My Comments: This is a major question for investors. Whether you are accumulating money for the future or are already retired and focused on making sure you have enough money to last, knowing what is likely to happen in the near future leads to peace of mind and financial freedom. This is one opinion. Watch …
Tag: Alachua County
Hidden Bonus: Taking Early Social Security Payments
My Comments: I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again: when to claim Social Security benefits is a complex question. On one hand, if you know you will live to life expectancy, it’s a fairly simple math question. But on the other hand, if you don’t know when you will die, or …
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When It Comes to Claiming Spousal Benefits, Timing Is Everything
My Comments: The questions surrounding Social Security are almost endless. It’s a complicated system and as more and more of us reach eligibility, it is clear that simply signing up as soon as you are eligible will cost you and your family lots of money and options over the years. Philip Moeller / Sept. 9, …
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Do Retirees Need Long-term Care Insurance?
My Comments: As a financial planner with thinning grey hair, my clients tend to be already retired or soon to be retired. A major worry we all face is the chance that we will slow down to the point where we need help to get from one day to the next. Sure, family members will …
Rural Hospitals Pressured to Close as Healthcare System Changes
My Comments: Most of us have long since put ObamaCare in the rear view mirror. We’ve acknowledged there are flaws and there will be unintended consequences, but for the most part, it’s the law of the land. Some of us have long since determined that it’s existence will be in our best interest over time. …
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Central Banks Pump Up the Volume
My Comments: The US Federal Reserve took a very different approach to helping the economy recover from the financial crisis that began in the fall of 2008. Pushed by Mr. Bernancke, the Fed provided what came to be called QE, which stands for quantitative easing. It kept interest rates low and effectively flooded the economy …
Being a Stock-Market Bull Just Got a Lot Harder
My Comments: For over a year now, I’ve been warning my clients that a reversal is coming in the stock market. As a result, we’ve slowly moved into investments that have reacted positively and made money during downturns. Only it hasn’t happened yet. Consequently, some of them are frustrated and angry with me because while …
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Common Mistakes When Designating a Beneficiary
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 …
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Bernanke Says 2008 Worse Than Great Depression
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 …
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For Retirement Portfolios, a Smarter Glidepath
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, …
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Helping Define Your Financial Future 