My Comments: Please understand this is not a Happy Valentine's Day message. Far from it. Nevertheless, Happy Valentine's Day! When I saw the title above that appeared in a news feed I follow, it seemed a little strange. However, the source was a highly credible one, someone with responsibility for many billions of investable assets …
Category: Retirement Planning
Ideas to help preserve and grow your money
Climate Change and Retirement, Part 4
I first wrote about this issue last May followed by parts 2 and 3 in November and December. I’ve found myself having two minds about climate change as an existential threat to society as we navigate through the 21st Century. On one hand, I think the threat is real, regardless of whether it’s a natural …
How Long Will You Live?
A recent study suggests over 50% of adults age 50 or older underestimate their number. Obviously, if I ask you when you’ll die, you clearly have no answer to give me. By the same token, if you ask the same question of yourself, you might hazard a guess. Chances are your answer will be wrong …
Retirement: The Go-Go, Slo-Go, and No-Go Years
My efforts today are spent teaching others about the dynamics of retirement. I do this with an online effort, the goal of which is get them ready for retirement and enjoy the rest of their lives. With luck, they’ll experience all three. Chances are, if your health is good, you’ll start with the Go-Go Years. …
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10 Questions A Couple Should Ask BEFORE Retirement
My Comments: These ten questions deserve answers. However, they assume an existing readiness to retire that may not exist. In my world, there are 8 critical questions that precede these such that a couple, or anyone for that matter, must first ask of themselves, and answer. With millions of Americans arriving at their retirement date …
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Does Social Security Need A Fix?
I started writing blogs with ideas to fix Social Security back in 2011. The last substantive fix happened in 1983 and it’s overdue for another. With about one in five seniors living in poverty, my assumption is that Social Security retirement benefits comprise a significant percentage of what seniors need to stay alive. Remarks from …
How Will The SECURE ACT Impact Your Estate Plan?
My Comments: This Act, signed by President Trump this past December, included several important additions and modifications to existing retirement planning code sections. For example, it changed the age when you MUST start taking money out of your income tax deferred retirement accounts. It gave retirement plan providers the opportunity to include annuities in their …
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Is there really a “Retirement Crisis”?
In a recent post, I referenced a study published in 2019 by the Aspen Institute. The major take away for me is this: 1 in 5 senior Americans are living in poverty. Some of you are going to react negatively to what I’ve written here and suggest I’m just another liberal hack. Well, maybe I …
1 in 5 Seniors Is Living in Poverty — How to Make Sure You Don’t Become One of Them
My Comments: How long will you live? I have a mea culpa to make. For the first 30 years of my career as a financial professional, I subscribed to the prevailing notion that financial planning efforts should be focused on life expectancy. There are probably still many financial professionals out there making that assumption. It …
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When You Retire Could Make A Huge Difference
There is a risk associated with when you retire that’s sometimes the fault of your parents. It’s something over which you had absolutely no control. Specifically, when you were born. Let’s assume you’re now well into middle age, have a job that pays well but the idea of retirement is increasingly on your mind. You …
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Helping Define Your Financial Future 