Mutual Funds

Many people are retiring early. The St. Louis Federal Reserve reported that upwards of 3 million Americans retired early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you weren’t among that group that retired early, it’s good to remain working for a bit longer if you can for two main reasons: (1) working one extra year is

I was 64 on New Year’s Eve 2015, when I worked my last shift at the Chicago Tribune. I packed up my cubicle, turned off the lights and – just like that – dropped the curtain on one of the most rewarding chapters of my life. At first, I was giddy with all the freedom

Topline An increasing number of Federal Reserve officials have recently spooked markets by warning about the economic impact of decades-high inflation and how the central bank will need to aggressively raise interest rates, as well as “rapidly” reduce its balance sheet, to combat surging prices. Key Facts Stocks fell on Wednesday, adding to losses this

Topline With numerous Federal Reserve officials sounding the alarm on inflation, minutes from the central bank’s latest monetary policy meeting released Wednesday hinted at bigger interest rate hikes ahead this year and outlined a plan to reduce its balance sheet by $95 billion per month. Key Facts Federal Reserve officials, who last month raised interest

Medicare Advantage managed care plans, which in 2021 covered 26 million enrollees, will get an average 8.5 percent increase in total Medicare payments next year. At the same time, MA plans are rapidly embracing a wide range of social services and supports for older adults living at home. Sometimes called long-term care lite, these benefits

Topline An increasing number of Wall Street experts are now forecasting a possible economic downturn on the horizon, with alarms growing louder after the widely-observed yield curve inverted last week and indicated a looming recession. Key Facts Deutsche Bank on Tuesday became the first major bank on Wall Street to forecast a recession next year,

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about whether people who hadn’t filed yet missed the January 2022 5.9% COLA, spousal benefit rat4es after early retirement benefits and switching to retirement benefits after early survivor’s benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc.

The legal profession urges you to get your estate planning done. They draft wills, trusts and empowering documents like the Durable Power of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directives. Responsible people with means usually get this done. What they and the lawyers they hire apparently don’t think about is what happens when the client, who may

Yet Another Tax Proposal The Biden administration released its budget and tax proposals on March 28, 2022. This is called the “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Revenue Proposals,” or more affectionately the Greenbook. Should you care? Honestly, who knows. Speakers at a major estate planning conference speculated that it was unlikely for

Some people wait until the last minute to take care of things. If that’s you, here is a last-minute RMD Alert. IRA (and 401(k)) owners born in the last half of 1949 (after June 30, 1949, but before Jan. 1, 1950): Did you take your RMD (required minimum distribution) in 2021? If not, you need

By Andrea King Collier, Next Avenue When I started this series at the beginning of 2021, my husband and I were preparing ourselves for our “big” 65th birthdays in November and December. It was all straightforward. We made a list of things we needed to tackle and went after it. And now, just like that,

By Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Next Avenue As a “preacher’s wife” (so vividly portrayed by Whitney Houston in a cinematic classic), I have witnessed many funerals where confusion and animosity clouded a celebration of life due to the proper lack of estate planning. Specifically, when there is no will in place, all hell tends to break

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Next Avenue Jane Coloccia is no stranger to moving long distances, having moved in 2014 from New Jersey to southern California. When she picked up the phone to hire a moving company earlier this year to relocate from California to northwest Oregon with her husband, Victor Teixeira, and their small dog, Sophie,

Most people worry about their financial future and yet basic financial education is excluded curriculum from high school to university Building Financial Confidence The need for individual confidence in personal financial planning has never been more paramount. Managing debt, navigating ever changing economic conditions, investment risks, rising inflation, and the increasing need to build a

Some people who are still working after age 72 can delay required minimum distributions (RMD) from their 401(k)s, but there are important limitations. RMDs from your company’s 401(k) can be delayed until April 1 of the year after “the calendar year in which you retire from employment with the employer maintaining the plan,” according to

In May 2021, psychologist Anthony Klotz coined the phrase “The Great Resignation” to describe the record amounts of workers quitting their jobs after reevaluating their roles during the pandemic (cnbc.com, January 2022). Last year, on average, 3.98 million workers quit their jobs each month, the highest average on record since the Bureau of Labor Statistics

The difference between a big tax bill at the end of the year and a rebate often comes down to two very important steps. For the self-employed, rebates require proper planning throughout the year, making sure you’re paying (without overpaying) the IRS every quarter. Second, it demands that you’re taking the right exclusions, deductions and

Parents often want to be fair with their adult kids and may want to appoint them together on legal documents when they do their estate planning. That means that the adult children will have “equal decision-making ability” on things like the Power of Attorney for finances or the Advance Healthcare Directive (aka power of attorney

Women may think about retirement as not working, rather than focusing on what it means to be financially free in retirement. Many women have thought about a day when they would not need to work a nine-to-five job but hold on to traditional ideas about retirement planning. For example, they ask themselves: Shouldn’t I take

First a pint. Then a round, or two, or a few – add an order of fish & chips – and you have the makings of a fun evening with friends at the local pub. This is pub life. Pints and fish & chips aside, place matters. Where we live, and the nearby neighborhood places

If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that if you put something off for too long, you may not have the chance to do it in the future. Many people are heeding that advice these days by changing jobs, getting divorced and buying homes. It is no different with estate planning.

The IRS issued IR-2022-69 on March 25, 2022, in which they reminded owners of retirement accounts that some must take their 2021 required minimum distributions (RMDs) by April 1, 2022. The language in IR-2022-69 referred to reaching age 72 after June 30, 2021, which caused some confusion. The confusion was because the new rule of

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how early retirement benefits can affect spousal benefits taken after full retirement age, whether earning $2 over the limit can disrupt disability benefits and being able to receive retirement benefits after survivor’s benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president

Most of us know someone who has memory loss issues. Maybe we know someone who has cognitive impairment or dementia. What we don’t always see is how these issues affect the spouse of the impaired person. The caregiver role can turn into something no one anticipated. At the earlier stages of diseases that show up

For the first time since 2012 the IRS has updated the life expectancy tables that serve as the basis for calculating the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for retirement accounts. The new tables reflect a longer life expectancy, and therefore have extended the distribution period which will lower the annual required minimum distribution. The actuarial calculations

Higher prices returned with a vengeance in 2021. During such bouts of inflation, commodities tend to do well. Last year the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) earned 37.1%, far exceeding the S&P 500 and all other equity indices. It was the third best-performing asset class in 2021. Indeed, only Bitcoin (59.8%) and WTI Oil

“You don’t just have to want what you want,” a good friend of mine told me more than 20 years ago, “you have to want what your wants lead to.” Please let that sink in for a moment. It’s the simplest definition of second-order thinking I’ve heard, and it applies to wise decision making in

Did it thrill you to see your children cash their first paycheck? Do you display that special kind of inner pride knowing your children have that special kind of responsibility that makes employers want to hire them despite their young age? Then hold on to your seats, it’s about to get a whole lot more

Most of us have been quite obsessed with our physical health these last two years. Like me, you can probably list all the possible symptoms of Covid, the signs of long-Covid, the possible reactions to the vaccines, the rates of illness among older adults, and the reasons why some people should be extra cautious about

In 2018, Fiona Frills, then 14, was interviewed for the book From Cradle to Retirement: The Child IRA. In that interview, she told the following story (page 143 of the book): Like many her age, Fiona Frills of Saratoga, California, loves YouTube. In fact, she loves it so much she started her own YouTube channel