Retirement Watch Weekly
A Little-Known Medicare Advantage Plan
When you turn 65 or otherwise enroll in Medicare, see if a Medicare Savings Account (MSA) is available in your area. These are similar to HSAs, but a little different. They are linked to high-deductible Medicare Advantage plans. You would sign up for a high deductible Medicare-Advantage plan and also open the MSA affiliated with […]
Another Estate Plan Gone Bad
The Benihana restaurant chain is not what it once was. One reason is that its founder had a poorly-thought-out estate plan that was rife with conflicts and sowed dissension and unhappiness. Here’s the story, another cautionary tale about the importance of taking the time to do an estate plan properly, especially when a business is […]
Choosing Executors Carefully, a Lesson from Disney
I regularly point out that naming the wrong people as executors or trustees can ruin even the best estate plan. Most people put little thought into these decisions, often casually naming their oldest adult child or sibling. They don’t realize the burden of being an executor or trustee, even for relatively simple estates. This article […]
Buy and Hold Forever Investing
For years I’ve been following a mutual fund called the Corporate Leaders fund. Originally it was part of the Lexington group of mutual funds. It now is part of Voya, which used to be part of ING. The fund has a very simple investment strategy. When formed 80 years ago it bought equal amounts of […]
The Latest Investing Insights from Warren Buffett
The latest annual letter from Warren Buffett to shareholders of BerkshireHathaway was posted on Saturday. It was promoted in advance as being a special letter since it is the 50th such missive from Buffett. It does contain some interesting surprises such as Buffett’s unbridled optimism about the u.S. and the U.S. economy, chastising those who […]
Navigating the RMD Minefield
IRAs seem simple at first. You make contributions and manage the investments. Over time, however, IRAs become more complicated and even inconvenient. IRAs become especially troublesome for people as they begin to take distributions and especially after they reach age 70½ and beyond, because of the required minimum distributions. The RMD rules are not what […]
