Retirement

Last week, I shared a post translating the whole of financial planning into the language of life, suggesting that all the jargon, products, pitches, services, and strategies can be beneficially simplified into a four-quadrant approach that imputes more meaning into our money management: Live – Provide a predictable source of income to ensure provision in

I’ve been covering the live, retire, and do business abroad beat for more than three decades now and there are some questions that come up more than most. Chief among them: Can I bring my pet overseas? According to 2023 figures, 66% of U.S. households and 60% of Canadian households own a pet. Numbered among

Scammers lie in wait, looking for ways to rip off folks after every weather or other natural disaster. It may be terrible wildfires, hurricanes, massive storm surges and loss of life that grab media attention. Everywhere, legitimate charities appeal for donations to help those affected and many respond. But, some scammers seize the moment when

Stock markets smile when job markets frown. Except for workers, almost everyone is happy about today’s jobs report. Wealthy owners of equities see stock values rise when workers are hurting; the soft labor market means to investors workers won’t have power to drive up wages and the Fed will slow down interest rate hikes. Just

The Biden administration has announced its list of the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiations, a step allowed for the first time when Congress passed last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (PhRMA), the main drugmaker lobby, blasted the law. No surprise there. But its reasoning is evidence of

Summer 2023 has been the season of international travel for Americans, who have touched down in Europe and the Pacific in record numbers. American arrivals in Europe are expected to surpass last year’s numbers by 55%, and the season isn’t over yet. The top places U.S. travelers are visiting are London, Paris, Rome, and Dublin,

Higher income earners received a momentary reprieve from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A planned change to catch-up contributions and how they’re classified for tax purposes was set to go into effect in 2024, but the IRS announced it will delay the change until 2026. When the Secure Act 2.0 of 2022 passed, it scheduled

Millions of widowed, divorced or otherwise single adults live alone. With the changes of aging, new dangers emerge. Frailty, cognitive decline, and failing health set them up for serious situations and trips to the hospital. We consult about what to do here at AgingParents.com. Some of the issues friends, neighbors and distant family members bring

“Should I stay, or should I go?” When The Clash sang those words over 40 years ago, the 401(k) plan barely registered in the retirement plan landscape. The idea of choice captivated workers. This newly defined contribution plan promised employees freedom that defined benefit plans only teased at and, more often than not, reneged upon.

By Ellen Ryan, Next Avenue Taco Tuesday may bring to mind Old El Paso shells or Pace salsa, and Wednesday might still register for many people as Prince spaghetti day. But if you buy private labels instead, you can enjoy the traditions and have more in your grocery budget at week’s end. Surprisingly, even after

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A big part of a trader’s success is the ability to technically analyze assets. In this article, you’ll learn what technical analysis is and how you can use it to identify new trading opportunities. Types Of Stock Analysis There are three major types of stock analysis:

It’s officially the end of an era for golden visas in Europe. In 2020, Cyprus closed its citizenship-by-investment program (similar to a golden visa but granting citizenship, not just residency). In February 2022, the U.K. ended its foreign investment offer. In January 2023, EU satellite state Montenegro closed its citizenship-by-investment program. And now, the tide

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue The Pew Research Center frequently publishes fascinating studies about America and Americans, but its recent jobs survey was an eye-opener. Pew learned that employees aged 65 and older are the happiest. Specifically, its survey of 5,188 U.S. workers who aren’t self-employed found: Two-thirds of those 65+ are extremely or very

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Corporate bonds can be a valuable building block in a retirement portfolio. They allow you to lock in attractive yields for periods ranging from a few to many years. That’s in contrast to instruments such as certificates of deposit and money market funds, for which the

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A convertible bond is an investment vehicle that starts as a bond and then can turn into a stock. These bonds are often framed by sellers as a way to reduce risk by having the certainty of a bond that offers the upside of a stock’s

The special and significant retirement risks of upper middle class and affluent Americans often are overlooked. The “retirement crisis” in America frequently is discussed and studied, but those discussions focus on the risks for lower- and middle-income Americans, such as not saving enough and investing too conservatively. Households with higher incomes have different retirement risks,

One of the reasons that managing our money can be so challenging is that most of the guidance offered is in a different language. It’s a language created by financial companies selling products, financial regulators reining in the financial companies, personal finance gurus developing a schtick for sale, and the IRS with its endless string

Do you know how much you need to retire? It’s a question people ask themselves all the time. If you think it’s a challenge, you’re not alone. “People don’t know how much they need at all,” says Michelle Richter-Gordon, co-founder of Annuity Research and Consulting in New York City. “They also don’t know when they

Far too many people don’t start thinking about retirement until it’s too late to do anything about it. But is it ever really too late? And when you do begin to contemplate what retired life means to you, are you looking at the right things? What do people think they need to retire? Let’s start

By Mark A. Stein, Next Avenue Theresa McCartin was looking forward to the new year. She had left a steady corporate job and was eager to start her own business cleaning and restoring expensive Oriental and Persian rugs. She called her startup Bal Arisi, Turkish for honeybee. Bal Arisi opened for business on January 3,