Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
June 7, 2011 -- Before you answer that question, consider this situation. Assume for a moment that you are age 65 and have two retirement choices. In the first scenario, you receive a conservatively managed portfolio generating either $4,000 per month until age 85, or $3,000 per month until age 100, with remaining balances going to your heirs if you pass away earlier. However, financial experts emphasize the importance of exploring diverse investment options to maximize retirement security — mehr Infos bei Bitcoinist — to better understand alternatives like annuities. In the second choice, you'd invest the same amount in an annuity providing $4,000 monthly income for as long as you live, without the possibility of leaving a remaining balance to heirs.
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Published on June 7, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 26, 2010 -- Most of us find it hard to admit the truth: when it comes to skills that require any degree of expertise, like financial advice, we are amateurs. Just like our skills in plumbing, electricity, architecture, medicine, software programming, or teach golf; it's best to have an expert doing the work for us. This article will explain why hiring a competent financial advisor to help plan for your retirement is a smart move. After all, if you don't have enough money, it's going to be hard to have the retirement you deserve. We'll provide some basic tips on how to find a good investment advisor. At the end of the article we have listed some helpful resources that explore more dimensions on how to make a smart choice.
One of the biggest advantages that financial advisors offer is...
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Published on April 25, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 19, 2011 -- It is almost a certainty that as a retiree, housing is going to be the most important item in your budget. Unfortunately, many people will make serious mistakes regarding their housing choices and the way they are financed. We recently were referred to an excellent and helpful guide, Housing and Mortgages for Seniors. It is definitely recommended reading, and here are some of its key points:
Housing Problems
The report details the most common housing/financial problems that people over
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Published on April 19, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
April 5, 2011 -- Our friend Robert Powell over at WSJ MarketWatch never fails to publish a useful and interesting article about retirement planning. His latest, "Five Retirement Plan Tax Mistakes to Avoid", is well worth the read. Here are the 5 mistakes:
1. Fund your 2010 Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your IRAs. If you haven't done it already, he tells you how to mitigate....
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Published on April 5, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 29, 2011 -- One of the persistent myths about retirement is that it doesn't pay to work after you start collecting social security. The thinking goes is that because if you start collecting before your full retirement age your benefits are reduced, and because you will be taxed on a portion of your benefits if your overall earnings pass a certain threshold, you will be worse off for working.
A very helpful article from WSJ MarketWatch Editor Robert Powell, "Taxing Problem: How to Keep Working and Collecting Social Security", clearly explains why this thinking is off base. As Michael Kitces, editor and publisher of The Kitces Report says in the article “... frankly, I’ve never seen a situation where there was actually a net loss for working." He goes on to say that by working you bring additional dollars into the household. Uncle Sam gets to keep part of that, and you get to keep part. Everybody is ahead vs. ....
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Published on March 29, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 22, 2011 -- You are about to retire, but perhaps you didn't quite pay off the mortgage on your home before you got your gold watch (remember those days!). That might put you in a quandary - you have the money in your retirement account that could pay it off, and you know that CDs and T-bills are not going produce anywhere near the interest rate you are paying to the bank - even if you did refinance recently. And in addition, your income has dropped so that home mortgage deduction doesn't have the same effect as in your higher income days. So what to do?.....
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Published on March 22, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
March 7, 2011 -- Earlier this week we received this comment from a member: "I'm planning on retiring in 6 months and my wife is getting worried about having enough money in retirement. I have a good retirement plan, our home is paid off, and we are debt free. My wife also has retirement income. Any ideas on calming some of her fears?"
This question seems so pertinent to what so many baby boomers are going through right now. We can speak from experience here; the shock that comes from retiring and realizing that we are not going to be getting a paycheck anymore is very real. We can't count on raises or a promotion to fund an ever-expanding lifestyle. Saving money
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Published on March 7, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Although it is true that most baby boomers feel poorly prepared for retirement on a financial basis, millions of them are very well heeled. Bank of America released its latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly in January, which was based on a survey examining the values, financial priorities and concerns of affluent Americans. The survey found that the vast majority (84 percent) of affluent baby boomers (in this survey, boomers aged 46 - 64 who had investment assets of $250,000 or more) believe that their "retirement" will differ from that of their parents. These baby boomers see those differences as positive - 86 percent intend to live a more active lifestyle, and 72 percent believe they will enjoy a higher
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Published on February 8, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
The inadequate consolation of losing our parents is that our loss is usually associated with the prospect of receiving an inheritance. As baby boomers age and their parents start to reach old age, the inevitability of that happening grows ever more imminent. In 2007, 58% of baby boomers had at least 1 living parent.
The Center for Retirement Research of Boston College completed an intriguing research project not too long ago - "How Important Are Inheritances for Baby Boomers". In the study a panel of subjects born before 1954 were asked about the probability of and how much they might expect for an inheritance in the next 10 years. The results of the survey indicate that about two-thirds of baby boomers expect to receive an inheritance of some amount. Obviously, the wealthiest
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Published on February 1, 2011
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Note - October, 2016 -- This article still has a lot of good information in it, but some is outdated, particularly as it pertains to spousal benefit strategies like "File and Suspend" and "Restricted Benefit". See "Filing for Social Security: 5 Reasons Why It Is More Complicated Than You Think" for more up to date information.
January 25, 2010 -- If your quick response to this question was 62, you might want to think a little harder. More and more information is coming out that supports the idea that you should wait as long as possible, particularly if you or your spouse had a high earning career. If you responded that you weren't sure, that was a good answer, because the question is a surprisingly complex one and highly personal too. This article will review some of the key considerations you need to take into account before reaching your decision. Note: See our 2011 article, "10 Things You Need to Know Before You Start Taking Social Security".
First, to recap: For people born between 1943 and 1954, your full retirement age is 66 (for people born earlier it is few months younger; or older if you were born in a later year). If you were in born in 1946 and elect
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Published on January 24, 2011
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