News

Mono

It’s That Time of Year

It’s usually around this time of year, when individuals are preparing paperwork for filing their tax returns, that we are asked what the deadlines for contributions are, and what happens if one spouse is non-working but still wants to make IRA contributions.  As a general rule, you have until tax

Read More »
Busyness 2

The Busyness of Life

What does retirement really, truly mean? What are your plans for after you retire? We’ve been thinking about this recently. Many would define it as “retreating from the ‘busyness’ of life.”  When do you plan on retiring? How old will you be? How long do you think you’ll spend in

Read More »
Default

Bridge the Gap

We’ve heard many times that it’s a good idea for retirees to put off receiving Social Security payments, as waiting can allow you to get more out of them than if you were to start as soon as age permits.  One way to make this more feasible is to include

Read More »
Mono 2

Stay Active During Retirement

Retirement is a new beginning. As a new retiree, you enter a new stage of your life, where your time is now regulated by you and you alone, rather than revolving around your work.  Unfortunately, many new retirees find this isn’t what they’d expected it to be. Many people begin

Read More »
Mono

Seven Different Ways

We thought we’d bring to your attention an article recently published by AARP that discusses seven different ways retirement income will be different this year:  “For most people, retirement finance is a delicate balance between income that’s likely less than what you made while working and expenses that may be

Read More »
Dfault

A Sudden Influx of Cash?

Annuities are one way to leverage a sudden influx of cash that may or may not have been expected, such as a bonus, inheritance, or sale of a small asset you had never factored into your financial profile. The reason they can be leveraged is because, unlike traditional tax-advantaged retirement

Read More »
Alt1

Retirement With $5 Million

There was a recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute on an analysis of retirement accounts using the 2018 Survey of Consumer Finances. According to the analysis, a $5 million retirement nest egg puts you in the top 0.1% of households. Then, the question becomes: what does $5 million

Read More »

New Law For 2024

If you own a small business or family office you could be required to report ownership details to the federal government… or face stiff penalties and possible jail time. The Corporate Transparency Act went into effect on January 1, 2024, and it requires otherwise unregulated companies to report information about

Read More »

Estate Planning

We all know that complex estates require sophisticated estate planning. If you have a large estate or own a business, only a qualified estate-planning attorney will have the knowledge and expertise to tailor to your specific needs.  Because we have been doing business with you, we may be able to

Read More »

Gifts That Keep Giving

The younger a child is when you contribute to their 529 plan, the longer the account has to potentially benefit from compound growth. In 2023, individuals can contribute up to $17,000 per year (and couples up to $34,000 per year) without eating into their lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. 

Read More »

Pre or Post-Retirement? 

Most of us think of life insurance as a way to help the people who depend on us financially, or even just to help pay the debts we may have left for our end-of-life care, funeral, or burial costs.  What few of us tend to consider is the simple fact

Read More »

Types of Annuities: A Rundown

We’ve been asked what a variable annuity and a fixed annuity are. What are the differences between them? Essentially:  A variable annuity’s value is based on the performance of a portfolio of sub-accounts; it offers the opportunity for higher returns and greater income than a fixed annuity, but there’s also

Read More »

Don’t Take the Bait

In 2022, social media-based scams cost Americans a total of $1.23 billion, a 54% increase since 2021, according to the Federal Trade Commission.  Typically, these sorts of scams start with someone claiming to be a mutual acquaintance of someone you know, or relative. Then, they either ask for financial assistance,

Read More »

Paying For Medicare

Friends and colleagues who are approaching 65 are beginning to ask about Medicare benefits. Not just how to sign up, but what to select from among the various choices. The good news is, 94% of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and up are satisfied with their quality of care. The not-so-good

Read More »

What is a Pension? Do You Have One?

The phrase “pension benefits” has come up a lot in recent weeks, especially during the negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and the “big three” automotive manufacturers, narrowly avoiding a strike.  But for the majority of private-sector U.S. workers, pensions seem to have disappeared a long time ago. Pensions

Read More »

Did You Hear?

Did You Hear? According to LIMRA, annuity sales are on the rise yet again this year, after also breaking records last year. Investors building their retirement strategy looking to mitigate some risk have chosen to lock-in annuities–How smart is this choice? Well, there’s definitely a reason they’ve been selling recently. Reach

Read More »

An Email Scam Going Around

We’ve previously discussed different types of scams you should be looking out for. This week, we wanted to bring yet another one to your attention. You might get an email claiming to be from someone with the Social Security Administration, a message along the lines of “Due to suspicious illegal

Read More »

An Important Warning

Did you know that the older you are, the more susceptible you are to telephone or internet fraud? One of the most common tricks scammers use is impersonating a child or grandchild, asking you for financial assistance. According to the FBI, Americans lost over $10 billion to scams last year.

Read More »

When to Buy an Annuity? 

The average age at which one buys an annuity is their early 60s, with the majority of annuities purchased by individuals between ages 55–70. According to Oxford Economics, the U.S. population aged 65 and up is expected to grow by more than 8.3 million from 2022 to 2027, and so

Read More »

Calculating Life Expectancy 

We’ve provided some online tools to help estimate life expectancy, a topic we discussed last week. We found three we thought we’d share, each with varying degrees of specificity:  Go through one or all three to get an estimate. It may be able to help you with your financial retirement

Read More »
Archives
Scroll to Top