Retirement Watch Weekly
Funds for Small and New Investors
Not everyone is ready to build a diversified portfolio. Some investors don’t have enough money to meet the minimum investment requirements at multiple funds. Other investors are slowly dipping their toes into the markets after letting their money compound in money market funds and CDs for years. Still others are starting portfolios for their children […]
Does Life Insurance Still Matter?
Does the scheduled repeal of the estate tax make permanent, cash value life insurance obsolete? Some financial advisers think that if the estate tax’s days are numbered, few people need life insurance. Others say nothing has changed. The truth is somewhere in between. Let’s review some of the reasons why you don’t want to automatically […]
Investing in Market Trends
The best way to profit in the markets is to latch on to a trend and profit from it. No matter what is happening with the market indexes, there almost always is a bull market some where in the investment universe. All you have to do is find it. That’s the theory behind my Aggressive […]
Six Things You Need To Know Before You Buy Annuities
Fixed annuities are popular and getting more popular. Beaten down by the bear market, many investors suddenly like the safety of fixed annuities. A tax-deferred yield of 5% looks good compared to recent stock market returns. Fixed annuities can be a valuable of any portfolio, as I’ve said for years. Years ago most retirees could […]
Should you go back to work after retirement?
Sometimes work doesn’t really pay. The sad fact is that older Americans have to analyze this issue carefully before taking a job. While the situation improved after 1997 and 2000 law changes, if you are receiving Social Security benefits returning to paid employment actually could cost you money. I regularly hear from subscribers whose marginal […]
When You Need Solomon’s Wisdom for Estate Planning -The Personal Items
Small items often cause the biggest Estate Planning problems. Any one with some experience handling estates knows the worst disputes among heirs often are over what seem like trivial items. In a large estate, heirs might aggressively contest the disposition of a few pieces of furniture or personal mementos. Those small, personal items are most […]
7 Action Steps to Rebuild Your Retirement Plan
A Retirement plan is a work in progress. You begin the plan with certain assumptions about your spending, inflation, taxes, investment returns, and other factors. Reality won’t match your assumptions as the years roll on. That’s why every few years, the plan needs to be adjusted. Once you are in or near retirement, you should […]
Seven Estate Planning Strategies to Transfer Assets at a Lower Cost
The estate tax repeal scheduled for 2010 over-shadows the fact that the gift tax will remain. Also, though the estate tax exemption will rise through 2009, the lifetime gift tax exemption will not. The gift tax exemption rose to $1 million in 2002, but it stays at that level indefinitely. The continuation of the gift […]
