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…
There was a time when a million dollars would have seemed like a mythical amount of money. Today, however, despite the fact that many retirement savers have arbitrarily set $1 million as the amount they need to amass for a secure retirement, many financial advisors caution that a nest egg of this size could still leave people short in retirement.…
Will they or won’t they…destroy the stock market? One theory making the rounds in the investment world is that, as a result of a combination of a mass movement from stocks to bonds and taking required minimum distributions, baby boomers will be huge stock sellers in the coming years, with devastating implications for the stock market. But how likely is…
When it comes to the assumptions your retirement is riding on, the author of today’s article warns that “abject optimism can be dangerous.” But not only do many retirement planners have overly optimistic expectations about rates of return in the coming years, many are also overly optimistic with their plans to work longer in order to help fund their retirements:…
Exchange-traded funds are becoming an increasingly popular vehicle for accumulating assets for retirement. But what should be done with ETFs (which carry a certain degree of risk) as one moves into retirement (where risk aversion is the name of the game)? The author of today’s article notes that “your first instinct may be to edge away from volatility, but there’s…
With 401(k) account balances rising, more employees are wondering how they can get their hands on that money. However, whether it’s from borrowing from their 401(k)s or pulling the money out when they leave jobs, the result is one of the biggest threats to Americans’ retirement savings: leakage. Today’s article notes that, according to one analysis, such leakage “threatens to…
“If you want to have an income-rich retirement, you’ve got to have a diversified basket of dividend stocks that will deliver both capital appreciation and income growth,” states the author of today’s article – and this assertion is backed up by a study that looked at the returns of S&P 500 stocks over a 33-year period. The author proceeds to…
Are you unknowingly passing up a tax credit from Uncle Sam that could help you pad your retirement account? Today’s article highlights a special tax break aimed at helping those with modest income save for retirement, but one expert cited notes that “only an estimated one out of four people who could get money from the credit are getting it….”…
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Nordstrom are among the companies that have been targets of a President Trump Twitter attack, and the share prices of the companies Trump goes after almost always drop in the immediate aftermath. But are there lasting effects? Today’s article looks at what the Wall Street Journal’s “Trump Target Index” – which tracks the post-attack performance of…