Retirement Watch Weekly
Stocks vs. Gold
There’s been a lively debate in some sectors of the financial media over the relative merits of stocks and gold. Warren Buffett, Jeremy Siegel and Larry Fink not surprisingly came down on the side of stocks. Others point out the dreary returns from stocks over the last 10 or 12 years, the significant increases in […]
The Health/Wealth Connection and Life Expectancy
Do wealthier people really live longer than everyone else? If so, why? The research indicates a clear connection between wealth and health. Wealthier people tend to live longer, healthier lives than poorer people. Is it the wealth that makes people healthier? Or do the traits that are likely to increase wealth also contribute to better […]
Understanding the Price-Earnings Ratio
I don’t use the P-E ratio much in evaluating the stock market. There are a lot of reasons for that. Earnings are, well, flexible. They’re subject to revisions and manipulation. I definitely don’t recommend using forward, or forecast, earnings, because they can be way off the mark. But the big reason is that earnings are […]
The IRS and Your Retirement Income
Retirees are a major source of the “tax gap,” according to the IRS. The tax gap is the difference between what Americans actually pay in income taxes and what they’re supposed to pay if they followed the law exactly. The IRS says about $4.2 billion of the tax gap is attributable to underpaid taxes on […]
Your Life Insurance Windfall on Death
One of the problems with many estates is the records are incomplete or unorganized. The executor and beneficiaries often don’t find out about all the assets available to them. One ripe source of unclaimed benefits is life insurance. Some estimate that there is $1 billion in unclaimed life insurance benefits. Many of the policy benefits […]
When Employers Slash Retiree Medical Spending
Retirees and employees of Kodak are likely to receive bad news in the near future. The firm filed for bankruptcy reorganization, and as part of that process it’s likely to decide eliminate their plans for retiree health care expenses. Companies don’t need to file for bankruptcy protection to do that, and many firms routinely reduced […]
February 2012
February 25, 2012 04:50 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review The big news this week came largely from overseas. One action that didn’t receive enough attention was from China. It decided to engage in another major round of its version of quantitative easing. That shows that China’s economy is slowing more than many observers […]
Estate Planning to Protect Assets, Heirs with a QTIP Trust
The marital deduction is a widely used, but often misused, Estate Planning tool. It’s powerful, but it also can create problems and headaches when not used properly. Here’s how to achieve your goals while avoiding the minefield of potential marital deduction problems. The marital deduction is simple and has two advantages. Under the estate […]
