Your tax-advantaged retirement accounts are funds for retirement, so you should tap those funds once in retirement…right? The authors of today’s article argue that those accounts shouldn’t be relied on to fund the early part of retirement, but instead advocate a “two-phase retirement” where the first phase is funded by taxable funds and the second phase is funded by 401(k)/tax-advantaged…
Whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, or 60s and beyond, today’s article has some tailor-made investing guidance for you – including some specific funds for those in each decade of life to consider. In addition, the article examines whether – contrary to conventional wisdom – a 50-50 stock/bond split may be appropriate for retirees, as has been…
If you think you’ve put off saving for retirement way too late, all hope may not be lost. Today’s article highlights research from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) showing that, “even starting at age 50, it is possible to save more than $1 million for retirement”. How? AAII identifies five different scenarios where, by saving from age 50…
“There is no arguing that sitting in cash is a lousy investment,” asserts the author of today’s article, noting that cash earns next to nothing in the average checking account and does not even keep pace with inflation. But research shows that there is an emotional upside to having more cash on hand than is generally recommended: it makes us…
How much do you need to save for retirement? In what order should you fund various retirement savings vehicles? What insurance policies will you need in retirement? How can you safely go about drawing down your assets once in retirement? Retirement planning is incredibly complex – which is why the author of today’s article breaks the process down into several…
The FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement is growing as more and more workers seek to save enough so that they can leave full-time work in their 30s, 40s or 50s – and those that have achieved early retirement have developed some tools to help those who aspire to do so. Are you on track to retire early based on…
With a few exceptions (e.g. collectibles, life insurance), you can own pretty much anything in an individual retirement account, from real estate and precious metals to farming interests and church bonds. And with concerns that the stock market is overvalued (and rising interest rates affecting bond prices), nontraditional assets – with their juicy return potential and diversification benefits – may…
The number one rule of saving for retirement is to max out your 401(k) contributions …right? The adviser cited in today’s article has a different take on this widely-accepted piece of financial wisdom, arguing that, for many, there might be better options. For whom does he believe maxing out 401(k)s contributions is not the best option, what does he recommend…
A new “unretirement” life stage. A “cyclical” (rather than linear) lifeline. Much of what we pay for today (including auto insurance) being free. New “healthopia” communities for affluent boomers. These are some of the predictions so-called “futurists” are making in regards to the personal finances of Americans over age 50 over the next five and 10 years – as well…
One of the macro-level changes in the investment landscape has been the large-scale shift by investors into indexes and ETFs (and away from stocks and mutual funds) – a shift that the author of today’s article sees as being based on misplaced beliefs, and one that he warns will cost those investors – especially younger investors – in the long…