What do you have planned for your retirement? Travel? More time with family? Hobbies? A new business venture? Encountering a large amount of debt as you enter retirement may shrink your options. Clients who are facing this obstacle come to me asking, “Should I use my retirement savings to pay off debt?” The short answer [...]
Should I take out a mortgage? If you are contemplating retirement, this is a tricky question with no simple answer. To help you decide if this is the right move for you, here are some questions to ask yourself: 1. What will my cash flow look like in retirement? This is the overriding question to [...]
Investors have a lot to be fearful of these days. They have legitimate concerns about the deficit, the state of the economy, and high unemployment rates. It’s not just economic abstractions. The fears have become personal. Here are the top three fears of my clients and some suggestions for dealing with them. 1. I am [...]
Many employees have choices when it comes to retirement planning. Here are three common retirement-planning choices: A Roth 401(k) A traditional 401(k) A Roth IRA How do you decide which is best for you? Retirement Planning: Eligibility Requirements First, determine if either of the Roth options is available to you. Not all 401(k) plans have [...]
With record unemployment rates, many employees are confronting the decision of how to handle the funds in their 401(k) plan when they leave their present employment. For most employees, the choice is clear: they should take control of their retirement planning and roll it over. Here’s why: 1. Lousy investment choices. Most 401(k) plans are [...]
This is the time of year for New Year’s resolutions. When it comes to investing, I have some suggestions you might want to consider. Here they are: 1. Fire your broker. I can’t think of any reason to use the typical broker. What do I mean by “typical”? Typical brokers send you analyst reports with [...]
Whenever I talk about IRAs and estate planning, I can almost see the numbness come over my audience. I can understand why confronting your own mortality comes well behind the name of the latest contestant to be kicked off Dancing with the Stars on the interest scale. But one aspect of IRAs is genuinely exciting, [...]
Here’s the question I get most often: What percent of my retirement funds can I safely withdraw without fear of running out of money? A close second is: How can I generate enough income from my portfolio in this low-interest-rate environment? Understanding the role bonds play in your portfolio is critical to both of these [...]
As we approach year-end, investors should start to focus on tax planning. Given the volatile state of the markets, and the steady drumbeat of bad news, this is not easy. Here are some tips to avoid taking a big tax hit in 2010. Max out a Roth IRA contribution. Tax avoidance is the holy grail [...]
It’s not surprising that mutual fund companies want you to max out your 401(k) plan contributions. The more you invest, the more fees they generate. Fidelity Investments is the biggest fund family in the 401(k) business. It wants you to invest as much as you can in its 401(k) plans—preferably in one of its funds. [...]
