Retirement Watch Weekly
Finding Higher Dividend Yields with Safety
The Federal Reserve’s been punishing savers in favor of the big banks and others by keeping short-term interest rates dirt low since 2008. Investors in safe investments (such as short-term treasury bills, money market funds, and certificates of deposit) are earning less than 1% annually. After taxes and inflation, the real return is negative. Some […]
Taking a Close Look at Money Market Funds
Money market funds are in the news again. Since their development in the 1970s, money market funds were considered ultra-safe places to store cash. Most investors considered them to be like cash that pays interest. Their net asset values always were $1.00. That changed in 2008 when the Reserve money market funds revealed they owned […]
Slashing Medicare Costs, and Benefits
A little-noticed provision of the 2010 health care reform (Affordable Care Act) is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This will be a 15-member panel of experts appointed by the President without input or oversight from Congress. The IPAB would designate the appropriate levels of care and treatment. It’s expected that Medicare would follow the […]
The Future of Medicare?
It’s no secret that Medicare is in trouble. The government will have to spend less on the beneficiaries at some point. It’s likely there will be some form of rationing or reduction in care. There are three ways that could be implemented. One way is to put the onus on the patient or consumer to […]
Evaluating Index Annuity Returns
Indexed Annuities can be a tough sale for insurance brokers, partly because they’re very complicated. A recent article in the Journal of Financial Planning appeared to cut through a lot of the problems by taking actual results from annuity contracts and showing that they outperformed a benchmark. But, not so fast. Robert Huebscher of AdvisorPerspectives.com […]
Guaranteed Inflation-Protected Income
A lifetime stream of guaranteed income is a goal for many people. Even better is to have that income stream increase with inflation. You can have a lifetime stream of guaranteed income that increases with inflation. You must study the options, plan, and shop carefully. An immediate annuity is the prime way to receive guaranteed […]
June 2011
June 30, 2011 11:00 a.m. The Week in Review The trading week and the quarter are winding down, and it’s been a very interesting week in the markets, economy, and world of personal finance. Let’s take a look at the highlights. The Data There were only a few pieces of economic data this week. The […]
Finding Your Classic Estate Plan
Every estate is unique, but each estate can be put in a category with similar estates. Those similar estates are likely to have plans that share a number of common features. So, in this visit we present the classic categories and key elements of plans that fall into those categories. All estate plans. Every plan […]
