Retirement Watch Weekly
Should Seniors Spend More? Are Retirees too Afraid of Running out of Money?
A number of financial advisors have a complaint about their clients that isn’t in line with widely-held beliefs. These advisors believe their clients aren’t spending enough. The clients have saved and invested well, yet they spend as though they were starting out in life. The advisors believe these seniors are depriving themselves. BlackRock recently completed […]
What’s the Best Option for a Spouse Inheriting an IRA?
As we discussed last week, the rules for a spouse inheriting an IRA are murky, at best. The best option? That usually depends primarily on the spouse’s age. Here’s why. When the surviving spouse is under age 59½, the 10% penalty on early distributions applies to any money taken from a spousal rollover IRA. Remember that […]
Is the Stock Market Overvalued? Analysis of the CAPE Ratio
This article explains why stocks might not be overvalued today and uses it as a discussion to avoiding mistakes when interpreting data. It’s a useful lesson that should be remembered when interpreting market data or listening to discussions about markets. As you can see, a higher CAPE ratio is typically correlated with stock market peaks, […]
Deciphering the Latest Market Changes
Have you noticed the changes in the markets over the last few weeks? I don’t mean the sudden lack of new record highs in the major U.S. stock indexes. I’m asking about the changes in market leaders. All year, technology stocks have been leading the indexes higher, and the NASDAQ 100 has been the top […]
The Investing Dominance of Vanguard and BlackRock
Investors are fleeing active management of stock investments for index funds. That puts Vanguard and BlackRock in the driver’s seat, because they are the sponsors of the leading index funds and ETFs. This article points out that if recent trends continue, the two firms will control enough of the stock market to effectively be in […]
Byron Wein Surveys the World – 8 Important Stock Market Indicators
In his latest monthly commentary, the Blackstone economic analyst reports on his recent travels around the globe and review of the economic data. He’s generally positive for both the U.S. and most other countries. There aren’t too many specific investment ideas in this essay, only a detailed commentary on the economic and political situations in […]
What Every Spouse Needs to Know About Inheriting an IRA
Many mistakes are made with inherited individual retirement accounts (IRAs). The rules aren’t straightforward or intuitive, so people often make the wrong decisions, resulting in thousands of dollars of taxes unnecessarily paid to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Bottom line: Your loved ones need to know what to do when they inherit an IRA. Knowing […]
Retirement Mistakes – Adult Children: Closing the Bank of Mom & Dad
Many people enter retirement with sufficient assets, but they run out of money during retirement. A major cause of the shortfall is providing too much help to the children and grandchildren, becoming the Bank of Mom & Dad. This article discusses the problem and gives some ways to avoid falling into this trap. Two-thirds of […]
