You know you should start saving for retirement before you turn 40. What can you start doing today to make that effort more productive, to improve your chances of ending up with more retirement money, rather than less? Structure your budget with the future in mind. Live within your means and assign a portion of…
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Why do some households tread water financially while others make progress? Does it come down to habits? Sometimes the difference starts there. A household that prioritizes paying itself first may end up in much better financial shape in the long run than other households. Some families see themselves as savers, others as spenders. The spenders…
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Who wants to leave this world with their financial affairs in good order? We all do, right? None of us wants to leave a collection of financial mysteries for our spouse or our children to solve. What we want and what we do can differ, however. Many heirs spend days, weeks, or months searching for…
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A new study has raised eyebrows about the retirement prospects of women. It comes from the National Institute on Retirement Security, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. Studying 2012 U.S. Census data, NIRS found that women aged 65 and older had 26% less income than their male peers. Looking at Vanguard’s 2014…
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Whether your 65th birthday is on the horizon or decades away, you should understand the parts of Medicare – what they cover, and where they come from. Parts A & B: Original Medicare. America created a national health insurance program for seniors in 1965 with two components. Part A is hospital insurance. It provides coverage…
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All retirees want their money to last a lifetime. There is no guarantee it will, but, in pursuit of that goal, households may want to adopt a couple of spending and investing precepts. One precept: observing the 4% rule. This classic retirement planning principle works as follows: a retiree household withdraws 4% of its amassed…
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We all have a “blue sky” vision of the way retirement should be, yet it helps to plan for retirement with a little pragmatism. Fate may alter the course of our retirement in ways we do not currently anticipate. So, as we plan for the next act of life, we may want to think about…
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Diversification is a good thing; it is the most effective, least expensive, and easiest-to-implement strategy in an investor’s toolbox to reduce the risk of loss, without sacrificing return. The concept of diversification is readily grasped in a bit of homespun wisdom: when your mother advised “not to put all your eggs in one basket,” she…
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If you are younger than 35, saving for retirement may not feel like a priority. After all, retirement may be 30 years away; if your employer does not sponsor a retirement plan, there may be less incentive for you to start. Even so, you must save and invest for retirement as soon as you can.…
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If you ask someone who the “world’s greatest investor” is, the answer more often than not may be “Warren Buffett.” That honor has never formally been awarded to him, and many other names might be in the running for that hypothetical title, but one thing is certain: the “Oracle of Omaha” is greatly admired in…
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