Retirement

April 17th is my birthday! I’ve been fortunate to spend 39 years on this Earth, with 17 of those years working as a financial advisor. In that time, I’ve met with thousands of people regarding their personal finances. By interacting with so many families, discussing money and goals, I’ve amassed a wealth of helpful insights.

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue Although the Conference Board Index says consumer confidence in the U.S. is markedly higher than it was in 2020, money struggles are serious for many households with incomes less than $75,000, The Financial Well-Being 2024 survey of 5,000 U.S. adults from Assurance IQ has found. Financial concerns are especially weighty

My buddy Phil is a former nuclear submariner. He recently interviewed a special forces operator and asked him to identify his favorite piece of equipment for a mission. To my surprise, given the many options at his disposal, the operator selected a map. He said with a map, you are never lost. Oh, you can

Inflation – the change in overall prices – is back in the news again. After a persistent decline from a year over year high of 9.0% in June 2022 to a recent low of a year over year increase of 3.1% in January 2024, inflation recently has stopped falling. Prices were 3.5% higher in March

The legacy of late California Senator Dianne Feinstein was tarnished by a series of lawsuits filed before her death. The suits revealed rifts in the family and shortcomings in the estate plans of Feinstein and her late husband. Feinstein’s late husband Richard Blum, a wealthy investor, passed away in February 2022. Both Blum and Feinstein

“No more ladders; we only work for checks,” exclaims a late 20-something woman. While many observers are focusing on the future of work as being reshaped by artificial intelligence and macroeconomic shifts, a new generation of workers is already rewriting the future of work, career, and retirement. Edward Jones, in collaboration with NEXT360 Partners and

If you did a scan of financial advisory websites, you’d find a lot of similarities. Lots of photos of happy people in the active phase of their emerging retirement, most of whom have the same three hobbies: golf, sailing, and long walks on the beach. As for the words and phrases, I’d bet that some

As yields have risen from their historic lows, many retirees ask me if they should put all their savings in T-bills. This movement even has a name: T-bill and Chill. Moving to the safety of U.S. government short-term bonds has an initial appeal for retirees. T-bills are one of the safest Investments in the world.

Before its bankruptcy in 1991, Executive Life Insurance Company accepted transfer contracts from companies to pay their retirees’ pensions instead of the companies defined benefit pension plan. Employers saved money in the transfer because Executive Life offered high interest rates — which were discovered later to be backed by junk bonds – and because their

If you don’t want to outlive your money in retirement, then you’ll need a plan to make your money last for the rest of your life, no matter how long you live. Otherwise, with no plan, you’ll need to count on hope and luck, which isn’t the smartest choice. Your plan should include these steps:

It’s no secret that Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are intended to help with the burden of medical costs, allowing the account holder to contribute pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified medical expenses with tax-free distributions, but an HSA can also be used strategically in planning for retirement. Some HSA account holders opt not to make

Many people know how Federal Reserve policies influence the economy and investment markets, but they don’t realize how interest rate moves change the results of estate planning strategies. The Federal Reserve increased rates significantly in 2022 and 2023, and recently market rates spikes again. The significant increases in rates the last few years alter the

By Patricia Corrigan, Next Avenue Rick Bulan was watching television in 1994 when he saw something he wanted: A 1,000-pound, 12.5-foot-long piece of deteriorating handrail removed from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge a year earlier. “I remember thinking it would make a cool headboard for a bed,” recalls Bulan, now 53. On impulse, he bought

This week is America Saves Week, a time to focus on actions Americans can take to successfully save. When it comes to saving for retirement, Americans are feeling pessimistic. In a recent nationwide survey of working age Americans, 79 percent agree that the nation faces a retirement savings crisis, up from 67 percent in 2020.

It used to be that the worst fears about aging were getting cancer. Now, the worst fear is developing dementia. Unlike cancer, for which we do have treatments like surgery and chemotherapy, we have no equivalent treatments available yet for dementia. We can indeed manage and sometimes cure cancers. We can’t yet slow nor stop

By Erin Flynn Jay, Next Avenue Liz Elting was a 26-year-old graduate student in 1992 when she cofounded a business in her dorm room, a language-translation service that grew into a $1.1 billion company called TransPerfect. She cashed in her stake in 2018 but has no intention of retiring — and doesn’t think you should,

By Deborah Lynn Blumberg, Next Avenue The income Vivian Marlene Dunbar, age 75, earns as a freelance signature gatherer for ballot initiatives in California means she can afford groceries, pay medical bills and keep her car. Working as an independent contractor gives her the flexibility she wants and needs to schedule around doctors’ appointments. She

BlackRock BLK CEO Larry Fink issued his Annual Chairman’s Letter to Investors. Always a much-anticipated document, this year’s letter is titled “Time to rethink retirement.” Fink asks, “How do we afford longer lives?” and argues that we should at least start the conversation of when retirement should be in an era of increasing longevity and

Semi-retirement goes by many different names: partial or phased retirement, second career, and so on. But typically, these terms mean the same thing: You’re working in some capacity after retiring early. According to the 2024 State of Retirement Planning study by Fidelity Investments, the rise of remote and hybrid work has shifted retirement preferences for

By Hanna Horvath, Next Avenue By the time most Americans enter retirement age, they want to be free from many financial burdens. But for a growing number of older adults, debt has become an unwelcome traveling companion. According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, the number of households headed by adults ages 65 or older