In this case a race to the bottom is a good thing: In an effort to attract new customers and increase market share in an extremely competitive business, mutual fund companies are battling it out for who can offer the lowest-cost ETF – and the resultant rock-bottom fees are great news for retirement savers. The author of today’s article highlights…
The oft-cited figure for how much you need to build up in your nest egg in order to retire comfortably is $1 million – with some experts advocating a $2 million target! However, the author of today’s article believes that, “while that theory might seem reasonable on paper, in practice, it leaves a lot to be desired” – and he…
“It doesn’t take brilliant investing to retire early as I did,” states the author of today’s article, a former software engineer who retired at age 50 despite making a number of investing blunders over the years – some of which involved tens of thousands of dollars. For his reflections on how he got to early retirement – including the big…
“Women over 50 are likely to enjoy decades in retirement,” notes the author of today’s article. That’s the good news for this group. The bad news? “Few have any idea how much medical expenses will eat into their savings.” Studies show that women aged 50 and over are largely unsure of what their health-care and long-term care costs will be…
Today’s article has a simple message: You should retire with buckets of money. This seems obvious enough – you want to build as large of a retirement nest egg as possible. The buckets of money referred to in this case, however, are figurative – part of a mental accounting strategy whereby retirement expenses are broken down into “buckets” and then…
With high-dividend-yielding stocks feeling the pain as interest rates rise, the author of today’s article argues that, while older investors should not scale back on their dividend holdings, “the challenge is to pick the right dividend stocks and funds” – and the right dividend stocks and funds right now might not be the usual suspects! As such, she proceeds to…
Think you’re financially and emotionally ready to retire? According to today’s article, you may still have to postpone retirement, thanks to the House Republicans’ proposed Obamacare replacement bill – the American Health Care Act – and its provision that would allow insurers to charge older customers five times as much in premiums as younger customers – compared to the three-to-one…
In some (rare) positive retirement news, Wells Fargo’s 2016 retirement study found that the average 401(k) balance is at a new high – $92,000. So, with Americans looking to improve their financial futures and steering more dollars into their retirement accounts, how should they be investing these additional funds? In aggressive stock plans? Conservative bond funds? Low-cost index funds? To…
2016 was a banner year for 401(k)-related lawsuits, as employees felt the need to take legal action in order to have issues with sub-par retirement plans rectified – and, as the author of today’s article acknowledges, the issues that prompted these lawsuits are unlikely to improve under the current regime in Washington. As such, he outlines three things to look…
The author of today’s article notes that Individual Retirement Accounts have become a lot more complicated in a number of critical ways since their introduction in the 1970s. As such, he provides a comprehensive overview of the internal workings of IRAs – including the various types of IRA accounts, funding options and distribution of funds. He then proceeds to outline…