Plan like you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow. Retirement planning is one of the great balancing acts: you suspect you’re not going to live forever, but what if you do? And maybe forever isn’t really forever, but what if it’s to 112 years old? Are you ready for that, at least financially? It turns out that …
Another new year is upon us. How did that happen? In some ways it feels like the last four years flew by in an instant. In other ways, it feels like we’ve lived a lifetime or more since 2020. Life is definitely not slowing down in my household these days. Our kids are in high school and middle school and …
As I scan the retirement advice landscape, I’m noticing more and more ‘gurus’ pushing a work-‘til-you’re-70 narrative. The reason? The vast majority of American workers will need to work longer than they may have anticipated because of lack of savings and retirement assets, while also living longer lives (making for a longer retirement). And while delaying retirement may be a …
I’ve had the pleasure of teaching many retirement and tax classes at colleges and universities. In the classes, we sought to deepen our understanding of how our tax system works as it pertains to investments and income sources, as well as consider some strategies available to a retiree to pay only their fair share of taxes during retirement. While the …
There’s a great expression that goes something like this: 84% of statistics are made up on the spot. See what happened there? We’ll often see statistics being used for persuasive purposes, but what if there’s more to most stats than meets the eye. What if the story being sold isn’t the real story at all? What’s more, how often are …
So much attention is paid to the growth (or decline) of the stock market that I fear we can become hypnotized by it and fall prey to sloppy fundamentals from time to time. How do I know this? Because many of the people we work with admit to receiving each investment statement and simply doing the ol’ “Is it up …
Imagine for a moment that you’re tasked with instructing others how to select a wardrobe. Given the regularity of the seasons, you could do pretty well suggesting a mix of warm clothes for winter and cool clothes for summer. However, naming the exact day when a 70-degree day interrupts the 40-degree days of early spring would prove to be much …
Years ago, when I first began in this business of money stuff, I had it in my head and in my heart that I wanted to help people budget better in an effort to save more money for long-term goals. After all, that’s the subject that attracted me to this business in the first place. My wife and I had …
Diversification is a time-tested way for investors to manage the inherent risks of investing by owning lots of different kinds of assets. Diversification, by its nature, always gives us something to celebrate and also apologize for. And while the process of diversification can take many forms, it often looks like this example: owning 60% of a portfolio in stocks and …
Does it feel like the tax code is beating you up at times? Instead of accepting that feeling of getting pushed around, here’s how you can pay what you must but no more. Is it really possible to turn a bully into a buddy — or maybe a temporary ally, at least? It happens all the time in the movies …
