As a wise person once said, “If you think saving for retirement is hard, wait until you figure out how to take money out in retirement!” Yes, retirement withdrawal strategies are complicated and confusing for many reasons including: Tax issues Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules Social Security Un-known health care costs Potential for long term … Read more
In case you were wondering, the COVID-19 induced recession was the shortest in U.S. history. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the recession lasted two months – from February 2020 to April 2020. The NBER is the official authority of when recessions begin and end. I thought the definition of a recession … Read more
I had a client ask me about “smart beta” investing recently because she saw the term in an article. I told her I didn’t know what it meant. I had to look it up. The term “smart beta investing” is a made-up term that is supposed to help explain an investing approach, but it just … Read more
The Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) is a pretty good organization, but their latest survey on retirement is ridiculous. I hope they didn’t spend too much money on this survey. Their findings are so obvious as to be comical. For example, the survey found: Retirees with guaranteed sources of income like Social Security and a … Read more
When I Googled the phrase “what is smart investing” I got back 381,000,000 results in less than a second. Wow. This seems to be a hot topic for many people. (Just for fun, I Googled “what is stupid investing” and received 17,200,000 results.) Let’s dig into this topic today. First, what is “smart investing”? When … Read more
I can’t remember where I first saw the above graphic, but it has stuck with me because it captures the emotional challenge of investing. Many investors swing between elation and fear and change their investment approach. This is a good way to miss your financial goals. Right now, many people seem to be on the … Read more
Hard to believe, but retirement can be boring – as in not interesting and tedious. Nationwide Retirement Institute conducted a survey in 2020 and found that 28% of recent retirees said life was worse in retirement compared to when they were working! How can that be? Isn’t retirement the promised land, the holy grail, one … Read more
According to experts at the website FindLaw, some of your retirement account are protected from bankruptcy unless there are unusual circumstances. They are not part of your bankruptcy estate, and you won’t be forced to take money out of retirement accounts to pay debts. Accounts that are protected in a bankruptcy include: ERISA employer plans … Read more
Why is it hard to be a successful investor? I have some suggestions based on my experience with clients and observations of human nature. Here are five of my favorite investment challenges: Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). Once a person becomes interested in investing and reads just a few articles put out by the financial … Read more
The first person who used the phrase “both side of the brain retirement planning” is Joe Jordan. I think he means your retirement plan must work from both the left side that’s more analytical, AND the plan must work for the right side of your brain that is more feelings, intuition, imagination, and visualization. Even … Read more
Before you go, grab your FREE report:
