many Americans and continues to gain traction. The flexibility, tax savings and scale of 401(k) plans have made it attractive to employers and employees alike. But A 401(k) plan doesn’t need to be just for large corporations. It can be used to help small business owners
Dollar-holders have enjoyed increasing buying power abroad every year since 2013, with each year’s dollar advantage eclipsing the last. Those considering diversifying into real estate overseas but procrastinating on a purchase have been rewarded as they’ve watched properties in key markets become cheaper in dollar terms year after year. Until 2020. Last year, the dollar
By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue Years of grassroots activism led to the new law saving pensions for union members Teamsters for a Democratic Union Good news on the retirement-income front. Some 1.5 million workers and retirees faced the real risk that their pension incomes would be slashed over the next 20 years or significantly sooner.
By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor getty A message to married and unmarried couples about managing your money: it’s a two-person job. Letting just one of the two of you handle all the household’s saving and investing, bill paying, insurance, wealth building and debt management is a recipe for financial trouble, especially if you’re over
Portraits of Henry Kravis and George Roberts of KKR shot at Shangri La Hotel Tokyo, in Japan on April 8, 2019 for Forbes. (Photo / Ko Sasaki for Forbes) Ko Sasaki/The Forbes Collection Get ready to add the biggest blue chip private equity firms to your 401k. The world’s largest buyout firms like Blackstone Group,
As we begin the post-Covid process of thinking beyond survival, retirement planning is once more an area of focus. And the retirement prospects for Americans are scary. Few are prepared. The SECURE Act, passed shortly before the pandemic, was Congress’s first attempt in years at encouraging retirement savings. Much of that encouragement comes through provisions
Ask Larry Economic Security Planning, Inc. Today’s column addresses questions about potential effects of survivor’s benefits from public pensions, how the earnings test might be applied when someone reaches full retirement age in January and which month to apply to ensure full age 70 benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University
WASHINGTON, D.C. – APRIL 14: Attendees rally on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol building with … [+] Teamsters Union retirees who traveled from across the country to voice their opposition to deep cuts to their pension benefits on April 14, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Thousands are facing massive pension cuts because of a
For anyone with aging parents, the question of getting help for your elders is likely to come up eventually. At some point, most families want to find someone to help a parent or grandparent remain safely at home. The effort to get a caregiver often starts out casually. You ask around. Someone refers you to
Seniors getty The Covid-19 pandemic has been a catastrophe for frail older adults. More than 170,000 residents and staff of long-term care facilities have died from the virus, and adults over age 65 living in all settings have accounted for about 80 percent of the nation’s deaths, or about 400,000 fatalities. But what lessons have
Ask Larry Economic Security Planning, Inc. Today’s column addresses questions about what an ex drawing divorced spousal benefits might mean for other benefits drawn on a worker’s record, whether it’s better to file a few months before turning 70 and what difference filing at 65 or a month earlier would make. Larry Kotlikoff is a