Retirement

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. 

The estate tax changes that were anticipated in the final months of 2021 are apparently not materializing, leaving some people scratching their heads as to what they should do next.   Two recent pieces of legislation – the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Build Back Better (BBB) bill – were expected to include

Saving enough for early retirement often takes a few variables to succeed. You need enough income to stash money away to last over a 40- or 50-year retirement, a disciplined plan to methodically invest the funds and some luck. The luck can run out if, say, you lose your job for an extended period of

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic reached the United States, baby boomers have been accelerating their retirement plans, and many Americans have been migrating to new states. For retirees, the non-financial considerations often revolve around weather, proximity to grandchildren, and access to quality healthcare and other services. However, if you are retired and no longer generating

To deny state and local government retirement savers—investors who cannot afford to gamble—critical investment information which is routinely provide to wealthy investors globally in prospectuses is unfair. Are we now a nation of two classes of investors? Most investors are familiar with work of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency which regulates the

The SECURE Act of 2019 passed with big changes to retirement income planning. It created a Fiduciary Safe Harbor Provision for employers which allows them to offer certain annuities inside 401(k) plans without worrying about their fiduciary liability if the insurance company defaulted on their annuity payments.  While having access to annuities inside a 401(k)

Series I Savings Bonds guaranteed by the U.S. government (aka I bonds) are currently earning 7.12% annual interest. This is great news for middle-income retirees who may have recently watched the interest income from their CDs and savings accounts dwindle to just a few pennies. For pre-retirees and retirees building their retirement income portfolio, the

As part of your estate plan, you need to consider whether it’s possible your IRA or 401(k) could end up in the hands of creditors of one of your heirs. A general rule is that qualified retirement plans are exempt from bankruptcy claims. But that general rule applies only to the original owner of the

No one likes sudden change. We like to ease into things – transition with time. Yet we talk about retirement as an event. One day you’re a working stiff; the next day, you’re a retiree. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could phase into retirement? With planning, you can. So-called “phased retirement” is a hot

Social Security has always been a uniquely American Rorschach Test. Should you take what’s offered to you right now or wait a few years for what’s behind the curtain? Fortunately, you don’t have to have visions of Monty Hall haunting your Social Security claiming decision. There’s actually a fairly reliable checklist you can go through

Carl Jung said, “One cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning; for what was great in the morning will be of little importance in the evening, and what in the morning was true will at evening have become a lie.” It was actually physician and psychoanalyst, Elliot Jaques, who

Long before the Clash sang “should I stay or should I go,” Social Security recipients have asked, “Should I claim or should I wait?” Back in 1982 when the punk rock tune was first released, the life expectancy in the United States was 75 years. It didn’t make sense to wait to receive Social Security.

Estate owners dodged some bullets in 2021. Significant estate and gift tax increases were proposed early in the year, but they’ve been put on the back burner. They’re likely to be revised in 2022. Even if they aren’t, the 2017 changes are slated to expire after 2025. That would reduce the lifetime estate and gift

On November 19th, the House passed the Build Back Better (BBB) tax and spending proposal by a narrow 220 to 213 vote, almost exclusively along party lines. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Bill increases the deficit by $367 billion over 10 years. The Budget Office’s analysis doesn’t take into consideration an estimated $127

Turkey, stuffing, and cranberry jelly out of the can. Only cranberry jelly ‘fresh’ out of the can has the lines to indicate true authenticity. Thanksgiving is recognized as one of the ‘happiest’ days of the year. And, why not? For many, the elements that are thought to contribute to our happiness — family, friends, food, and fun — come

By Kerry Hannon, Next Avenue If you want to know what prospects for the retirement security of women in America look like, you couldn’t do better than hearing what a bevy of brilliant experts said at the recent day-long virtual summit of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). I was fortunate to be a participant, where

In the 2021 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research, 50% of workers and 72% of retirees say the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed their confidence in achieving a secure retirement. Still, 33% of workers and 25% of retirees say it’s made them somewhat or significantly less confident