Retirement Watch Weekly
Showing Grandchildren the Way of Sound Estate Planning
I find that no matter the value of a person’s estate, almost everyone would like to leave something for the grandchildren (or the children). But they don’t want whatever they leave to be wasted. Therefore, demonstrating sound Estate Planning is important. Almost everyone knows the unfortunate statistics of poor estate planning. About 70% of family […]
Exiting 401(k)s: Facts and Scandal
The IRA and 401(k) industries were upended recently by a report from the Government Accountability Office. Investigators concluded that the process often is a mess when individuals are leaving an employer and need to decide how to handle their 401(k) accounts. The 401(k) rollover process is inefficient, and financial services firms that administer plans use […]
The Secret to Tax-Free Annuity Distributions
In select cases, annuity owners can take tax-free distributions. Not many people know this, but it can provide a real benefit to people who need long-term care. Typically when distributions are taken from a deferred annuity, the income and gains are included in gross income and taxed as ordinary income. There’s an exception for distributions […]
The Hidden Risk of Tax-Exempt Bonds
Higher interest rates. Shrinking tax revenues. Higher spending. All of these are risks faced by municipal bond investors. But here’s one that few investors consider. The government officials in charge of a locality’s finances could be pocketing the tax revenue and spending it on themselves. After a while, the government can’t raise taxes any more. […]
Behind the Medicare Numbers
Each year the trustees of Social Security and Medicare issue a report. The main focus of the report is the financial condition of the “trust funds.” In recent years one of the public trustees, Charles Blahous, wrote his own summaries of the annual reports with an emphasis on the points he believes are important. Not […]
Don’t LIve with the Grandkids
It’s likely to shorten your life, according to this study. It’s an academic study, and the link is to the abstract. You can download the entire paper free in PDF. The paper says to some extent older people who live with younger people should be expected to have shorter life expectancies, because health problems often […]
Why to Hate Stock Market Predictions and Forecasts
I don’t make many financial predictions and don’t make portfolio recommendations based on them. Yet, most financial and investment marketing these days seems to be based on predictions. Investors in general are captivated by predictions and spend a lot of time reading different forecasts and trying to determine which is right. Using predictions is a […]
$1 Million For Retirement Is Not Enough?
This article shouldn’t be news to anyone who reads Retirement Watch or my books, but it is news to The New York Times that a $1 million retirement nest egg might not be enough for most people. It lists all the mistakes people are likely to make: Investing only in bonds; underestimating life expectancy; forgetting […]
