My Comments: With so many of us getting older, there is an increasing focus on what happens to our money when we die. If we don’t pay attention, large pieces of it may flow to the IRS and into the hands of others simply because we couldn’t be bothered to get it right the first …
Continue reading Common Mistakes When Designating a Beneficiary
My Comments: Ben Bernancke is no longer Chairman of the Federal Reserve. However, before he became chairman he was widely recognized as a world class economist and an expert of the Great Depression. It was that expertise that gave him so much credibility as he maneuvered the Fed through 2008-2009 until earlier this year. There …
Continue reading Bernanke Says 2008 Worse Than Great Depression
My Comments: I’ve talked in earlier blog posts about the rate used to withdraw money from your retirement accounts. There is a prevailing sentiment that it should be 4% or less. I think that’s too low. On the other hand if I’m wrong, and 30 years later you discover you have run out of money, …
Continue reading For Retirement Portfolios, a Smarter Glidepath
My Comments: By now you know that I provide financial advice about Social Security and about ways to maximize your SSA benefits. That all happens when you are alive. Inevitably, someone in a married relationship is going to leave the building, as Elvis did. Then what happens? by Paul Norr / AUG 18, 2014 …
Continue reading Social Security Survivor Benefits: What Advisors (and clients) Should Know
My comments: Yes, I know this should have been posted several weeks ago. But I didn’t have it then. The advice come from an attorney in Michigan by the name of Julius Giarmarco whose website can be found HERE. I’m unsure how rules in Michigan differ from any other state but I suspect the fundamental …
My Comments: We’ve been living in a low interest rate environment for some years now. The general consensus has been that they can’t get any lower and that the Fed will push them up if and when the US economy starts to see any inflationary pressure. I know that clients, who for years depended on …
My Comments: Helping potential clients with an analysis of coming Social Security benefits is big business across the country these days. And I’m doing my share of it. Thank you very much. But in spite of my being closely aligned with this process for the past 15 months, I’m still confused by the myriad of …
Continue reading Social Security: Boost Benefits for Both Spouses
My Comments: Football season is about to start, Ukraine is still bothered by the Russians, and Ferguson, Missouri is still a mess. So here I am talking about the stock market and an index I have never heard of before. I suspect you haven’t either. But there is reference here to the Misery Index, which …
Continue reading Gauging The Stock Market With The Tocalino Index
My Comments: This is a self-serving blog post. While I should apologize for this, there are millions of Americans who will find themselves looking for financial freedom in the years to come and unless they have developed the necessary skill sets, they will find themselves behind the curve in a big way. Somebody has to …
Continue reading 9 Reasons Consumers Need Advisors More Than Ever
My Comments: If you have an IRA today, there is a chance there will still be money in it when the inevitable happens and you permanently leave the building. What then with this money? If you have a spouse, and they are the named beneficiary, that money now belongs to them and it becomes their …
Continue reading How to Protect Inherited IRAs After the Clark v. Rameker Decision
Helping Define Your Financial Future 