Retirement Watch Weekly
Retirement Medical Expenses Drop, but You’ll Pay Plenty Without the Right Plan
There is a bit of good news for those who are worried that retirement medical expenses will eat away their nest eggs, but you still need to plan carefully to minimize your out-of-pocket medical spending.Each year, the Employer Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) estimates the total out-of-pocket medical expenses that hypothetical 65-year-olds are likely to spend […]
Social Security Continues to Underpay Surviving Spouses
You simply can’t rely on the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help determine the right benefits for you, especially if you’re a widow or widower.What is even worse is that the SSA has been told about the problem for years and apparently has not been able to correct it. Here is the background. When a […]
Beware: The IRS Might Not Like These CARES Act IRA Strategies
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stimulus (CARES) Act, enacted in March, contained tax breaks related to retirees and retirement plans, including reduced penalties for taking early IRA distributions, waiver of required minimum distributions (RMDs) and the option to spread taxes on retirement plan distributions over three years. You can read the previous article for […]
IRS Expands New Tax Breaks On Retirement Distributions, Loans
IRA and 401(k) owners recently received expand-ed tax breaks, thanks to some new IRS guidance on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.The CARES Act already provided valuable tax breaks. Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are suspended for 2020. Plus, the law relaxed restrictions on taking loans and distributions from retirement plans. In recent […]
Here’s What You Need to Know About the 7 Most-Popular Trusts
Trusts are an essential part of most estate plans, even the plans of people with moderate wealth.Not too many years ago, trusts were reserved largely for the very wealthy. Times have changed, how-ever, and most estate plans have at least one trust. Trust terms and concepts are unique, and many lawyers don’t do a good […]
Will vs. Trust: Which is Better?
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” said inventor, diplomat and founding father Benjamin Franklin in describing the importance of planning for the future. It is only natural for people to want to maintain some level of control over the assets that they worked so hard to accumulate throughout their life. Creating a […]
How To Create a Trust for Your Heirs
“Great Fortunes Lost” was an article in Fortune magazine years ago. It described how various individuals, usually heirs, lost or squandered very large fortunes. Some of the individuals lost more than money. They lost their health or wasted their lives because of the effects wealth had on them. It’s nice to leave enough to make […]
Bob’s Journal for 7/23/20
Some Notable Events That Grabbed My Attention This Week Looking Beyond the Unemployment Claims Headlines The employment market probably is worse than the weekly data indicate. Most of the focus is on the number of new unemployment claims and the continuing claims. Those are very good measures of trends in the economy and labor markets. […]
