Retirement

Higher income earners received a momentary reprieve from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A planned change to catch-up contributions and how they’re classified for tax purposes was set to go into effect in 2024, but the IRS announced it will delay the change until 2026. When the Secure Act 2.0 of 2022 passed, it scheduled

By Ellen Ryan, Next Avenue Taco Tuesday may bring to mind Old El Paso shells or Pace salsa, and Wednesday might still register for many people as Prince spaghetti day. But if you buy private labels instead, you can enjoy the traditions and have more in your grocery budget at week’s end. Surprisingly, even after

“Should I stay, or should I go?” When The Clash sang those words over 40 years ago, the 401(k) plan barely registered in the retirement plan landscape. The idea of choice captivated workers. This newly defined contribution plan promised employees freedom that defined benefit plans only teased at and, more often than not, reneged upon.

Millions of widowed, divorced or otherwise single adults live alone. With the changes of aging, new dangers emerge. Frailty, cognitive decline, and failing health set them up for serious situations and trips to the hospital. We consult about what to do here at AgingParents.com. Some of the issues friends, neighbors and distant family members bring

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue The Pew Research Center frequently publishes fascinating studies about America and Americans, but its recent jobs survey was an eye-opener. Pew learned that employees aged 65 and older are the happiest. Specifically, its survey of 5,188 U.S. workers who aren’t self-employed found: Two-thirds of those 65+ are extremely or very

It’s officially the end of an era for golden visas in Europe. In 2020, Cyprus closed its citizenship-by-investment program (similar to a golden visa but granting citizenship, not just residency). In February 2022, the U.K. ended its foreign investment offer. In January 2023, EU satellite state Montenegro closed its citizenship-by-investment program. And now, the tide

The Great Recession had a major impact on savers of all types, including institutional investors like pension funds. This quickly stirred debate about the retirement plans offered to public workers, particularly before markets recovered. Despite all of this hubbub, no states completely closed their pension plans. Many states made changes to their pension plans, often

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Corporate bonds can be a valuable building block in a retirement portfolio. They allow you to lock in attractive yields for periods ranging from a few to many years. That’s in contrast to instruments such as certificates of deposit and money market funds, for which the

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A convertible bond is an investment vehicle that starts as a bond and then can turn into a stock. These bonds are often framed by sellers as a way to reduce risk by having the certainty of a bond that offers the upside of a stock’s

The special and significant retirement risks of upper middle class and affluent Americans often are overlooked. The “retirement crisis” in America frequently is discussed and studied, but those discussions focus on the risks for lower- and middle-income Americans, such as not saving enough and investing too conservatively. Households with higher incomes have different retirement risks,