Retirement Watch Weekly
Making Stretch IRAs Easier, While You Can
The Stretch IRA is the Holy Grail for many IRA owners. They want their IRAs to last a long time. They want the magic of time and tax deferral to boost the IRA balance. These IRA owners have adequate income and resources, so they don’t plan to spend down their IRAs. They expect the IRAs […]
Highlights of the New Tax Law
Congress closed out 2015 by passing the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. The law addressed the 56 or so tax breaks that expired or expiring. Unlike past years, Congress didn’t simply extend them for a year or two. Instead, some were made permanent and others were extended for more than a […]
Building a Firewall from Abuse and Scams
You can take steps now to protect yourself from financial abuse and scams in the future. Older Americans are the most likely targets and victims of these acts. Preparation is necessary to avoid losing wealth and dignity to the perpetrators. The crooks look for vulnerable people. By the time you’re vulnerable, it’s often too late […]
A Peak Behind Diet Research
The federal government is releasing its latest five-year revision of the healthy eating guidelines. It’s based on the latest research, of course. I know people who periodically overhaul their eating habits based on what appears to be the latest research. The first problem with this is that they often rely on mainstream media presentations of […]
A Tactical Asset Allocation Primer for Investors
Here’s a long article from Philosophical Economics blog on tactical asset allocation and marketing timing. The piece is in favor of periodically shifting the allocation of a portfolio. Most things you hear and read on the subject favor a buy-and-hold approach. As I said, it’s a long piece and apparently is the first of several. […]
Small Number of Stocks Drive Indexes
Here’s an interesting collection of recent research that helps explain why index investing often beats active stock selection. The bottom line is that in most years only a small number of stocks drive the indexes higher. Active managers are more likely not to own those stocks than indexes are. I’d add that value managers are […]
Using the IRA Charitable Contribution Exclusion
In the latest tax law Congress made permanent the special provision for charitable gifts from IRAs by those age 70 1/2 or older. This article gives the basic rules and also explains when it is a good idea to use the strategy and when it isn’t. This article gives some tips on how to increase […]
Working With the New Social Security Rules
Plans need to be revised for those who haven’t begun claiming their Social Security retirement benefits. As we covered last month, Congress eliminated a couple of strategies that could increase lifetime benefits for savvy married couples by tens of thou-sands of dollars. Social Security benefits still are an important part of your retirement plan. The […]
