We often hear the following questions from people we work with:  

Bob and Patricia are 60 years old and would love to retire as soon as possible. It's not uncommon to meet people like Bob and Patricia who have been saving diligently, setting money aside into their 401(k)s, making wise investments, and living below their means with a desire to transition into retirement as early as possible.

As 2019 came to a close, the president signed into law a sweeping series of changes that will affect how we save for retirement as well as the distribution of IRA proceeds. The new law is officially entitled the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, but it is more commonly known as the SECURE Act. This new law includes both welcome changes as well as some controversial elements. As I said, the changes brought about by the SECURE Act were sweeping, but I am only going to highlight those changes tha

For the new retiree, it’s a huge challenge to create a plan to transition a career’s worth of accumulations into a retirement full of income that needs to last until the end of life. There are so many factors to consider and every retiree’s situation is unique. So copying your retired neighbor’s plan won’t work. It all comes down to the question: How am I going to create an inflation-adjusted stream of income from my investments that will last for the rest of my life? 

Some retirees have paid hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars unnecessarily to the IRS in the past year because they didn’t know the tax exclusion I am about to introduce to you. If you are over age 70.5, have an IRA, and donate to charities, you are likely overpaying taxes if you aren’t aware of the changes that occurred at the beginning of 2018 and how those changes impact your tax liability.

The other day I saw a headline that read “Cancer overtaking heart disease as leading cause of death in many states”.  The headline grabbed my attention and I continued to read to see if my state was one of the states where cancer was on the rise. Upon further investigation, I found that cancer deaths per capita are lower now than at any time in recorded history.

At retirement once you have made thoughtful decisions about how to get the most out of your Social Security and pension, the balance of your retirement income will have to come from your investments.

Past generations took little thought regarding how they would maximize their Social Security benefits. After all, it really didn’t matter how and when benefits were claimed if the retiree lived only a short time after retiring. Today, with the real possibility of living three decades without a job or paycheck, retirees need to do all they can to squeeze the most out of Social Security.

In past blogs, we have offered you some insight into the very temporary nature of a bear market as well as the illusion that equities are a dangerous place to invest. With these two blogs as a foundation, we would like to warn about certain types of investments that could do serious damage to your retirement.

If you’re approaching retirement age, you may be considering a move to a more retirement-friendly state, particularly if your current state of residence imposes numerous taxes on social security, pensions, and other retirement income. While making the decision to relocate is not something that can be done lightly, there are a variety of options available nationwide that may allow you to retain more of your retirement income.