Retirement Watch Weekly
Avoiding the Obamacare Scams
The most significant of the Obamacare reforms take effect Jan. 1, 2014, and are receiving a lot of publicity. They’re also bringing out the scam artists. Here are some points you need to know. Medicare beneficiaries aren’t required to make any changes because of Obamacare. There are no Obamacare cards or similar documents for anyone. […]
Are Retirees Financially Prepared For Retirement
Almost all media discussions about retirement conclude that most Americans are financially unprepared. Some paint very dire pictures of the fate of current and upcoming retirees. Yet, surveys of retirees aren’t that pessimistic. Indeed, most retirees and pre-retirees say they’ll be just fine financially, perhaps after making a few adjustments. Consider this discussion of the […]
The Waltons and the Estate Tax
The Walton family of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, continues to grow wealthier. This counters the history of most families. The usual path is for family wealth to shrink after the generation that earned it passes on. This post from Bloomberg.com details some of the ways the Waltons have avoided or reduced estate and gift […]
What’s Wrong with Stock Indexes and Index Investing
I’ve never been a fan of index investing or benchmarking a portfolio against an index. Passive investing is a different animal in my mind, and certain types of passive investing can be effective. Here’s another explanation of the problems with stock indexes, and it is consistent with views I expressed in the past. There are […]
Why the Government Didn’t Save Lehman Brothers
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008 triggered the worst of the financial crisis and almost caused a collapse of the financial system. I wrote a few months later that it was a major turning point, and the economy and markets were frozen until sometime after the Fed started quantitative easing in May 2009. People […]
Why Gold Prices Should Decline
The price of gold moves with supply and demand. There aren’t many fundamentals, because industrial demand for gold tends to be steady while demand from investors and households fluctuates. India and China tend to be big household buyers of gold, and expanding middle classes in those countries were given credit by some analysts for the […]
The Future of Retiree Medical Insurance
IBM shocked a lot of people when a late Friday report in The Wall Street Journal said the company was ending all retiree medical insurance once Obamacare kicks in. Instead of finding and paying for insurance coverage for its retirees, IBM will tell its retirees to seek their coverage on one of the new insurance […]
A Classic Failed Estate Plan
Louis Feil wasn’t widely-known, but he was a successful, prosperous real estate owner and developer in New York City. He expanded the operation, so the family owns properties well beyond New York. He died in 1999 with the intention of keeping the business in the family. One son, who already was running the business, was […]
