Deciding whether to pay off your mortgage or invest in retirement is a common question. Try paying your mortgage with existing funds. By: Ilyce Glink and Samuel Tamkin Q: My husband and I bought a new house a few years ago and are getting ready to sell our old house. With the sale of the [...]
Low interest rates are a double-edged sword: They are great for your mortgage payments but they are bad for your retirement savings. The truth is that when rates are low, the economy is not in good shape. The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to increase spending and encourage short-term investments. These lower interest rates result [...]
Using a self-directed IRA to invest in real estate will allow you to lend yourself the money to buy real estate. Q: My partner and I are considering rolling over his 401k into a self-directed IRA in order to purchase rental property. I was wondering if you have any information on how to vet this [...]
Retirement is a great opportunity to pursue a new career in something you’ve always dreamed of doing. Whether it’s teaching scuba lessons or opening your own retail store, the best job for you in retirement is one that you love—and sensible retirement planning can help make your dream a reality. If you asked me as [...]
There are only a few guarantees in life, and two of them are death and taxes. We can talk about death in another article; for the time being we will discuss paying taxes. When planning for retirement, it is important to have a strategy for how you are going to pay your bills—especially if you are [...]
Are you afraid you’ll never save enough money to retire? If so, you’re not alone. According to the 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 28 percent of workers are not at all confident they’ll ever have enough retirement savings to leave the workforce. Retirement confidence reached a record [...]
Estate planning can give you control over what happens to your wealth after you pass away. In some cases, an individual doesn’t designate a person as his or her beneficiary. Depending on the specific situation, this can have different effects on how the finances are distributed. What if you don’t designate a beneficiary at all? [...]
Money may not buy long-term happiness, but it can provide you with opportunities you may not have without it. If you have planned properly, you will have many options open to you during retirement —you can work and continue to earn an income, or you can volunteer your time free of charge. But if you [...]
Whether you’re a Medicare beneficiary or know someone who is, you’ve likely heard about the risks of Medicare fraud and medical identity theft. While the government is taking steps to mitigate these issues, there are things you can do now to protect yourself. Medicare is one of the country’s largest programs, with more than 49 [...]
Many Americans will rely on Social Security benefits in retirement, but the way their benefits are calculated could be set to change. Currently, Social Security uses a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to determine how much retirees and other people in the program get paid from year to year. During most years, the COLA adds [...]
