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Beware Those Free Steak Dinners!

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

December 3, 2018 — One of the intriguing lines that came up during the interviews for our “Should You Hire a Financial Advisor, Or Do It Yourself” article of a few months ago was this one: “Beware those free dinners”. Lewis, the author of that quote, was referring to…

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Published on December 2, 2018
Comments 8

2019 Medicare Premiums Announced

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

October 22, 2018 — Medicare costs for 2019 have been announced, and fortunately, the increases are small. The standard Part B premium amount is $135.50 (or higher depending on your income), vs. $134 in 2018. Part B deductible and coinsurance will be $185 per year, vs. $183. The Part A…

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Published on October 21, 2018
Comments 2

2019 Social Security COLA Will Be Biggest in Years

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

October 14, 2018 — If you receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, the biggest increase in years is about to come your way. More than 67 million Americans will see an increase of 2.8 percent in 2019. The COLA was 2% in 2018 and .3% in 2016.

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Published on October 13, 2018
Comments 3

If Social Security Payments Pay Only 77% in 2034 – What Will You Do?

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

September 14, 2018 — Thanks to one of our regular idea contributors, Jeff H, we have a not so hypothetical problem for you. If, as the Social Security Trustees warn, the retirement portion of Social Security exhausts its reserves in 2034 and is only able to fund 77% of promised…

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Published on September 14, 2018
Comments 32

Don’t Die Without a Will – Please!

Category: Estate Planning

August 30, 2018 – Is your estate planning goal to maximize the amount of money you give to the IRS, give probate attorneys a huge cut of your assets, leave nothing to your favorite charities, and pit your relatives against each other in family destroying battles over money and possessions?…

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Published on August 29, 2018
Comments 0

Is the 4% Spending Rule Still Relevant Today?

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

Aug. 21 2018 — Fortunate retirees, those with a good amount of retirement savings, agonize over a perplexing problem: how much can you safely take out of your retirement funds? Spend those hard earned savings too fast and, if you live too long, live in poverty. Hold on too tightly,…

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Published on August 20, 2018
Comments 32

Older Americans Increasingly Facing Bankruptcy: No Shortage of Causes

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

August 7, 2018 — Since 1991 older Americans have experienced a three-fold increase in the rate they file for bankruptcy. From February 2013 to November 2016, there were 3.6 bankruptcy filers per 1,000 people 65 to 74; that rate was only 1.2 in 1991. Today one in seven bankruptcy filers…

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Published on August 6, 2018
Comments 11

Think Taxes Are Best Reason to Choose a Place to Retire? Might Want to Rethink That

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

July 31, 2018 — Although “low taxes” was the third most important consideration for finding a place to retire in our recent Topretirements.com survey, we know there are a lot of baby boomers who have set moving to a low tax state as their most important goal. Although for some…

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Published on July 30, 2018
Comments 46

Our Online Social Security Application – Latest Update

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

(Updated October 3, 2018 – with an important new development) –July 18, 2018 — Back in May we reported on our experience of applying online for our Social Security retirement benefits. The plan was to have the application completed and accepted in time to start receiving benefits in August, 2018,…

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Published on July 17, 2018
Comments 7

The 10 Cheapest States to Retire

Category: Financial and taxes in retirement

June 11, 2018 — Some of the more reliable “10 Best Places to Retire” Lists come from Kiplingers. They recently came out with their “10 Cheapest States to Retire” version, and we think it is a pretty good effort. To come up with their ratings they looked…

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Published on June 11, 2018
Comments 7

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