Retirement

When it comes to retirement planning, you may have heard a lot about the benefits of tax-advantaged retirement accounts, how to choose investments, and maybe some of the details of any pension plans that you’re fortunate enough to have. But what about Social Security? After all, it provides the majority of retirement income for many

Getty On twitter, I joked that I was drafting an article I was tempted to call, “Beating a Dead Horse Into The Ground: More Historical Context On Pensions Than Any Reader Is Remotely Likely To be Interested In.” But — I’m sorry to disappoint you — I suspect this will not be the last time

Getty Today we’re going to talk about the biggest threat to your portfolio (and dividends!) you face in 2020. It’s not a recession. It’s a near-irresistible human impulse—purposely amped up by the financial press—that could lock in big losses for you, or cause you to miss out on a huge gain, like the 486%+ some

Esther Meyers, right, shows a photograph of her then–teenage mother Rachel Kane to her to jog her … [+] memory as her twin sister Sarah Schultz looks on.(Photo by Brian VanderBrug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Family members and friends are the bedrock of our system of personal care

In 2003, Zvi Bodie and Michael J. Clowes published the book Worry-Free Investing: A Safe Approach to Achieving Your Lifetime Financial Goals, in which they argued that typical retirement-oriented investors should rely primarily on TIPS for their retirement savings. Of course, other financial assets should be included in retirement portfolios, but, they said, only once

Retirees are sacrificing their own retirement savings in order to help their adult children … [+] financially. Getty Are You Supporting Your Adult Children While Endangering Your Own Financial Security?  As an 80-year-old widower I’ll call “Fred” told me, some parents may derive pleasure in helping adult children financially, especially if the children chose careers

Side view portrait of smiling senior woman sitting on couch with her dog and reading book while … [+] enjoying weekend at home, copy space Getty I wrote about the importance of pets to older adults back in 2018, but this is a topic that is timeless and grows in importance every day as more

Exit Getty A look at certain statutes with unintended consequences. “Ageism in the Workplace” is the cover feature of the February 2020 AARP Bulletin. Tales are told of older workers mistreated or axed, and of their sometimes victorious lawsuits. One must feel some pity for winners of age discrimination lawsuits. What prospective employer would ever

Getty The start of a new year is when many of us ask ourselves what lies ahead personally, professionally and financially. We happily hang a colorful 2020 calendar, jot down birthdays, upcoming vacations, and other future events. My guess is, however, you don’t mark down personal finance events and deadlines there. Big mistake. For your

©m.mphoto – stock.adobe.com It could say a lot about the state of the bull market The S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are two of the most widely-followed stock market indexes. And, while they have some very clear differences in their DNA, they tend to perform in sync much of the time.

null Getty The “race to zero” heats up again. You’ve surely heard that Vanguard is now slicing and dicing its already-low fees and commissions. That sounds great, but in reality, the low-fee race is pennywise yet dividend-foolish for us income investors. To retire on secure, high-yielding long-term investments, we actually prefer to pay a fair

Getty What’s does 2020 hold for your utility stocks (and closed-end funds)? Will these steady income plays hand us another round of big gains and dividends? Or is there trouble ahead? These are reasonable questions to ask after these “boring” stocks poured on a huge—and rather “un-utility-like”—26% total return last year! Let’s dive into three

Getty If you’re rich and live in Connecticut, chances are you’ll be hearing this from your estate lawyer: As of the New Year, Connecticut trust law has entered the modern age, and that probably means you should revisit your estate plan. Trusts sound stodgy and old-fashioned, but they’re an essential part of planning your estate

Getty An article in today’s Wall Street Journal came to my attention: “The End of Retirement,” by John D. Stoll. The gist of the article is likely not new to readers who follow the subject closely: on the one hand, we’ll need to adjust our expectations on when to retire, but, on the other hand,

Close-up Of Person Hand Filling Social Security Benefits Form Getty You are turning 65. But— like 40 percent of other 65-year-olds— you have not yet claimed your Social Security benefits. For many older adults, that choice makes good financial sense. Except for one problem: You may find yourself getting hit with big penalties for failing

In this Oct. 26, 2011 photo, police officers, teachers, caregivers and other rank-and-file public … [+] servants join Illinois AFL-CIO members to protest the state’s pension situation at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield, Ill. The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday, March 24, 2016, struck down a state law designed to narrow multibillion-dollar deficits in two

Getty Images In a tweet Thursday, President Trump blamed you for your 401(k) balance. Trump tweeted: “STOCK MARKET AT ALL-TIME HIGH! HOW ARE YOUR 401K’S DOING? 70%, 80%, 90% up? Only 50% up! What are you doing wrong?” There are a lot of ideas packed into those 22 words and most of them are misleading.

Getty This is the second article of a two-part series on expatriating to save taxes. I am often asked by clients who live in high-tax states such as New York or California whether they should establish residency in a no income tax state like Florida to reduce their taxes. My first question is, “Do you

Shot of a senior woman using a laptophttp://195.154.178.81/DATA/i_collage/pu/shoots/804767.jpg Getty Let’s cut through the thousands of market predictions out there and dive into what’s really ahead for your dividends in 2020. We’ll also discuss two things that should be high on your “must have” list for any dividend stock you buy this year. In fact, these

Blood proteins and molecular changes that occur in our blood could be used to assess our health and wellness and more specifically identify people at greater risk of age-related diseases, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford University and funded in part by NIH’s National Institute on Aging (NIA). 3d illustration universal blood,