Does your estate need a Plan B? The author of today’s article warns that, while the assumption when drawing up a will is that you will pre-decease your heirs, “accidents and crimes can claim several lives in one swoop…Without proper preparation, those kinds of situations can snarl your estate plan, potentially reducing the value of assets you bequeath or putting…
Looking back on the year that was, it may seem like 2016 was more ridiculous than educational, but the author of today’s article states that, “when it comes to takeaways that can improve your retirement planning and investing, I think there’s one big lesson we should all draw from 2016.” From the markets’ worst start to a year ever, to…
While it may not be something you are eager to do amongst holiday festivities, the financial planners cited in today’s article believe “the end of the year is the perfect time to take a look at where you are when it comes to retirement and make adjustments.” So, assuming you are willing to set aside a couple of hours before…
When it comes to retirement planning, today’s article provides a case study in what not to do. In fact, it provides seven of them, as relayed by the financial planners who have seen people make these big retirement planning mistakes first-hand. From being too optimistic (or, conversely, too pessimistic) about one’s financial situation, to underestimating the impact taxes will have…
Many myths may be relatively innocuous, but when you are making retirement-planning decisions based on myths the consequences can be dire. As such, today’s article identifies five “pervasive retirement myths Americans must stop believing” and seeks to counter them with a dose of reality. What do the majority of studies say about whether spending increases or decreases in retirement? Is…
The United States is not #1 when it comes to retirement security – in fact it failed to even crack the top 10 on the recently released 2016 Natixis Global Retirement Index, which assessed and ranked 43 countries on the retirement security of their residents. Instead, the U.S. ranked “a middling No. 14, right after Luxembourg and several notches below…
With all the complicated and interconnected questions that individuals nearing retirement must contend with, is it possible that software could provide more individually tailored and holistic answers to these questions (and in a more cost-effective manner) than an adviser? Today’s article outlines how Matt Fellowes, who recently resigned as Chief Innovation Officer at Morningstar Inc., is building a beta version…
“Newsflash to Baby Boomers: the roadmap for retirement has changed and you have to change with it.” The author of today’s article cautions that there is a “significant shift happening in retirement planning because of new technology that can deliver similar or better service…at lower cost… [and that] Baby Boomers are most at risk of missing the boat on this…
When it comes to retirement planning have you given sufficient cogitation to your cognitive abilities down the road? Today’s article highlights a disturbing finding in this regard: “financial literacy tends to decline by about 1% per year after age sixty, but financial confidence remains the same.” As such, the author cautions that “with retirement, it is important to consider how…
Much has been written over the last several weeks about the big change in the world of retirement planning – the fiduciary standard which will require financial advisors making retirement investment recommendations to act in their clients’ best interests. However today’s article points out that, in addition to this new standard, “there have been several other tweaks to [retirement] accounts…