Bob's Journal
Found 589 Articles.
Get access to our full article archive by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.
Bob’s Journal for 3/13
Social Security Is Back in the Headlines The Social Security program recently received a lot of attention, and none of it was positive. Last week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) reversed a policy that was initiated last year on the recovery of overpayments to beneficiaries. SSA always tries to recover overpayments, regardless of who was […]
Bob’s Journal for 3/6
Income Taxes and Social Security Retirement Benefits First, I want to thank the many subscribers who joined our subscriber-only teleforum last week. I enjoy these interactions with my readers and the opportunity to learn what’s on your minds. The federal income taxation of Social Security retirement benefits was of interest to many of you who […]
Bob’s Journal 02/13
When Having a Crystal Ball Helps and When It Doesn’t More than a crystal ball is needed to improve investment returns. A simple test was created by a couple of members of wealth management firm Elm Wealth. They gave headlines to some investors a day in advance and had them make investment decisions. They provided […]
Bob’s Journal 2/6
The Fed Cuts, But Interest Rates Rise The Federal Reserve started reducing the interest rates it controls in September 2024. But the interest rates that the markets control, and that matter more to businesses and investors, steadily increased. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond hit a recent low of 3.63% on September 16, 2024. […]
Bob’s Journal for 1/23
Vanguard Pays $106 Million in Target Date Fund Settlement The Vanguard Group agreed to pay more than $106 million to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it made misleading statements to shareholders about its target date funds. The statements concerned estimates of capital gains distributions and the tax consequences stemming from […]
Bob’s Journal for 1/16
American Airlines Violated 401(k) Plan Rules A federal district court judge ruled that American Airlines violated the employer’s fiduciary duties to plan participants with the investment funds it offered in the plan. At issue was the plan’s choice to offer funds managed by BlackRock as the investment options in the plan. BlackRock publicly stated that […]
Bob’s Journal 01/08
Why You Should Obtain an IP PIN from the IRS To prevent having a false income tax return filed in your name and some other types of identity theft, obtain an identity protection personal identification number (IP PIN) from the IRS. IP PINs are free and fairly easy to obtain. An IP PIN is a […]
Bob’s Journal for 1/2
A Look Back and a Glimpse Forward I start 2025 with a review of some key events in 2024. This is done partly to remind us how much happened during the year. I also review the past year because it can remind us not to overreact to current events. Too often, investors and markets have […]
