Episode 11 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Nobel Prize winner Robert Merton. Professor Robert Merton is a globally recognized economist and expert on life cycle and retirement finance (among other things). We discuss what’s wrong with the current focus on just building assets and why we should focus on retirement income instead….
Retirement Savings and Investments News, Information and Guidance
We might be getting older, but there is till time for learning some new retirement savings tricks. Do you have enough retirement savings? Are you feeling unprepared? Thanks to the following quick fixes, those worries end now. Old (and not so old) dogs can learn new tricks… Saving for retirement may seem daunting. You are probably…
Data from the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) suggests that Baby Boomers are pretty busted and busted up about their retirement prospects. Boomers have made some big retirement planning mistakes — even beyond giving away their record collections. (You didn’t really do that, did you?) The results of the IRI survey reveal that many Boomers have…
Episode 7 of the NewRetirement podcast is an interview with Allan Roth — a highly in demand, by-the-hour financial advisor with over 25 years of experience in the field. He also runs Wealth Logic. Allan and Steve discuss how (and why) most people can do much better financially by keeping investments simple and managing expenses….
When we reach the age of 70 ½ we must — in order to avoid tax penalties — take Required Minimum Distributions from IRAs, 401ks and other types of tax advantaged accounts — all retirement accounts funded with pre-tax contributions. Here are some strategies to manage Required Minimum Distributions ( (RMD s). So what exactly is…
Were you the kid in kindergarten that secretly ate paste in the corner? Or were you the one solving all the math equations from the end of the book on your first day in class? (I knew those kids. Both of them were in my class – and I’m not yet admitting to being one…
Episode 5 is an interview with personal finance and investing legend Bill Bernstein. Steve and Bill discuss the hurdles between you and a secure retirement and how to overcome them. Hosted by Steve Chen, founder of NewRetirement, the NewRetirement Podcast offers interviews about the wise use of both money and time in retirement. We explore…
Investing in ourselves doesn’t need to involve money. In fact, many of the best retirement investments do not involve greenbacks at all. Instead, they are investments that use our time to the fullest, allow us to spend precious moments with the people we love, enable us to focus on those things that make us happy….
We’ve spent our whole lives working, spending the money we earn and hopefully saving a little too. When we retire, everything we have ever experienced about managing our own finances gets turned upside down. We no longer earn as much or any money from work. We have to figure out how to make do with and…
If you do not entirely know what is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)… it may be well worth your while to find out. ETFs have become very popular investment vehicles and they can be a good place for retirement savings. In a nutshell, ETFs can be a low cost way to insure adequate diversification for…
Bond, James Bond. The mere mention of the name makes you think of cool confidence and absolute competence. Wouldn’t you like to feel that way about your retirement investments? You perhaps can, assuming you can figure out the best asset allocation strategy for your retirement. What Exactly is Asset Allocation Anyway? Asset allocation refers to…
Tax deferred? Tax free? Tax advantaged? It might sometimes feel a bit taxing to think about the tax implications of a Roth conversion. However, it is probably worth your brain power because a Roth conversion can be tremendously beneficial in the right circumstances. What is a Roth Account? A Roth account is a type of…
Bonds can be a core low risk component of retirement portfolios, but they do come with one significant risk factor: if interest rates go up, the bonds you already own will plummet in value. A bond ladder strategy can be a way to reduce that particular risk. First things first, what is a bond? A…
Last week it was broadly reported that the credit reporting agency Equifax suffered a major cybersecurity breach that put us all at a greater risk of financial fraud. Experts estimate that hackers stole the data — Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, credit card information and more — of 143 million people….
If index fund investing is good enough for the most famously successful American investor, then maybe it should be good enough for your retirement. Warren Buffet, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, one of the richest men and most successful investors in the world, recommends that people buy index funds. He often touts index funds in his…
There are two kinds of people: those who follow the rules and those who believe rules are made to be broken. If you fall into the first camp, the following list may cause you a bit of anxiety. Personal finance is full of rules. While some are helpful, others can work against you if they…
Here is a guide for how to find lost money — a lost 401k or other unclaimed retirement benefits. The Big Takeaways… Each year, it’s estimated that more than 900,000 401(k) accounts go unclaimed, in addition to $300M in unclaimed pensions. The simplest ways to find your lost 401(k) is by contacting your previous employer,…
“As the major stock indexes have, one-by-one, broken through their previous record highs in recent months, it has been interesting to observe that the dominant reaction among many investors has not been one of celebration but, rather, anxiety.” While the above may sound like current events, it’s actually an excerpt from an April 2013 client letter….
Saving for retirement is hard. However, when you are still working, creating a retirement investment plan can be comparatively straightforward. The goal is to simply grow the money. But watch out! When you retire, your investment goals become multi faceted, layered and — let’s face it — down right complicated. You still want your money…
Retirement savings advice often revolves around the long term: save small amounts on a regular basis over many years, and you will be able to save a sizeable nest egg. But what if you need to make up for lost time? What if you find yourself nearing retirement and just want to give that nest…
Of all the tactics you can use to achieve a secure retirement, one of the easiest things you can do is to invest your money and earn returns on that investment. Doing this requires virtually no sacrifice, compromise or a lot of work. However, a new study from BlackRock finds that Americans hold 58% of…
A retirement target date fund is a kind of mutual fund that is professionally managed and strategically reallocated over time to achieve both growth and security for your assets. The key goal for a target date fund is that your money will be available for withdrawal on a certain future targeted retirement date and beyond. So,…
Get the best retirement advice from retirees who really know something. Retirement advice and how it is implemented can have a profound impact on your retirement lifestyle and the estate you might leave behind. Here Henry K. “Bud” Hebeler outlines concepts that helped him not only achieve a secure retirement but also be better off…
The following on 2017 economic outlook comes to us from Mr. Henry K. “Bud” Hebeler. Bud has been working with retirees for many years, developed special material for their use, and given numerous seminars on retirement. His current focus is dissemination of sound financial planning information that applies to a wide range of personal investment,…
If you have company stock in a 401(k), you will want to learn about Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) and how to minimize taxes when you rollover these funds to an IRA. Should You Rollover? Once you leave a job, or reach age 59 ½ you have the option to move your 401(k) into an Individual…
