Retirement: Your outlook may influence your financial outcome. What kind of retirement do you think you’ll have? An outstanding one? A depressing one? What if it all starts with your outlook? Qualitatively speaking, what if the success or failure of your retirement begins with your perception of retirement? A whole field of study has emerged [...]
Have you kept up with them? Have they raised new questions for you? Retirement Plan Fiduciaries On July 1, 2012, the Department of Labor implemented some rules changes for ERISA-covered defined benefit and defined contribution pension plans. These changes were made to improve transparency.1 Covered service providers (CSPs) must fully describe services & fees. Financial [...]
Agreeing about what you want from retirement is crucial. What does a good retirement look like to you? Does it resemble the retirement that your spouse or partner has in mind? It is at least roughly similar? The Social Security Commission currently projects an average retirement of 19 years for a man and 21 years [...]
A summary of what you need to know. Key Medicare enrollment periods are approaching. This fall and winter, there are three periods in which Medicare beneficiaries can either enroll or disenroll in forms of coverage. * Oct. 15-Dec. 7: Open enrollment period. This is when you can exit Original Medicare (Parts A & B) for [...]
Can stocks keep their momentum once the Federal Reserve quits easing? “Easing without end” will finally end. According to its June policy meeting minutes, the Federal Reserve plans to wrap up QE3 (Quantitative Easing) this fall. Barring economic turbulence, the central bank’s ongoing stimulus effort will conclude on schedule, with a last $15 billion cut [...]
Is the conventional wisdom for everyone? Questioning traditional assumptions about retirement planning can be illuminating. Some retirement planners and economists argue that they need to be reexamined. Does most retirement planning focus on the future at the expense of the present? One noted economist makes that case. Laurence Kotlikoff, the former White House economic advisor [...]
Offshore accounts are receiving a new level of scrutiny. The federal government implements new rules to fight tax dodgers. As of July 1, 2014, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is in effect. FATCA requires something new of foreign financial institutions: they must now report any assets held by American citizens, U.S. “persons,” U.S. [...]
401k Amendment - Act now to make sure that your plan keeps up with new laws & regulations. The clock is ticking. Between now and April 30, 2016, 100% of 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans, and other tax-qualified plans that use an IRS-approved prototype plan document must be amended and restated.1 If this doesn’t occur by [...]
A little frugality may lead to a lot of financial progress. Americans have a great deal of disposable income relative to many other nations, yet our free spending can take us further and further away from the potential for financial freedom. Some people fall into crippling spending habits and injure their finances as a consequence. [...]
It is projected to grow even larger. What does that imply for the economy? In 1835, something financially remarkable happened: the federal government paid off the national debt.1 It hasn’t happened since. Through myriad presidential administrations and economic cycles, the national debt has persisted. Wars, depressions and recessions have all helped send it higher, and [...]
