Retirement

America’s state and local government pensions invest as much as 40 percent of their assets in secretive, offshore “alternative” hedge, private equity, real estate and venture funds which warn that certain unidentified “mystery investors” pay lower fees, are provided greater information about investment strategies and portfolio holdings, have been granted liquidity preferences and receive superior

EcoVillage in Ithaca (EVI), New York is a cohousing community that has thrived since its founding in 1992. Co-housing communities attract all ages and in the last decade a large handful of them have been developed solely for adults over 60. EVI is multigenerational and operates a farm that helps to support its residents. There

Insights into an Important Decision Most retirement plans today are defined contribution plans which promote an expectation of the potential for a large account balance. Some offer the option to convert that balance into a lifetime income, but most do not. Retirees who want a lifetime income stream can always make that choice by buying

Before long, many may start to view The Great Resignation as a Great Big Mistake. Over 3 million Americans decided to retire early amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The percentage of the US population in retirement has been gradually increasing for years, but this was a significant rise above the prevailing trend. Source: Federal Reserve Bank

How many family caregivers are women? Who most often takes the lead in planning for and carrying out the needed tasks to manage the needs of an aging parent at home? Women often take on the primary childcare role in families and when parents age, they are most often the ones who take on the

Looking past the gas pump to me on the other side, a 60-something year old woman states, “I waited a long time for this.” Jiggling the nozzle out from my tank, “What’s that?” I ask. She replies blandly, “Retirement.” Continuing, as if speaking to a larger invisible audience, she points up to the pump price

The sustainable-investing movement is picking up momentum. Here’s how to participate. Should your portfolio align with your notion of corporate responsibility? If you think it should, join a small but rapidly expanding population of ESG investors, those sensitive to the environmental, social and governance qualities of the companies that use their capital. This three-part guide

For over a year, the $100 billion-plus State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio has refused to disclose critical information regarding its riskiest investments— information requested by tens of thousands of deeply concerned school teachers whose promised retirement benefits have been slashed. Public scrutiny of the state fund’s investments has been effectively thwarted by pension officials

If you have been taking life expectancy distributions from an inherited IRA, should you care about the new RMD (required minimum distribution) tables effective in 2022? That’s a question raised by S.L., and the answer is “yes.” Anyone who is a beneficiary of an inherited IRA will need to address specific questions with his or

Distinguishing good from evil on Wall Street is a challenge. Be grateful there are analysts doing most of the homework for you. An ethical portfolio excludes the shares of irresponsible companies. Which ones are those? Once upon a time that was a fairly simple matter. A handful of mutual funds had portfolios omitting certain industries,

To zero in on the best socially responsible funds, use these sortable fund tables. How to invest with a social conscience? For most investors the easiest and the best way is to own a fund. Join a big crowd. At year-end Morningstar counted 534 U.S. funds, with $357 billion in assets, in its “sustainable” category,

A big change related to qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) has been highlighted in the Feb. 28 release of the official IRS Publication 590-B for the 2021 tax season. The QCD change affects those over age 70 1/2 who make deductible contributions to their IRAs. Reminder: “A QCD is generally a nontaxable distribution made directly by

Mindfulness is hot right now, maybe even hip. But for most, it still rests somewhere on a continuum between “woo-woo out there” and “yeah, I don’t have time for that,” rather than being utilized as a practical pursuit that can be applied in surprisingly tangible ways. Yet I believe that it is and can, even,

By Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Next Avenue This noted Generation X money adviser explains how financial planning is changing to be more accessibleFellow members of Generation X, I bear some good news. Financial advisers are not just reserved for the wealthy anymore. That’s timely, and I think heartening, considering this finding from a recent study by

Some people claim early because they are afraid benefits will be chopped. What are the chances of this? “I’m 66. Married, filing jointly. I have high IRA balances. Also, no debt, our mortgage is paid, and we are both healthy and locally active with a low cost of living. I’m thinking about postponing Social Security

By Grant Easterbrook, Next Avenue Approximately 20% of the American population is retired, which amounts to close to 66 million people. Despite the large retiree market, however, there has been relatively limited venture capital investment in new tools and services to help with “decumulation.” Decumulation is the phase of life when retirees must manage drawing

By Kelly K. James, Next Avenue When Ellen and Carl Otterness’ daughters were young, the couple wrote wills. Their primary goal was to name a guardian for their children if something happened to both of them. Then they didn’t think about it … for decades. Their now-adult daughters are both over 40, with husbands and

There’s some new guidance on early IRA withdrawals that pre-retirees should know about. It changes the interest rate on early withdrawals and allows a switch of method. IRAs are wonderful planning tools, since they allow the accumulation of retirement funds on a tax-deferred, or in the case of Roth, tax-free, basis. With the ‘Great Resignation’

Across the nation politicians are naïvely calling for state pensions to dump their Russian investments to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine. Since state pensions have in recent years agreed to let Wall Street fund managers keep secret their investment holdings, states don’t even know the Russian assets they hold.   Yesterday, state

Medicaid spending is something that fluctuates fairly substantially from state to state. Medicaid income limits, too, vary by state, which can make it hard to know if you qualify depending on where you live. Here, we’ll breakdown Medicaid spending by state and Medicaid income limits by state. Medicaid Limits by State Many states actually have