What Is The Upcoming Retirement Security Rule, and Will it Help You?

My Comments: If you’ve read my recent posts, you’ll know I’ve spoken about fiduciary standards and encouraged you to specifically ask whether the money person you’re talking with is willing to declare themselves a fiduciary. That declaration holds them responsible for acting in your best interest. Yes, there will always be the occasional con man, …

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The Pros and Cons of Buying an Annuity For Retirement

My Comments:  You may have seen recent articles suggesting that annuities are the worst thing since sliced bread for your retirement money. What is typically ignored is that for fiduciaries and professional financial advisors like myself, there are lousy annuities and there are excellent annuities to choose from. The challenge for you is to know …

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Five Must-Have Legal Documents

My Comments:  Not all of these are absolutely necessary, but to the extent you’ve not yet considered any of them, much less all of them, now is a good time to get your ducks in a row. Chances are if you’re reading this, you’re well on your way through life and no one has a …

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I’m a Baby Boomer Who Had To Un-Retire: 3 Money Lessons I Wish I’d Known

My Comments: First, I was never a Baby Boomer since I’m from the Silent Generation. But what follows here is good information. I “retired” at age 70 and quickly became what I refer to as “terminally bored” and it wasn't long before I became “un-retired”. Fortunately things have worked out OK for me and I …

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Billionaires Pay Lower Tax Rate Than Working Class for First Time

My Comments: In my many years on this planet, there have always been financial issues that affect virtually all of us. Today, there’s fear we’re heading toward a recession, there’s an election approaching which has many people concerned, inflation is an issue with too many of us on the lower end of the spectrum dealing …

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Annuities are key to American retirement. So why are so few Americans buying them?

My Comments: There are good annuities and there are bad annuities. Most of the bad ones have been created and aggressively sold by insurance companies whose sole objective is to generate revenue for the company and their agents. The study results described below tell us why they have been successful. It’s not easy to find …

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3 Reasons Long-term Care Insurance Is Better Than Paying Out of Pocket

My Comments:  You might assume the message here is self-serving since I’ve been a licensed insurance agent since the 1970’s. Well, I’ve long reached the age where I’m more interested in helping others than I am interested in helping myself. If it generates some revenue, OK, but that’s not what drives me these days. This …

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5 Commonly Held Beliefs About Retirement That Are Simply Wrong

My Comments: These words appeared some time ago but are still very relevant to those of you expecting to retire at some point. Yes, it’s difficult to think about, but if you remain alive and well, retirement will arrive and having a developed framework in place will help you enjoy your retirement. As someone who …

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How to Pay for Long-Term Care

My Comments: This a long post, but the topic is critical for many of us. People are living longer and longer which significantly increases the odds of needing some serious help before the end arrives. And in most cases, it ain’t cheap. Fortunately, my wife and I are still relatively functional, though we both see …

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6 Key Signs You Will Be Able To Enjoy a Middle-Class Retirement

My Comments: Some of this seems counter intuitive but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked with people who have retired and seem unable to enjoy their lives. The six signs described below need to be focal points for most people when reaching age 60. By that time you probably know that at …

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