Ideas to help preserve and grow your money
My Comments: You should read this If you are an employee of a public school district, or a charity, or a foundation, or a church based enterprise. Under the Obama administration, rules from the Department of Labor (DoL) were proposed that imposed what is known as a fiduciary standard on any individual or company engaged …
Continue reading DOL fiduciary rule won’t help some 403(b) retirement plans
My Comments: If you are already retired, don’t bother with this. If you haven’t yet retired, there may be something here for you. Waiting for retirement is like watching grass grow, or watching a car rust. You lose interest in a hurry. The problem is it’s going to happen, whether you pay attention or not. …
Continue reading Retirement Planning Strategies for Clients in Their 50s
My Comments: The older you are in your journey toward retirement, the more important these four risks become in your quest for a successful retirement. The sooner you are aware of them, and understand how to manage these risks, the better your outcome. This came into my inbox from Merrill Lynch, with no named author …
Continue reading 4 Big Retirement Risks—and How to Prepare for Them
My Comments: No, I am not trying to sell you a reverse mortgage. I AM saying you should NOT dismiss them out of hand. Under the right circumstances, they are a valuable tool. As a disclaimer, you should know that I arranged one for myself a year ago. As a financial planner, I’ve encouraged clients …
Continue reading Could a Reverse Mortgage Save Your Retirement?
My Comments: Value is in the eye of the beholder. When we need something, and it may be financial advice, pork chops or a car to drive, we typically spend money. If it's financial advice, it's sometime difficult to measure it's benefits, so be prepared to pay for it. As a self-styled expert on retirement …
Continue reading This is how much fees are hurting your retirement
My Comments: Readers of my posts know I usually talk about money or some aspect of it. My challenge over the years has been to assess the financial literacy of whomever I’m talking with. And that challenge increases with age; both mine and that of my friends and clients. This article might start a useful …
My Comments: I’ve you’ve not yet signed up to receive your monthly Social Security benefit, this is worth a read. I encourage everyone to try and wait until Full Retirement Age (FRA). The outcomes are likely to be much better. If you claim Social Security early, your checks will be permanently reduced. Consider looking for …
Continue reading Retiring Early? Here’s How to Delay Taking Social Security Anyway
My Comments: Aaahh, bliss! Nothing to do but relax and watch the years roll by. You and I both know that’s not likely to happen. For one thing, it’s too easy to get bored and stressed out with not enough to do. Okay, some of us love retirement, but I’m not one of them. Being …
My Comments: Financial illiteracy is a huge problem. But many people have no idea it applies to them. The other day I was trying to explain something to a widow in her 70’s and it was like talking to my six year old grandson. People should be exposed to the markets. But they need to …
Continue reading How do I safely invest my retirement savings for growth?
My Comments: More and more people have Roth IRA accounts. A common question about retirement is whether to draw money from their Roth IRA first or take money from their non-Roth retirement accounts first. It depends. Any money not yet taxed is going to get taxed. Period. The Roth IRA money comes out tax free; …
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