Month: September 2021

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images Recent upticks in inflation have renewed interest from investors in assets that may help preserve the real (inflation-adjusted) value and purchasing power of their portfolio. The good news is that the typical investor’s portfolio will likely contain all the inflation-fighting tools that they need — such as stocks and

Sinenkiy | iStock | Getty Images The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2022 could be the highest it has been in decades. The latest estimates from The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan senior group, point to a possible 6.2% increase for next year based on the latest Consumer Price Index data. In comparison, this year’s

MANDEL NGAN | AFP | Getty Images Democrats may change the rules for “mega” individual retirement accounts with more than $5 million to help fund their expansion of the country’s safety net. “Mega retirement accounts” are among roughly two dozen tax categories congressional Democrats are eyeing to help raise money for a $3.5 trillion spending

Towfiqu Photography If you inherit a retirement account, you may want to pause before making any decisions on when and how to access the money. Basically, the rules that apply depend on your relationship to the person who died. Mistakes can be made, and depending on the specifics, they can be hard to undo. The

Thomas Barwick When it comes to income in retirement, one looming question confronts most individuals: How much money is enough? While the answer to that question in never black-and-white, recent headlines about the solvency of Social Security could be injecting more fear into that dilemma. Last week, the Social Security Administration released its annual trustees

mediaphotos | E+ | Getty Images As our elected officials debate how best to address a national debt approaching $30 trillion while simultaneously increasing spending levels and addressing wealth inequality, it should not be surprising that tax policy is at the forefront of the discussion In that context, there has been an especially intense focus

Getty Images There has been a recent flood of “math error” notices from the IRS, which have been confusing for taxpayers and difficult to resolve, financial experts say.  The IRS sent roughly 9 million such alerts from Jan. 1 through July 15, up from 628,997 in the same period last year, according to Taxpayer Advocate

JGI/Jamie Grill It appears most workers have to wait years for a company’s 401(k) matching contributions to become entirely theirs. The majority (82%) of employers that offer traditional 401(k) plans say they match a portion of their workers’ account contributions, according to a report from human resources firm XpertHR. However, the research shows that just