Retirement
“Who Owns Stocks in the United States?”
Blog “Who Owns Stocks in the United States?” I recently read an interesting article by Ben Carlson over at his blog “A Wealth of Common Sense”. The article he wrote dives into who actually owns stocks in the United States and how that has changed over the...
“Making up Lost Ground Saving for Retirement”
Blog “Making up Lost Ground Saving for Retirement" There can be many reasons older Americans are financially ill-prepared for retirement. Some people don’t make enough money to set aside for their later years. Others have bad luck in their career, poor...
Should I Use Retirement Savings to Pay Off the Mortgage?
Blog“Should I Use Retirement Savings to Pay Off the Mortgage?" Beginning retirement with no debt might sound appealing. After all, you’re on a fixed income, and it’s not unlikely that you’ll go back to work and start earning an income in your final years of...
Starting Children’s Retirement – Revisited
Blog“Starting Children's Retirement - Revisited" In August of last year, we wrote a post titled “Setting Your Children Up for Retirement” which you can find here. In this article, we wanted to dive in deeper to this concept of a Custodial IRA (sometimes called...
The Great Transfer of Wealth
Blog“The Great Transfer of Wealth" More than 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day and that is expected to continue until 2030. Over the coming decades, trillions of dollars of wealth will pass from baby boomer parents to their heirs, with some...
SECURE Act 2.0 – What it Means
Blog“SECURE Act 2.0 - What it Means" In December 2019 Congress passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. This was a bi-partisan bill designed to help Americans’ in preparation for their retirement years. Some of the...
Managing the Initial Years of Retirement
Blog“Managing the Initial Years of Retirement" The conventional view of retirement is changing. Certainly, the age at which we retire, what we do during retirement years, and even how long retirement generally lasts look different than assumptions we made 15...
The Insecurity Around Social Security
Blog“The Insecurity Around Social Security" Fires, viruses, civil unrest; will 2020 ever end? With only two months left in the year coronavirus has officially claimed another victim: Social Security. Due to the economic impact of Covid-19, the Social Security...
Geographic Arbitrage – A Trend with Momentum
Blog “Geographic Arbitrage - A Trend with Momentum" Geographic Arbitrage (AKA geo-arbitrage) in its simplest format is when someone takes advantage of differences in cost of living between two geographic locations. The concept is not something new or...
Setting Your Children up for Retirement
Blog “Setting Your Children up for Retirement" For many people, setting their child up for success in the future is one of their responsibilities as a parent or guardian. Setting them up for success comes in many different facets (think life skills, hard-work,...
Gifting Responsibly and Avoiding Taxes
Blog “Gifting Responsibly and Avoiding Taxes" Each year, the IRS sets a limit called the annual gift tax exclusion which determines how much you can “gift” to someone else and avoid paying any taxes. For 2020, that annual exclusion amount is $15,000 (this can change...
The Importance of a Health Savings Account
Blog “The Importance of a Health Savings Account" If the last few months are any indication, we can see that healthcare needs and associated expenses are truly an unknown quantity. Healthcare costs can be a major stumbling block for both the young and elderly and...
Tips for Lowering Taxes in Retirement
Blog “Tips for Lowering Taxes in Retirement" So many financial articles talk about the importance of saving for retirement and how much money you should have saved to retire comfortably. While that is certainly an important topic, considering how these savings will...
FOMO with the Stock Market
Blog “FOMO with the Stock Market" “Fear of Missing Out” (AKA FOMO), has become very apparent as individuals try to make sense of the meteoric rise in the stock market over the past 60 days. We dive into why the stock market has been going up in a recent post which...
Increasing Retirement Success with Small Tweaks
Blog“Increasing Retirement Success with Small Tweaks" The last couple of months have challenged individuals, families, businesses, and governments around the world. While certain health experts have always cautioned against pandemics, they tend to operate like...
9 Simple Tips for Financial Success
“9 Simple Tips for Financial Success" Having success with finances doesn’t have to be complicated or chalked up to some mystery that only ultra-wealthy individuals know. Success also isn’t necessarily about being smarter or working harder than everyone else. Most of...
SECURE Act Impact on Retirement
“What the SECURE Act Means for My Retirement" If you are still following the end-of-year political activity in Washington, you may know that Congress is voting on a spending bill to avoid yet another government shutdown. The House has already passed the bill and the...
A Checklist as you Approach Retirement
“A Checklist as you Approach Retirement"Retirement Planning can be a tricky and complex landscape. As you close in on retirement it’s vitally important that you have your “ducks in a row” and do everything you can to ensure you are set up for...
Roth IRA Conversions for High-Income Earners
“Roth IRA Conversions for High-Income Earners"Firstly, I’m amazed we are already in November! It seems like 2019 just started, but alas we are only 2 months away from entering an entirely new decade. As we think about how quickly time flies,...
What Does GE’s Pension Freeze Mean?
“GE's Pension Freeze Highlights the Need for Financial Planning" This past week, GE announced that it is freezing pensions for 20,000 employees with salaried benefits in attempts to reduce its pension deficit which is already $8 Billion!...
Retirement Survey Across Generations
“Retirement Survey Across Generations"The definition of retirement is changing. Baby Boomers are starting a new trend that says retirement might not mean sitting around and doing nothing. In fact, for most, it is an opportunity to simply have...
New Under-The-Radar Retirement Account
“New Under-The-Radar Retirement Account"For years, the term “Roth” was held just for Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s). However, the 401K and Roth IRA have birthed a beautiful child called the “Roth 401K” that a lot of companies are...
What to Expect from Healthcare in Retirement
“What to Expect from Healthcare in Retirement"Many people decide if they are on track for retirement based on how much they expect to spend each year once they retire. For some people, this will work. However, for the majority of Americans who...
Roth IRA or Traditional IRA…Which is Best?
“Roth IRA or Traditional IRA...Which is Best?"The two main types of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s) that you can invest in are a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. The main difference between the two accounts is how and when your money is...
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