Retirement

You’ll get a real return of maybe 1% from a tax-exempt portfolio. Should the middlemen get to keep most of that? Munis Getty How hungry people are for a tax dodge—and how eager Wall Street is to satisfy them. So it is that there are 564 tax-exempt mutual funds. How to choose? This guide will

Getty Many people try the wrong route to building their retirement wealth, or rebuilding it after a market decline. The wrong way is to look at only a small part of the financial picture instead of the whole picture. Looking at the whole picture can lead you to faster, easier ways to increase retirement security.

TOPLINE The stock market took a hit from disappointing unemployment data and a rising number of coronavirus cases Thursday morning, but rebounded after U.S. regulators said they would ease post-financial crisis restrictions on big banks. Several states are seeing record numbers of new coronavirus cases. Spencer Platt/Getty Images KEY FACTS The Dow Jones Industrial Average

Deferred variable annuities with income guarantee riders have gained popularity as a retirement income tool providing behavioral solutions for the annuity puzzle. Retirees are not always comfortable seeing the premiums disappear from their portfolio balances when buying income annuities that convert a lump-sum premium into a protected lifetime income. Many features of a variable annuity

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Editor Marny Xiong, Michael Halkias and Yves-Emmanuel Segui Amee Xiong, Todd Heisler, Segui family/The New York TimesMarny Xiong, Michael Halkias and Yves-Emmanuel Segui You can learn in The New York Times how many humans have died from the coronavirus from its Tracking the Coronavirus graphic (472,125 as of June 23,

TOPLINE The stock market plunged on Wednesday as Wall Street grew increasingly concerned about a spike in new coronavirus cases impeding an economic recovery. Several states are seeing record numbers of new coronavirus cases. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images KEY FACTS The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 2.7%, over 700 points, on Wednesday,

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 27: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bill signing ceremony for … [+] H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. Earlier on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the $2 trillion stimulus bill that lawmakers hope

IRS’s 2020 RMD ruling favors those who took distributions in January and want to return those IRA … [+] funds. Getty Last April, in “Why the 2020 RMD Suspension is Not Fair to All,” I recounted the story of an early bird “RMD-er.” Ronald took his 2020 required minimum distribution (RMD) in January, as he has

TOPLINE Analysts from Morgan Stanley on Tuesday warned that Tesla stock, at over $1,000 per share, is grossly overvalued and set to plunge, with too many investors ignoring the risks of running a car company and instead treating Tesla like a high-growth tech company. It may be time to sell Tesla as shares edge towards

Economic Security Planning, Inc. Today’s column addresses questions about the ability to take spousal benefits before retirement benefits based on birthdate, future benefits estimates, taking benefits while not working and then returning to work and working to help with the coronavirus response while receiving disability benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston

This has been a hard year for retirement savers. The National Bureau of Economic Research says the U.S. entered a recession in late February, and some estimates say 2020 will see a six percent contraction in GDP. But you look at the stock market and see a totally different story. From its mid-February top of

TOPLINE Asked whether the government will send Americans another stimulus check in an interview Monday with Scripps Washington correspondent Joe St. George, President Trump said, “Yeah, we are,” and indicated that another bipartisan stimulus bill is on the way, but did not elaborate further on the possibility of another round of direct payments to Americans. 

Getty Much has already been written about the Flexibility Act, SBA Interim Rule changes, and EZ Forgiveness Application and instructions with respect to the Payroll Protection Act, all of which have been enacted and published since June 5th.   While the updated Interim Rules are still far from clear or thorough, the limitations and procedures explained

null Getty PPP borrowers and their advisors are scrambling to determine how to manage their businesses and expenses to best facilitate loan forgiveness to benefit their businesses and employees. These two objectives are sometimes at odds, and the new 24-week testing period election, which most borrowers can meet, will have a powerful impact on business conduct.   

The IRS wants you to know that retirees may be targets of scams that relate to economic impact payments (EIPs). EIPS were authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Senior Woman Giving Credit Card Details On The Phone Getty The U.S. Treasury is in the process of paying EIPs to

Economic Security Planning, Inc. Today’s column addresses questions about early spousal benefits before full retirement benefits, survivor benefits, which month to start benefits to avoid early filing reductions, unpaid Social Security and Medicare taxes and benefits on an ex’s record after remarriage. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder

Good News: You Don’t Need An Existing Relationship With A Lender To Get A PPP Loan Deadline for small business owners to apply for financial aid is June 30, 2020. (Photo by ERIC … [+] BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images Yesterday (June 19), the Small Business Administration (SBA) launched a free online

TOPLINE Despite a minor sell-off on Friday, stocks have rebounded from the coronavirus recession strongly in recent months—too strongly, according to research from Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli, who believes investors are too optimistic about a quick economic recovery and the market is now overvalued. Investors aren’t paying “nearly enough attention to the enormous permanent

Getty Social Security’s already-precarious financial condition will become worst because of the current economic downturn. The question many economists and policy analysts are trying to answer is: How bad will the system’s financial condition be? The trustees of Social Security issued their latest annual report in April, but the report didn’t include the downturn. The

The Retirement Income Scorecard Steve Vernon There are many types of retirement income generators (RIGs) that each produce different amounts of retirement income. My Retirement Income Scorecard compares the amounts of retirement income that are possible for 10 different RIGs, which is one consideration for choosing a RIG or combination of RIGs to build your