You decided right out of college that you wanted to achieve financial independence and retire early. With that plan in mind, you lived within or below your means, you tracked your spending and savings, and you invested a huge percentage of your income and let the magical powers of compounding interest do its thing. Now…
In planning for retirement, most people rightly concentrate on whether or not there will be enough money to support themselves in a comfortable fashion throughout their remaining lives. But financial considerations are just one of the concerns that people face when looking at their retirement planning. Where to retire is often given a lower priority,…
Despite a steady drumbeat of media coverage that Baby Boomers aren’t saving enough for retirement, a recent PwC survey of Boomers found that their biggest fear about retirement isn’t actually running out of money before the end of retirement, but how they’re going to handle their health care costs in retirement. That fear isn’t necessarily…
In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, panels above your seat will open revealing oxygen masks. Reach up and pull a mask towards you… Secure your own mask first before helping others. If you have ever flown on an airline, you have no doubt heard this speech. When I fly with my children,…
Mistakes made when planning for your retirement can have disastrous consequences. Here are eight critical (but common) errors you should avoid… 1. Don’t retire away from a job; instead, retire to a well-designed retirement plan. Spend time thinking about what you want to do in retirement. What will you do every day? Will you…
For prospective retirees who don’t simply want to annuitize most or all of their wealth, determining how best to invest a retirement portfolio to generate income is a substantial challenge. This is the case not only because of the need to invest for enough growth to sustain inflation-adjusting retirement distributions over time, and managing portfolio…
How much money do you need to retire? It’s a familiar question with an unsatisfying answer: it’s complicated. It depends on how much you’ve socked away, how much income you’ll have coming in, how much you plan on spending and how long you live. There’s no one size fits all, it’s unique to you. To…
The 2017 tax season is mostly in the books (if you filed an extension, you have until October 15th, 2018 to complete your return), but if you became your own boss last year or this year, it might be wise to set-up a retirement account for your business and make pre-tax contributions that can grow…
I was at a funeral recently for a friend’s mother and sat next to a man who was the surviving spouse’s oldest friend. He was 85 years old, and had been friends with the husband for more than 70 years. He told me that his wife died about eight years ago, and after spending six…
James had been a saver for his entire adult life and was proud of the fact that he had accumulated his retirement nest egg by following the financial ‘rules of the game.’ He and his wife, Irene, had saved the $3 million their advisors said was the amount they needed to finally retire and pursue…
