Happy Birthday! You’re turning 65. There’s cake and ice cream, presents, and your application for Medicare. Yep, this is when you sign up for the federal health insurance program you’ve been paying for all your working life. Signing up isn’t difficult, but there are things you need to know...
It’s been pounded into us that having a successful retirement requires advance planning—financial planning, Social Security planning, retirement income planning, and estate planning. And now, there’s another component to be considered—planning what happens in the event you have a decline in mental capacity.
The Administration for Community Living estimates there...
In 2022, Social Security recipients got a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). That was the largest increase in 40 years. The COLA coming in 2023 may be even bigger.
Social Security calculates cost-of-living increases based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from...
1975 was a big year in financial annals when Americans were given a brand new way to save for retirement in something called an Individual Retirement Account—an IRA. You could put money into the account before taxes and the money got to grow tax-deferred. You didn’t have to pay...
“Tower, this is Bill. I’m on the final approach to retirement and need landing instructions. Do you copy?”
“Roger, Bill. Sending course corrections now. Then you are clear to land.”
Retirement is not something that just happens when you tell your employer goodbye and walk out the door. It’s a constant...
It’s not often that politicians agree about anything, but in a rare vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, men and women, Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives voted 414 to 5 in favor of the Secure Act 2.0, a series of changes to retirement savings plans. You can...
Since it was introduced in the early 1980’s, the employer-sponsored 401(k) plan has become one of the most common ways to save for retirement. Money comes directly out of your paycheck before taxes, the employer puts money into your account, and at retirement, you theoretically have a large pool...
You know you’ll have to do it someday. In fact, you’re probably looking forward to it; the day you sign up for Social Security and get the benefit of all the money that’s been taken out of your paycheck during your working years.
For the most part, signing up is...
“What the heck is it?” It’s not uncommon for something we used to know by one name now described by another word. When I was a kid, it was a swamp; today it’s wetlands. We used to re-use things; now they’re re-purposed. Improving something now means it’s re-imagined. The...