Retirement Watch Weekly
Who Wants to Live a Long Life?
I used to think everybody wanted to maximize their living years. It turns out that research over the years found out that’s not the case. The latest research is here. Many people want to live less than life expectancy. The responses also vary by factors such as race, sex, current age, and other factors. Apparently, […]
How the Financial Crisis Affected Retirement Preparedness
The Congressional Budget Office says that those closest to retirement were hurt badly by the financial crisis, and their finances haven’t recovered despite the stock market recovery. The CBO only uses data through 2013, so we don’t know if the picture is better know than in this report. But those pre-retirees not only lost value […]
Reporting from San Francisco
This week’s report will be brief because I’m at the MoneyShow San Francisco this week giving presentations, signing books and appearing on a local radio show. The markets aren’t doing much, because the Fed is having its big annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week. Investors are waiting to see if any news comes […]
IRS Gives People a Break on IRA Rollovers
You know that when you take money from IRAs, you have 60 days to put that amount of money in the same or a different IRA or other qualified retirement plan. If you miss the 60-day deadline, you have to treat the amount as a distribution and include it in gross income. The IRS could […]
New Financial Protection for Seniors
Seniors and those who care about them should know about a valuable financial protection tool that has been available for longer than a year. The Securities Helpline for Seniors is provided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the private organization that regulates brokers, registered investment advisor and some other investment professionals. Anyone can call the […]
Will Your Children be Required to Pay for Your Long-Term Care?
The cost of not planning for your long-term care could affect others. Your estate or children might be required to pay for your long-term care. Some little-used laws make this situation possible. Use of these laws increased the last few years, and they are likely to be used more in the future. Either the government or […]
Two Ways to Avoid IRA RMDs with No Out-of-Pocket Cost
We’ve been in the vanguard of showing owners of traditional IRAs how to maximize the after-tax value of the IRAs left to heirs. We do that by minimizing or avoiding required minimum distributions (RMDs) and searching for ways to turn IRAs into tax-free, guaranteed money. In the past, I’ve shown you several strategies that achieve […]
Managing the Trade-Offs in Today’s Markets
It is more critical than usual to include two important steps in your investment decision making. Too many investors overlook these steps, causing them to miss opportunities and to take too much risk. The first step is to focus on the trade-off between risk and return when evaluating investments, whether you are thinking of buying […]
