Retirement Watch Weekly
Running Out of Money in Retirement
About 25% of those who die at age 85 or later pass away with less than $10,000, including the value of their homes, according to a new study by the Employee Benefits Research Institute. It is consistent with work done previously by economists. The study shows that many people simply don’t understand the increase in […]
Art Collectors and the Tax Code
There’s a lot of money involved in art, and the tax code works to keep the money in art. It turns out that when you hear about a sale of art at a high price, the art wasn’t really sold. It was exchanged for other art so that the “seller” doesn’t have to pay capital […]
A National Retirement Policy
The U.S. has an atrocious national retirement policy. Social Security is expensive and redistributes income. It also isn’t properly funded. The private savings system works for only a few people. There are examples of good national retirement policies. This article describes Australia’s, but there also are good models in Chile and Denmark. It’s too late […]
The New Medicare Changes
Congress recently passed, and the President said he will sign, a new law containing what’ known as “the doc fix.” Some years ago Congress decided to save money on Medicare and Medicaid by setting up a schedule that reduced the amounts that would be paid to doctors. The reimbursement schedule was unrealistically low, often paying […]
Medicare’s Problem Overpaying Hospitals
Medicare started releasing detailed data fairly recently, and some outsiders have been studying the data closely for anomalies, overcharging, and other problems. Leading the way has been The Wall Street Journal with a series of articles pointing to problems and inconsistencies. The latest study (subscription might be required) shows how Medicare might be overpaying some […]
The Case for Investing in Energy
Oil prices declined a lot in 2014. That caused a lot of people to liquidate oil investments. It also caused some other people to wonder when would be a good time to buy some energy assets cheaply, anticipating a rebound in prices. Don’t waste your time trying to identify “the bottom.” You’ll know it only […]
Estimating Future Stock Returns
A major debate among stock analysts these days is the level of future returns that is reasonable to expect. Some argue that despite high valuations and profit margins today other factors will allow stocks to appreciate near historic average levels for the coming 10 years or so. Others argue that future returns have been pulled […]
The Importance of Age 69 1/2 in Retirement Planning
Most people in retirement planning learn that age 70 1/2 is important. Here’ an article arguing that the year before is more of a benchmark. You have to start planning for the following years’ RMD, and it also means you’re approaching other key IRA milestones. Age 69 1/2 is a big deal, a major year […]
