Retirement

Santa Claus putting a lump of coal in Congress’s Christmas stocking. Getty The House of Representatives earlier this afternoon passed two bills to provide $1.4 trillion in funding for defense and non-defense spending programs that must be appropriated on an annual basis. As is often the case with must-pass legislation at the end of the

Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Holidays are a notorious time for financial fraud. Scammers capitalize on the generosity of their targets, particularly seniors. What can families do to give their older loved ones, especially aging parents a greater measure of financial safety? The World Health Organization estimates that one in six

Getty We often think of successful entrepreneurs as fanatical types — often young — dreaming up brilliant ideas and then taking them to market. But would you believe that over 70% of the most transformative innovations in the past 30 years came from corporate employees known as intrapreneurs? That’s what business strategist Kaihan Krippendorff discovered

Getty Congress just agreed to a bipartisan appropriations bill that will help avert another government shutdown. However, attached to the spending bill is a piece of legislation called the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act), which passed the House with a 417-3 vote earlier this summer.  Honestly, the passage of the SECURE Act came as

Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin It looks like SECURE is in the spending bill. Getty On December 12, 2019, senior lawmakers announced they had reached a tentative agreement on the $1.4 trillion government spending bill. In a handshake deal, Rep Nita Lowry of New York announced that they had a “meeting

©EtiAmmos – stock.adobe.com Creating portfolios is now more and less complicated. Here’s the bottom-line. I would like to let you in on a little research I have been doing. It has to do with identifying what matters in creating investment portfolios today. The other side of that is, of course, determining what does not matter,

Happy Holidays! Steve Chen Happy holidays – give yourself the gift of tax savings As we head into the holiday season and New Years it can pay big dividends to spend a little time seeing if any year end moves can help you save a lot on taxes or improve your financial situation.  This month

This survey of high-payout funds will steer you to the bargains and warn you of the pitfalls. How to pay for it? Getty Stocks and bonds yield 2% these days. That’s problematic if you had in mind withdrawing 4% a year from your savings. Wall Street’s answer to this predicament: a rich menu of exchange-traded

Getty A lot of people these days believe they’ll receive little or nothing from Social Security. They’ll hear otherwise from Social Security, which will provide statements of estimated benefits to those who request. Most workers who are age 60 or over are mailed the statements each year, whether they ask for them or not. Beginning

null Getty The way to protect your portfolio isn’t large caps–it’s large yields. And the very best ones often come in small packages, such as the three “underappreciated dividends” yielding up to 15% that I’m about to show you. I’m talking about funds that pay big, secure dividends. When pullbacks happen, these funds’ prices don’t

Stressed Asian Senior Couple calculate their monthly expense with laptop computer. Debts, Saving, … [+] Financials with Retirement. Getty Worried about a 2018 (or worse, a 2009) repeat? Good news: I’ve got a closed-end fund (CEF) that should be on your list no matter what happens: it carries a special “insurance” policy if markets head

By Michele Wojciechowski, Next Avenue Contributor Getty It’s the most wonderful time of the year — unless you get scammed. “In this season of generosity, people let down their guards and tend not to be as skeptical as they would be the rest of the year,” says Christopher Elliott, founder of the consumer-advice nonprofit Elliott Advocacy

Getty As people look ahead to their retirement years, a primary objective is to identify areas of risk, with the goal of eliminating each and every risk that they believe could cause them harm. Experienced planners are trained to listen to these concerns, and their recommendations are typically well-intentioned efforts to meet this goal of

Jamila Souffrant knew she needed a change. Her three-hour round-trip commute from where she lived in Brooklyn, NY to work in New Jersey had gotten on her last nerve. Meanwhile, she felt like she was missing some of her two young sons’ growth, with all the back-and-forth. That’s when she heard about the financial independence

While the stock market can yield solid returns, it can be a minefield for those who aren’t financial professionals or who are new to investing. Newcomers can get tripped up trying to follow trends or blind themselves to the realities of the market. It’s important to have a long-term plan and take the time to

Getty Today the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) released the winners of the Social Security Policy Innovations Challenge it sponsored along with the AARP. I’m happy to say that among the four winning proposals is one with my name on it, so I have been waiting impatiently for this press release so I could

Upset mature couple ignoring each other. Close up of a worried senior man in tension at bed. Senior … [+] couple angry with each other after a fight. Getty Brilliant bond manager Jeffrey Gundlach—aka the “bond god”—has decreed that it’s time to sell “junk” bonds. And he’s gone as far as to say that one-third

Economic Security Planning, Inc. Today’s column addresses when spousal benefits can become available, widow’s and disability benefits, earning credits past 70 while receiving a public pension, how restricted applications work and might be beneficial and survivor’s benefits from public pensions. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president

WASHINGTON, D.C. – APRIL 14: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) speaks to a crowd gathered on the West … [+] Front of the U.S. Capitol building for a rally with Teamsters Union retirees who traveled from across the country to voice their opposition to deep cuts to their pension benefits on April 14, 2016, in Washington,

Senior couple walking on a beach together Getty I’m going to hand you a dead-simple strategy that perfectly lines you up for dividends growing 150%—or more—plus safe current yields of 6.5% and higher. The kicker? This quick 3-step plan positions you for fast 70% upside, too—especially when stocks dive. And if stocks soar? You’ll very