At the beginning of every year, Americans receiving benefits from Social Security and Medicare find out what changes have taken place and what it means to their bottom line. This year is no exception. For 2019, Social Security recipients get the biggest annual raise they’ve had for quite a while. Some higher-income workers will...
Ah, for the good old days when the retirement formula was simple. Get a job. Retire at 65. Go home and collect your pension. But those days are long gone. Pension benefits became too expensive for companies to maintain.  They cancelled the plans, started matching contributions to 401(k)s and pushed the burden of...
With the end of the year in sight, lots of plans are being made—what gifts to buy, what the menu will be, and how to shed the extra weight that will inevitably be acquired. But part of your holiday planning needs to include a year-end investment checkup so you...
Why Wait? Jiab Wasserman  |  November 1, 2018 MY MOTHER-IN-LAW Doris passed away last year at age 90. In the last few years of her life, she often mentioned that she felt guilty spending any of her money, let alone splurging. She wanted to leave the money to her children, even when her children...
The old three-legged stool for retirement consisted of: 1) Pension (Company) 2) Social Security (Government) 3) Personal Savings (You) Given less than 15% of Americans have pensions or will receive pensions, no longer is having a pension part of most Americans retirement plan. Therefore, we can throw pensions out the window for future...
“I can’t wait to get on Medicare!” I’m hearing that more often from people approaching 65 years old. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 health insurance has become anything but affordable. I know people paying more for their health insurance than they pay for their mortgage. On top...
Among America’s older population there is a growing concern about the state of their retirement and many are choosing to stay in the workforce much longer. In a previous article I listed concerns of older workers about whether they will ever be able to retire; concerns that include whether...
Gray divorce. Silver Splitter. Diamond Divorcee. They’re all names indicating a growing divorce rate among older couples. While overall divorce rates in the U.S. remained stable between 1990 and 2010, gray divorce, or divorce among spouses age 50 and older, doubled during the same time period. According to a study from Bowling Green State University,...
According to a Gallup poll, 51% of nonretired Americans don’t think they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. Retired Americans are more confident, with 78% saying that they have enough money to live comfortably. However, wherever you are on the spectrum, no matter if you are just starting to save for...
“I can’t wait to retire!” Have those words ever come out of your mouth? Oh, the thought of divorcing that demanding, unreasonable boss; doing what you want when you want; burning all the bridges you never intend to cross again. It’s the payoff for all those years of hard work. Unfortunately, the retirement dream we’ve...