Bad Financial Behavior and How to Avoid It!
Rollercoasters are fun – at the amusement park. Not so much in your retirement account. And that’s where bad financial behavior gets costly.
Rollercoasters are fun – at the amusement park. Not so much in your retirement account. And that’s where bad financial behavior gets costly.
You want to begin planning your future life, but aren’t sure how. You want help but don’t know how to get stareted. Sound familiar? It should.
There are a lot of myths surrounding Roth conversions and this one might rank near the top, and you should know why. It’s important to have some historical perspective.
But Congress Could Provide the Wild Card. Roth accounts can be attractive, especially when viewed through the lens of our national debt and the possibility (probability?) of higher taxes in the future to fund that debt.
Older annuities have grown – and so have their expenses. They may be worth a review.
Social Security decision-making isn’t as easy as it was for our parents and grandparents. When they became eligible, they simply went downtown (remember those places?) and simply filed.
Not so easy today. Social Security decision-making has become more complex and, unfortunately, because of that, there are few ‘simple’ answers.
It’s been said that the only constant is change and lately it’s been the banking crisis. Financial planning is often more about what we don’t know than what we do know. Lately, we’ve been through COVID, supply chain issues and (ongoing) issues with some of our country’s financial institutions.
When it comes to building a solid financial future, finding the right investment vehicle can be a daunting task. Comparisons are often made between an IUL (Indexed Universal Life Insurance) and a Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account) as a choice between getting life insurance or investing in the stock market. While an IUL can give the appearance of doing both; however that’s not really the case – and, often, this can lead to unrealistic expectations.
Given the size of our growing national debt it’s no wonder so many people believe taxes will be higher in the future. We have an ageing population and there are a number of factors at work: There’s the annual deficit plus money needed to fund Medicare and Social Security, just to mention a few.
Making your retirement nest-egg last through retirement isn’t easy. Company pension plans have all but disappeared, which means it’s now up to you to be your own actuary. Unfortunately, it’s not something many are equipped to do.
We all know the Fed target is 2% inflation; but, since COVID-19 and all the accompanying spending, it’s been tough going for the Fed. While the rate of inflation has been slowly declining, it’s still stubbornly around 3% – and with people living longer, it can still spell disaster for those facing retirement, especially with longer life expectancies.
Retirement milestones should actually begin the day you leave school and enter the workforce; but few people think about retirement at that age. They’re too busy starting careers. If they achieve early success, they won’t even be worried about retirement. It’s been my experience that it’s after age 50 they come through my door. By that time they’re done with stock tips and chasing rainbows. Age 50 has a way of making all of us start thinking.