I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might have less in your retirement account than you think you have! At least the worth to you might be less than you imagine. Really! Your 401k or IRA account balance is not telling the whole story of your wealth — especially if your income…
Retirement Savings and Investments News, Information and Guidance
The House of Representatives’ Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act and a similar bill in the Senate, the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act (RESA) are bills backed by both Republicans and Democrats (gasp!) that aspire to improve retirement and retirement planning for Americans. The Secure Act was approved by the House of…
Sorry. You probably are not a dummy about everything. But, research suggests that almost 80 percent of all Americans have a very low financial IQ (What’s yours? Take the quiz now.) So, the chances are high that you are a personal finance and investment dummy! And, good for you for doing something about it. (Maybe…
The best retirement investments depend entirely on you and your goals. Don’t dive into anything or let anyone tell you how to invest unless they understand how much money you have and what your goals are for that money. When will you need or want it? What will you spend it on? You have so…
Impact investing! The name sounds exciting. Who wouldn’t want to make an impact with an investment? But, what is it exactly? And, is it right for you and your retirement? Impact investing, related to socially responsible or ethical investing, conscious capitalism, and sustainable investing, is defined by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) as investments…
Self directed retirement accounts — whether it is an IRA or a 401k — are tax advantaged savings vehicles that offer you the ability to invest in a wide range of opportunities. When you have an IRA or 401k, your investment options are limited to whatever is available from your plan’s sponsor. And, those opportunities…
Could a retirement bucket strategy make it easier to manage savings after you retire? If you think that managing retirement investments is difficult when you are working, we have some bad news: it gets much harder when you actually retire. Once retired, your investments need to not only grow but also fund your lifestyle, keep…
An economic indicator is information that can suggest what is going on in the economy — is the economy healthy, growing or headed for trouble? Sounds useful, right? Well… maybe… Let’s explore the pros and cons of following economic indicators. Be Aware: The Upsides of Knowing About and Following Economic Indicators Being aware of what is happening…
Most of us are pretty stressed by the need to give our savings a big boost as we approach retirement. Guess what? There is actually a relatively little known retirement savings strategy that can really help: Catch up contributions. Catch up contributions are the IRS’s way of making it easier for savers age 50 and…
Let’s get real about investing in real estate for retirement. Investing of any kind can be complicated at any point in your life. However, investing in or near retirement can be especially arduous. At retirement you need your assets to be relatively free of risk while keeping pace with inflation. In many cases, you need your…
So, what type of empty nest parent are you? Are you: Super proud that they are setting out on their own? Still supporting them financially? Relieved and happy to have more time on your own? Sad and lonely that your children have flown the coop? Guessing that they’ll be back shortly? Shrewdly calculating how much…
John Bogle died on Wednesday. He was the founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund group. However, his real legacy is not in how he built a $4.9 trillion investment company but rather how he led a new way of thinking about retirement investing. Want to be a successful investor?Just buy the haystack (and thank John…
Episode 21 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Dr. Jim Dahle — a hockey playing emergency room doctor based in Salt Lake City Utah who runs White Coat Investor in his spare time. We dive into personal finance and retirement issues like how do you know if you’ve saved enough, what’s a safe…
The past month has seen some wild dips in the stock markets. Nothing yet too terribly miserable for most, but enough to make us jittery. Should we be worried about a stock market correction? The easy answer is yes. After all, investing in the stock market is inherently risky and today’s world feels more unpredictable…
As if the season wasn’t hectic enough, this is the time you need to make sure that you do everything you can to minimize your 2018 tax burden. Below are four key end of year tax strategies to help you keep more money — including information on new tax rules and how the tax planning…
College costs can feel overwhelming — especially if you are trying to retire sometime soon (or even just save for a future retirement). How to fund college education is a critical question and families need to explore all of their options. You are not alone if you are worried about paying for both big expenses…
Stocks that pay dividends can be enormously appealing to retirees. But what to do with those dividends can be confusing. Should you participate in a Dividend Reinvestment Program (DRIP)? Or should you just cash the check? Before answering that question, let’s learn a little more about dividends. What is a Stock Dividend? Different companies offer…
Episode 16 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Michael Batnick — Director of Research at Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC and author of Big Mistakes. We discuss what we can learn from the biggest mistakes of legendary investors, his long and winding path to his calling and what he’s learned along the way building…
Is the retirement crisis real? Whether or not you yourself are suffering, financial anxiety is acutely felt by many Americans. Research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (ERBI) finds that the median retirement account balance for households led by someone between the ages of 55 and 64 is a mere $14,500. If you have more…
Inflation is a dirty word when it comes to retirement finances. We have been lucky for a while. Over the last four decades the United States has enjoyed record low inflation rates. That might be changing and you may want to consider ways to protect your retirement from inflation — rising inflation. Is Inflation Coming?…
Doing a Roth conversion — also known as a “backdoor Roth IRA” — is perhaps even more appealing in 2018 than ever before. Why? Low 2018 tax rates. What is a Roth Conversion? Backdoor IRA? A Roth Conversion is when you convert money that you have in a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. This…
The stock market is enjoying a crazy long record setting expansion. By some measures, this is the longest bull market in the history of the United States. If this fact makes you nervous, you are not alone. No one wants their retirement savings at risk. So, Will the Stock Market Crash? Ha. Thought you’d get…
Episode 14 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Jim O’Shaughnessy – founder of O’Shaughnessy Asset Management. We discuss the investing lessons he’s learned from 30 years of investing – partially summarized in this tweet storm and why human behavior is the most predictable (and exploitable) element of the stock market. Listen Now: Don’t…
An Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is a document that is usually drafted by a financial advisor for their client. An IPS is meant to define: Investment goals Strategies for achieving those objectives A framework for making intelligent changes to your plan Options for what to do if things don’t go as expected Keep your retirement…
Your brain is not necessarily set up in a way that makes it easy to plan a secure retirement. You have cognitive biases — faulty ways of thinking that are unfortunately hardwired into your brain — that work against you. Wikipedia lists 185 different kinds of cognitive biases. While they are all probably somewhat damaging…
