When Social Security’s trustees issued their annual report on the program earlier this year, it forecast that costs will exceed income next year for the first time since 1982 and that, if no action is taken, the program will run out of money by 2035. Given this, is it time to rethink the common financial wisdom that says it’s best…
How do people who save 20% or more of their incomes for retirement – so-called retirement “super savers” – manage to do it? New research provides a big part of the answer, identifying “the single biggest difference between what super savers spent less on, as compared to the rest of us” – something super savers spend just 14% of their…
The difference between running a marathon race and preparing for retirement, the author of today’s article observes, is that “When you cross the finish line in a marathon, you know the race is over. But when you quit the workforce, it’s much harder to figure out whether you’ve successfully reached retirement.” So how can you get a good sense of…
How can retirees best ready themselves for a possible recession? Construct a sound financial plan if you don’t already have one, according to the author of today’s article. And if you already have an appropriate financial plan in place, his advice, “in short, is to do nothing.” Why does he recommend doing nothing in the face of a possible recession?…
If you’ve been extremely diligent and managed to save $1 million for retirement, how can you best make that $1 million last for a 30-year retirement? Today’s article outlines four different strategies (two conservative approaches and two moderate approaches) to do just that, with two of the strategies involving drawing down that $1 million nest egg over 30 years and…
With the market butting up against all-time highs, those who are about to retire may be feeling particularly concerned, given sequence of returns risk and the potentially catastrophic effect of poor returns early on in retirement. For those nervous near-retirees, today’s article may provide some comfort as it outlines what a research team found when it comes to retiring at…
If you want to increase your chances of a financially secure retirement, new research indicates that one way to do so is to be dynamic…with your spending strategy. The study “measured the success rates of various strategies that adjusted withdrawal rates depending on whether your portfolio in any given year is ahead or behind of what your retirement financial plan…
You’ve heard of black swan events (events which are extremely rare and hard to predict but which can have severe consequences), but what about white swan events? As today’s article explains, these events can be just as devastating to financial plans, but, despite the fact that they are more common and foreseeable than black swan events, people spend little time…
“The benefits of owning a Roth IRA are nothing short of amazing,” declares the author of today’s article, pointing in particular to the fact that money in a Roth IRA grows tax-free and is withdrawn tax-free. Of course, taxes are paid on money converted from a regular IRA to a Roth IRA, but, as the author proceeds to outline, with…
A market downturn can mean very different things for those still early in their investment careers, those approaching retirement, and those in retirement. Those in the first group may be able to shrug off a downturn as there’s still lots of time for their portfolios to recover. In regards to the latter two groups, the author of today’s article notes…