Mutual Funds

Climate change is leading to climate migration. And climate migration is creating an opportunity for global property investors. It used to be that northern California’s long and depressing rainy season started in October and continued until April with little sun in between. Summers were hot but pleasant. Today, winter days in Sacramento are often bright

By Laura Carstensen, Next Avenue Demographers predict that as many as half of the children born in the developed world since 2000 will reach the age of 100 and beyond. Once a rare event, century-long lives will become commonplace by 2050. The near doubling of life expectancy presents a range of challenges — along with yet

By Wes Moss, Next Avenue A recent Next Avenue article and “Friends Talk Money” podcast episode shared one of the principles from my new book “What the Happiest Retirees Know: 10 Habits for a Healthy, Secure, and Joyful Life.” Specifically, they highlighted my discovery that the happiest retirees generally have at least $500,000 in liquid assets

As you approach your retirement years and also soon after you retire, you face a serious of critical decisions that are often more complex, with higher stakes, than the saving and investing decisions you had to make throughout your working years. But by asking questions—of yourself and others with hard-won life experience—you have a better

The focus of public policy on remedying income deficiencies becomes increasingly inadequate as consumers move into retirement. Successful retirement requires adequate wealth. While it is difficult to formulate useful policies that would reduce wealth deficiencies, public policy should recognize the bogeys faced by low-wealth retirees. Their first bogey is that they have so little wealth.

Roth IRA Contribution Ranges Like a traditional tax-deductible IRA, the maximum Roth IRA contribution for 2022 is $6,000, and the catch-up contribution for those 50 and older is $1,000, for a total maximum contribution of $7,000 for those age 50 or older. Keep in mind that these maximums assume you have earned income at or

Having a pile of money at your fingertips can sometimes lure you into a jungle you best not enter. The problem is that, sooner or later, you’re going to look at your retirement savings account and discover you have a big pile of money. Then, you’re going to have to fight back the urge to

Millions of people have retired during the pandemic, but the option of older workers to retire is not equally shared across population groups. For every worker that has a choice to leave the labor force when job opportunities disappear, many other workers lack that opportunity. It often comes down to having enough savings to supplement

You’d have to be living in a cave on some uncharted isle to not have heard of Bitcoin. It’s perhaps the most well-known of all the cryptocurrencies. “Cryptocurrency is a form of digital money that is designed to be secure and, in many cases, anonymous,” says Adam Bergman, CEO and Founder of IRA Financial in

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about what effect not working in the years before filing might affect benefit amounts, switching from Social Security disability benefits to retirement benefits and on the process of starting spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor For years, the Social Security Administration has done a pretty crummy job telling Americans how much they’ll likely receive in Social Security benefits. But I’m glad to say that the agency just replaced its text-heavy, four-page Social Security Statement with a redesigned, more useful, more visual, two-page version. As a

Suppose that automobiles were marketed like retirement plans. Then the chassis, engine and tires would be marketed by different firms, and the buyer would have to put them together. Yes, this would be absurdly inefficient, yet that is exactly the case with retirement plans. The three major components – financial asset management, annuities and HECM

By Chris Farrell, Next Avenue Career transitions are hard for everyone, but the shift from military to civilian life can be particularly challenging. Soldiers coming back from the Vietnam War were too often treated as damaged goods by employers, according to research by Alair MacLean, sociology professor at Washington State University, it remains to be seen

Would you be interested in earning 7.12% annual interest on an investment that’s guaranteed by the U.S. government? And not lock up your money for years? This is not a come-on nor is it a time machine to travel back to the good old days of higher interest rates. You can now buy Series I

The Build Back Better social spending bill the House passed this morning includes a long list of important changes aimed at improving the quality of life of older adults. There is much left to be done, and even this bill may be pared back in the Senate. But following the pandemic catastrophe for older adults,

By Richard Harris, Next Avenue It’s been a little over two years since we lost Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts to breast cancer at age 75. The story goes that her older brother Tommy couldn’t pronounce Corinne, so he gave her the nickname “Cokie” and it stuck. But when she first came to NPR in

Private equity firms widely distribute their prospectuses and offering materials to prospective wealthy investors as they trawl globally to raise capital for their costly, high-risk funds. Yet when state and local government pension stakeholders request prospectuses of the funds in which their pensions invest, PE firms claim these very same broadly disseminated documents are “trade

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about filing options given the 2022 COLA, when survivor’s benefits can be available and determining the best options for taking spousal benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry answers here. Have

It’s quite amazing to consider that in the United States, half of today’s 5-year-olds can expect to live to age 100. The extra years of life that we’ve gained over the past 100 years is one of humankind’s greatest achievements. However, these gains produce their own challenges—and opportunities. The trouble is, current norms, expectations, employer

What’s new in 2022? A lot. For one, as of Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, the IRS posted new tables on IRS.gov that delineate 2022 IRA limits — some changed from 2021; some remained the same. Let’s review contributions and deductions. Contributions To Traditional IRAs Unchanged Everyone who has earned income no matter the age (even

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most recent monthly year-over-year inflation number came in at a whopping 6.2%, marking the fifth consecutive month inflation has clocked in at 5% or more. The last time inflation was this bad (1990), we were just learning what happened when Kevin McCallister found himself home alone during

Millennials are banking on the Great Wealth Transfer. The Silent Generation and the Baby Boomers, upon their death, will transfer an estimated $30 to $68 trillion to adult children. The story goes that the transfer will transform young consumers into alpha buyers of real estate, other big-ticket items, and convert them into great next-gen clients

Washington State’s first-in-the-nation public long-term care insurance program is headed to court. A group of employers and workers has sued the state with the goal of getting the law overturned. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three employers and six workers, argues that the insurance program violates a long list of federal and state laws

By now, you have probably heard that every day 10,000 or so baby boomers are turning 65. The Coronavirus may have pushed millions of Americans to retire earlier than expected. Some of you reading this have already entered retirement. I’ve been helping with people’s retirement planning long enough to know that many of you are likely

How much income does it take to live comfortably in retirement? The answer to this question has remained much the same over the past 10 years, but the recent spike in inflation may have you rethinking the answer. As I see it, 2021’s burst of inflation is the temporary byproduct of the post-pandemic recovery.   I

My recent Forbes column on how retirement withdrawals will be affected due to new 2022 RMD tables brought some important RMD-related questions from a reader. Single With An IRA D.M., a single female, wants to know if there are gender differences in RMD distribution tables.    The answer to D.M. is “no”; the IRS tables are

I sense you, Acting Commissioner Kijakazi, truly care about the people you serve. Kristin, a 69 year-old widow, entirely out of the blue received a bill from SSA demanding she repay $118,272 due to alleged overpayment of reduced excess widow’s benefits — benefits she never requested or received. Dear Acting Commissioner Kijakazi, surely you are

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how the earnings test affects Social Security benefits while working, whether benefits automatically switch to retirement benefits at 70 after a restricted application and whether a worker’s disability benefit affects survivor’s benefits claimed on their record. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the

More people are working after age 65. If that’s you and you’ve been thinking of moving, I have some data to share about how to think through the choices you have ahead of you.   There are, of course, many factors that are involved in the decision to move, from affordability (Is there a state

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Odds are, you’ve seen those Medicare Advantage TV commercials featuring the likes of William Shatner, George Foreman, Jimmie Walker and Joe Namath touting the “free” health insurance plans offering enticing benefits not available from so-called “Original Medicare” (also called “traditional Medicare”). But are they for real? Now that it’s Medicare