Couples Retiring on the Same Page Agreeing about what you want from retirement is crucial. What does a good retirement look like to you? Does it resemble the retirement that your spouse or partner has in mind? It is at least roughly similar? The Social Security Commission currently projects an average retirement of 19 years for a man and 21 years for a woman (assuming retirement at age 65). So sharing the same vision of retirement (or at least respecting [...]
Gauging Your Financial Well-Being Six signs that you are in good shape. How well off do you think you are financially? If your career or life takes an unexpected turn, would your finances hold up? What do you think will become of the money you’ve made and saved when you are gone? These are major questions, and most people can’t answer them as quickly as they would like. It might help to think about six factors in your financial life. [...]
Debunking a Few Popular Retirement Myths Certain misconceptions ignore the realities of retirement. Generalizations about money & retirement linger. Some have been around for decades, and some new clichés have recently joined their ranks. Let’s examine a few. “When I’m retired, I won’t really have to invest anymore.” Many people see retirement as an end instead of a beginning – a finish line for a career. In reality, retirement can be the start of a new and promising phase of [...]
The Retirement Mindgame: Your outlook may influence your financial outcome. What kind of retirement do you think you’ll have? An outstanding one? A depressing one? What if it all starts with your outlook? Qualitatively speaking, what if the success or failure of your retirement begins with your perception of retirement? A whole field of study has emerged on the psychology of saving, spending and investing: behavioral finance. Since retirement saving is a behavior (and since other behaviors influence it), it [...]
What Beneficiaries Need To Know What do you do when an account owner passes away? If your loved ones have invested, saved or insured themselves to any degree, you may be named as a beneficiary to one or more of their accounts, policies or assets in the event of their deaths. While we all hope “that day” never comes, we do need to know what to do financially if and when it does. Legally, just who is a beneficiary? IRAs, [...]