Retirement Planning
Hidden Dangers With Aging Parents’ Financial Advisors
Many older investors have had a relationship with a broker-dealer for many years and have trusted that individual to help them. But as clients age, will that broker-dealer protect their interests? This is a real case, with names changed, showing how risky it can be to trust a long time broker who does not have a fiduciary duty to anyone, and in fact may not even adhere to a “suitability” standard of conduct for managing assets for an aging client.
Tapping 401(k)s, IRAs Early Is Costly
It’s fairly easy to withdraw money prematurely from 401(k)s and IRAs – a practice that depletes roughly one-fourth of account balances over a worker’s lifetime.
How To Stay Relevant In Retirement
Research and surveys often point to deteriorating health, running out of money, and adult children as the biggest fears among new and existing retirees. But a lot of those studies and reports miss a more personal and deep rooted fear; and one that intensifies over time when activity slacks and there’s an absence of new stimuli. It’s the retiree’s fear of losing influence, connections, and overall relevance.
Social Security Q&A: Is It True That I Lose My Retirement Benefit if I Remarry?
Social Security may be your largest or one of your largest assets. How you manage it, by deciding which benefits to collect and when, can make an absolutely huge difference to your lifetime benefits. And those with the highest past covered earnings have the most to gain from maximizing their Social Security.
Savings Products Deter Senior Fraud
Ken Osborne became vigilant about safeguarding his 81-year-old mother’s savings as her memory loss set in. She often failed to recall what she’d said during frequent, unsolicited phone calls from people prying into her personal life and financial affairs.
A Warning For Parents About Student Loans
For families across the country, now is the time that big, life-changing decisions are taking place. For students, it’s the time to decide on where to go to college. For parents, it’s time to have frank discussions about how college will be paid for.
Key Question For Millennial Job-Switchers: What To Do With Your Old 401(k)?
If you are even a few years into your career and have taken any interest in saving for retirement you’ve surely heard this advice: stash at least enough in your 401(k) to snag your employer’s match. Good advice, and maybe you’ve taken it. But even if you haven’t paid any heed, you might have money in a 401(k) anyway because your employer has instituted “automatic enrollment” —meaning money is deducted from your paycheck for retirement savings unless you specifically opt out of contributing.
How Much Of Your Income Should You Save?
There’s no question more fundamental to personal finance than how much money we should save. Our savings rate is the cornerstone of virtually every other decision about money we make. It affects everything from buying a home to saving for emergencies to retirement.
401(k) Lump Sums: What You Need to Know
“Participants potentially face a reduction in their retirement assets when they accept a lump sum offer. The amount of the lump sum payment may be less than what it would cost in the retail market to replace the plan’s benefit because the mortality and interest rates used by retail market insurers are different from the rates used by sponsors, particularly when calculating lump sums for younger participants and women.
8 Questions To Ask Before Taking A Pension Lump Sum Offer
“Participants presented with a lump sum offer may not have a full appreciation of the range of risks involved in forfeiting their lifetime annuity under their sponsor’s plan,” the report says. Big employers started shedding plan liabilities after the great recession, and the trend appears to be accelerating. In a recent survey of 183 defined benefit plan sponsors, Aon Hewitt found that one-fifth said they were are very likely to offer terminated vested participants a lump sum window in 2015.
