Retirement

People used to fear a diagnosis of cancer above all. That has been replaced by fear of a diagnosis of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Most people know someone who has it or did in the past. There is good reason to be afraid. It’s a difficult, expensive and sometimes very long journey with this disease.

To help protect themselves from being taken advantage of by financial sales professionals, retirees should ask the following questions about the financial professional seeking to provide them with investment advice or sell them an investment product: “Are you a fiduciary, and how are you registered?” “This question is critical as advisors can be dually registered

On December 29, 2022, the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022 was signed into law to enhance America’s retirement savings outlook. Since the original SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act) passed in December 2019, legislators have continued exploring ways to address the general inadequacy of Americans’ retirement savings, and the lack of

The economy grew at a substantial 2.9% in inflation-adjusted terms in the last quarter of 2022. This faster-than-expected performance occurred amid substantial headwinds, mainly higher interest rates. But, continued monetary policy tightening and, more importantly, massive fiscal policy uncertainty over Republicans’ stance on allowing the federal government to pay its bills could derail the economy

A friend of mine recently started his Social Security benefits at age 66, justifying his decision because interest rates have risen recently from virtually zero to the four percent range. That made me question if the conventional wisdom still applies: This wisdom says that for most people, delaying the start of Social Security benefits as

Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to hold the federal government’s purse string hostage to impose massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs. This irresponsible brinkmanship over allowing the federal government to pay the bills that Congress, including past Republican controlled ones, have already incurred will create massive uncertainty. Businesses and

Planning for a long retirement requires pre-retirees and retirees to thoughtfully consider many decisions that can significantly impact their financial security. One effective way to engage with these decisions is to answer thought-provoking questions, a technique shared in a recent report from the Stanford Center on Longevity that explored how pre-retirees and retirees can improve

Senator Katie Muth, a Board Member for the $40 billion Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) will never forget the first meeting of the pension board she attended and the ESG presentation she heard which included cryptocurrency as a solution for the un-banked in African countries. “I was really looking forward to the ESG presentation

Has SECURE 2.0 been over-hyped? Or will it prove to be a game-changer? Financial professionals are split on the issue. But there’s one thing for sure: in some cases, the blunt force of reality may dampen the enthusiasm of the headlines. You can’t escape it. Everywhere you look, you find prognosticators predicting the best of

The Secure Act 2.0 just upended retirement planning…again. The age when retirees must begin drawing from non-Roth retirement accounts increases to 73 in 2023, then 75 in 2033. Individuals who have already started RMDs can’t stop. Raising the age when withdrawals must begin is great as it gives investors more planning opportunities. However, it doesn’t