“There will never be a better time than now,” declares one tax attorney cited in today’s article in regards to converting your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. And many financial planners are expressing the same sentiment. Why? The GOP tax bill reduced most rates, and converting now allows individuals to pay taxes on retirement savings at a lower rate…
Is 2.6 the new 4? When it comes to your financial plan’s safe withdrawal rate in the low-return environment that many institutions are forecasting for traditional asset classes going forward, that may be the case. However, rather than just accepting lower withdrawal rates, there may be things investors can do to overcome this situation. Today’s article offers a number of…
Budgeting may be the cornerstone of financial success but two-thirds of Americans don’t have a budget (and the one-third that do undoubtedly don’t enjoy managing it). Given this, the author of today’s article outlines an alternative to monthly budget tracking: the First Step Cash Management System, “a cash flow system [that] almost runs itself.” For how this bucket-based system works,…
How much money will you need in order to keep living like you live today in retirement? Various formulas for coming up with this number have been devised, but today’s article outlines one particularly simple rule of thumb that can be used in making this determination: the Rule of 300. How does the Rule of 300 work, how much does…
While the primary casualty of the fiduciary rule – which began to take effect in June – is intended to be conflicts of interest on the part of financial advisers when it comes to their clients’ retirement accounts, today’s article identifies another potential casualty of the rule: the number of mutual funds offered by brokerage firms as they seek to…
If there was one simple thing that you could do that could help you be better prepared financially for – and boost your confidence in your ability to maintain your desired lifestyle in – retirement, would you do it? Well, as today’s article highlights, there is such a thing – yet less than a quarter of Americans have done it.…
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…
The transition from building up savings leading up to retirement to spending down those savings once in retirement can be challenging, both strategically and psychologically – and thus mapping out an in-retirement financial plan is critical, notes the author of today’s article. To aid in this complicated endeavor, she lays out “the key tasks to tackle” when devising such a…
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…
There is no end of lists purporting to identify the best cities or states in which to retire – but, for those planning on relocating to a warmer or less expensive locale in retirement, today’s article cautions there are a number of factors to consider that could lead to unexpected consequences – both financial and non-financial. The big one? Taxes…