In the world of retirement savings, it’s easy to get confused because there are so many types of plans, many identified with weird names or containing numbers and letters that correspond to some section of the IRS code book—401(k), 403(b), 457, Traditional IRA, SIMPLE IRA, Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), Solo 401(k), Defined Contribution, Defined Benefit, [...]
Since it was introduced in the early 1980’s, the employer-sponsored 401(k) plan has become one of the most common ways to save for retirement. Money comes directly out of your paycheck before taxes, the employer puts money into your account, and at retirement, you theoretically have a large pool of money that will support you [...]
It’s the end of an era, at least for Baby Boomers. Some have already retired; many more can see the finish line of their working years. For Boomers with highly appreciated company stock in their 401(k), a major decision is whether to do an IRA rollover, leave the money in the employer plan, or use [...]
For those of us who’ve lived a while, we remember the “little black book”—the place where you kept important contact information before the technology revolution. If you’re caring for elderly parents or you think that’s a possibility, encourage mom and dad to keep a little black book, not for dating purposes, but to help you [...]
It’s bad enough to get scammed. But being forced to pay taxes on what you were scammed out of just compounds the hurt. This is an egregious story of elder financial abuse. Dennis and Suzanne Gomas are an elderly couple who worked hard to save enough money to retire comfortably. They inherited a business [...]
Choosing a strategic asset allocation can be difficult because our perception of risk changes with the market. In a bull market, we get greedy and want to have a more aggressive portfolio but when things inevitably turn down, we want something more conservative. Investors spend a lot of their investing lives trying to adjust their [...]
The Health Savings Account has been a wonderful addition to the financial landscape of people who are eligible for one. They’re often thought of as a way to pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax money during your working years for things like deductibles, copays, and non-covered items—in other words, things not covered by insurance. [...]
A really long time ago… in a galaxy far, far away… I worked for a building contractor. That experience taught me that every successful building project requires the right tools. And sometimes a project turns out just a little bit better because of a specialty tool, one with specific characteristics not found in any other [...]
Student loan debt has become one of the largest classes of consumer debt in the country. In fact, it affects as many as 43 million Americans. Finding the money to pay down student loans—let alone pay for school—is a struggle for many new grads who are just starting out in the workforce. Loan forgiveness programs can offer some [...]
529 Education Savings Accounts are named after the section of the IRS code that outlines the rules of the plan. When it began in 1996, the 529 plan was a new way to save and pay for higher education; the money got to grow tax-free and then could be withdrawn tax-free if it was used [...]
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