Retirement

I’ve owned a business for about 20 years, and time and again, I’ve learned that nothing is more critical to our success than happy and engaged employees. Here are a few ideas for how to keep your employees happy, despite the uncertainty we’re all facing during this ongoing pandemic. Responsible Paid Time Off We’ve heard

When I talk to my financial planning clients about their Social Security benefits, they always have a lot of questions. These range from “When is the best time to take Social Security?” “How Can I maximize my Social Security benefits?” “Are Social Security Benefits taxable?” “Can you help me choose the best time to start receiving

There are some fit seniors out there and I see them all around in my long-lived county. They walk, ride bikes, go to the gym, eat wisely. They are the exception. 60% of Americans do not exercise as recommended and some are very sedentary. Too many chronic health problems go along with being inactive and

So, you have an irrevocable trust (or several) and you want to take a loan from the trust. While that might sound simple it really may not be as simple and you think, and you should discuss the decision with your trust attorney, CPA, and the trustee (especially if it’s a professional or institutional trustee

We spend most of our working lives putting money into our retirement accounts (hopefully), but what happens when we retire? How do we turn that nest egg into income that will last at least as long as we do? Let’s take a look at some options: Live off interest and dividends The most conservative option

As of December 7th, the 2021 Open Enrollment Period is history. This is always a challenging and hectic time. As we look back on the past seven weeks, here are five observations.  1.) There was a significant reduction in the number of stand-alone Part D drug plans.  In most areas, beneficiaries have nine to 10 fewer plans

Social Security benefits are a major part of many American retirement incomes. As people are living longer, many more are working past the age of 70. If this is you, or maybe you in the future, you are likely wondering if working past the age of 70 will increase your Social Security benefits. How To

In a previous Forbes post on inherited IRAs, I discussed the importance of making sure an RMD (required minimum distribution) was taken before the end of the year by a person inheriting an IRA (individual retirement account) if the IRA owner died and had not taken his or her required distribution for the year. The

Let’s talk about the “4% rule,” originally from Bill Bengen’s seminal retirement distribution strategy research published in the Journal of Financial Planning in 1994.  In his research, Bengen found that historically at that time, you could have taken 4%, adjusted for inflation each year from an investment portfolio of a 50/50 mix of large cap U.S. stocks and government bonds, and it would not have run out of money in a 30

Wealth depletion by retirees reduces the size of their estates. This is seldom an issue for those who retire wealthy, or for those without any heirs they care about. For the larger group of non-affluent retirees who do care, however, the conflict is inescapable. The retiree, for example, may have to choose between taking a

Series I Savings Bonds (aka I bonds) have several features that can be particularly useful for middle-income pre-retirees and retirees building their retirement income portfolio. They offer high interest rates (currently yielding 7.12% per year), guarantees of principal and interest, and long-term liquidity (with a few caveats).   My last two posts described I bonds in

Forrest Gump, the lead character played by actor Tom Hanks in the 1994 film of the same name, left audiences with many memorable quotes. One that stands out is when Forrest says, “My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” I consider chocolate to be

By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue The grassroots movement toward working longer looks like it’s at a moment of reckoning. The ranks of retirees 55 + have grown by 3.5 million over the past two years, according to the Pew Research Center, much higher than the pre-pandemic rate. This shift is one reason some employers are struggling to have

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor In her thought-provoking new book, “The End of Bias: A Beginning,” science and culture journalist Jessica Nordell probes the science and practice of overcoming unconscious bias. That’s what happens quickly when we encounter a person or a situation and our reaction conflicts with our professed values. We see it a lot with

Dave thought his mom had done everything right: invested her savings, done great estate planning and appointed him her only son, to take over when needed. And the time came for Dave to step in. Dave’s elderly mom, Agnes began to lose her memory. She had been living with a companion for years before that

If you are the beneficiary of someone’s IRA (individual retirement account), what do you do if the IRA owner dies? To find out how to handle the deceased owner’s IRA, the key contact is the IRA custodian, the firm that “custodies” the IRA. (You can find the name of the custodian on the IRA statement.)

By Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Next Avenue Sixteen years ago, when I became a new mom, my boomer dad wisely shared with this Gen Xer that parenting doesn’t come with a handbook. If it did, financial education would surely have one of its very own chapters. Although we often focus on teaching our children values, life skills

Soon after Hollywood writer/director/actor Peter Antico read my book Who Stole My Pension? last year, he called me on behalf of a group of SAG/AFTRA members, including Ed Asner (of Lou Grant television fame), and Titanic film star, Frances Fisher.  The group of actors was outraged that, in the midst of a global pandemic, the

Colorado and New Mexico recently announced an innovative approach to managing their new state-facilitated retirement saving programs. Under a Memorandum of Cooperation, the Colorado Secure Savings Program and New Mexico Work and $ave will collaborate on program administration and financial services, marketing, data collection, and participant privacy. Such partnerships can provide a cost-effective way for

If you inherited an individual retirement account (IRA) in 2021 from someone who was taking RMDs (required minimum distributions), are you aware that you might need to take action before the year ends? You, the beneficiary, may face a steep penalty if the deceased owner did not withdraw his or her full RMD for 2021.