Articles
LET’S TALK ABOUT THE “WIDOW’S PENALTY”
You’ve lived a life together. You can close your eyes and remember walking down the aisle with grains of rice being sprinkled on your head and those early days of cheering each other on in your daily journeys whether that be a career or juggling all manner of duties...
The “Skinny” on Social Security and Payroll Taxes
Benjamin Franklin was famously quoted as saying that death and taxes are the only things in this life that are certain. If you are currently retired or nearing retirement, the big question is whether taxes collected, including payroll taxes of current and future...
No More Stretch IRA? Try This!
Last month’s column was devoted to describing the consequences of late 2019’s SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act’s impact on the widely-used legacy-giving vehicle known as “Stretch IRAs”. Prior to January 1, 2020, a Stretch IRA...
The Secure Act and Stretch IRAs
At the end of 2019, Congress abolished a time-tested wealth legacy strategy called the “Stretch IRA” with the passage of the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act. The rationale was that they were closing a “loophole” used mostly by...
Investing 101: The Investing Frenzy of 2021
“Buy low, sell high.” It’s the most fundamental investment lesson that we’re all taught and one that most of us can recite by heart. But when it comes right down to it, how many of us actually subscribe to those words of wisdom? Warren Buffet, sometimes called the...
Retirement 101: Let Me Be Your Captain
There’s an ongoing debate among retirees and pre-retirees: Is it really worth the money to pay someone as a financial advisor? Won’t I do better just buying low-cost index funds and doing it myself? I’ve been investing for 40 years and advising clients as a licensed...
Retirement 101: Sometimes, you have to put yourself first
It is with great trepidation that I sit down to write this month’s column; I can already hear the angry phone calls and see the slew of emails in my inbox. I care deeply about my clients, though, and about retirement savers everywhere, so I feel I need to brave an...
Retirement 101: Living the “High Life” on the “Cheap”
We all dream about retirement: extravagant travel, spoiling grandkids, sipping wine while watching beautiful sunsets off the deck. For many, the cold, hard truth will be a little different, though. In 2020, the median retirement income for a U.S. couple with one...
What the heck is an Annuity?
I get clients come in every week telling me, “I have an investment, but I don’t really know what it is. My advisor told me that it was a guarantee that I can’t outlive my money or something like a pension.” What they’re describing is an annuity, which is an insurance...
Investing 101 – Mutual Funds
Happy March! In January, I started a “down and dirty” educational series on the basics of investing. In January we examined stocks and spent some time on bonds in the February issue. This month we’re ready to fit the pieces into place and talk about mutual funds which...
Investing 101 – Bonds
If you happened to pick up a January 2020 edition of Healthy Cells, you’ll remember that I started a series on the basics of finance by addressing all you ever wanted to know about stocks. Again, if you have a business degree, this article is not for you. But if you...
Humble Reflections
I can’t NOT speak, but I hesitate to find the right words as anything I say threatens to highlight my white privilege. I feel such deep pain for my black and brown sisters and brothers, our community, and our country, and I feel some very real shame at how relatively...
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