If you’ve asked your Wall Street broker if you have enough for retirement, chances are he or she has used the Monte Carlo model to “test” your situation. All the information is fed into a computer and out pops your answer. It says ...

The research of countless professionals has documented that the number one worry about retirement is "running out of money". Rather than thinking about how much money you have for retirement, you should think in term of "how long will it last". This means you should structure your savings and investment choices to

Annuities are the most misunderstood safe money alternative, yet they are potentially one of the most beneficial for retirees. They’re misunderstood because most of what you read about them is written by uninformed or biased columnists. The stories you hear are even worse. In this

The Government just announced that Social Security recipients will not get a cost of living raise in 2010. The official measure of inflation in 2009 was zero: not true for retirees but they got you on a technicality. What was not mentioned: you’ll probably pay higher taxes on the same benefits. It is very easy to manage the taxes you pay on ...

So you've reached retirement and now the management of your retirement money rests squarely on your shoulders. Are you prepared? Do you know the options? Do you know what risks are suitable and unsuitable? Are you a candidate for a Roth IRA? Did you start Social Security too early? Do you need tax deferral?

For the second time this decade, the stock market has nosedived. Chances are you, or someone you know, lost retirement money. Sadly, losses force changes in retirement plans.

America’s most common investment and most misunderstood.

This story is for you ...

An option you need to know ...

Two common mistakes can ruin retirement ...

Bankers and Brokers are not always right. Learn what's best for ...

Today's economy is challenging, proceed cautiously ...

Where should your retirement money be invested? ...

Over the past several years fixed annuities has been maligned, slandered and debunked by Wall Street BUT it is now obvious that annuities were the best all along for safety-minded people nearing ...

How would you like to have part of your retirement money turned into a Tax-Free Income? Plus, for the income that can’t be made tax-free, there are ...

The biggest worry for many retirees is running out of money! The main reason for running out of money is the need for long term medical care. Erase your worries with ...

In the past few months you’ve probably read negative stories about index annuities. Unfortunately, many of these are written to mislead by biased or unknowledgeable authors & contain half-truths and false information. Sadly, much is written by ...

The retirement money in your IRA, 401(k), or other qualified pension account doesn’t all belong to you. You have a partner, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). You must pay your IRS-partner every time you withdraw money, and ...

When leaving an employer for whatever reason – retiring, changing jobs, downsized, starting your own business – should you roll over your retirement money to an IRA or your new plan? To avoid unnecessary taxes, loss of options and earnings you should know the facts because ...

As retirement approaches, investment changes are needed.

You’ve one chance to get retirement right!

Learn about this option before committing money.

An excellent road map to lower risks, more earnings and fewer taxes.

When to start Social Security and minimize taxes ... get them right.

CDs are safe for retirement money, but easy to overdo ...

You can transfer regardless of age while still working ...

The investment news is very bad: extremely volatile stock prices, major corporate failures, federal bail-outs, and panic on Wall Street. Most retirement-minded Americans are...

Taxes are everywhere you turn, control them.

America’s most common investment and most misunderstood.

Two common mistakes can ruin retirement ...

Bankers and Brokers are not always right. Learn what's best for ...

As retirement approaches, investment changes are needed.

You’ve one chance to get retirement right!

Learn about this option before committing money.

An excellent road map to lower risks, more earnings and fewer taxes.

“The market” has made a spectacular recovery in the past 12 months. The closely watched Dow Jones Industrial Index (“DJIA”) rose from 6,547 in March 2009 to 10,550 in March 2010 – an astounding 61% rise. The previous high was 14,165 in October ‘07 – meaning the March ‘09 low reading was 54% below the ‘07 peak. A gain of 61% following a loss of 54% punctuates the volatility, and risk, of the market. Nevertheless, the loud voices of Wall Street are shouting bull market, prices have recovered and this is where your retirement money belongs. Let’s take a closer look.

I recently was presented an opportunity to earn a 16% annual return with only “modest risk”. The investment was called a “fractionalized life settlement” and the sales pitch was compelling… but I’m wondering if the risk is “modest”. This investment is fractions of the death benefits from life insurance policies on strangers. These policies were sold because the policyholder (insurer) no longer needed, wanted or could afford to pay the required policy premiums. The policies were not surrendered for their cash values, because the “present value” of the death benefits is worth more to Life Settlement Companies that could repackage them for ...

What will you do if you run out of money during retirement? What are the consequences if your surviving spouse doesn’t have enough money? These serious questions are reality for many retirees. Nonetheless, the fear of running out of money has not kept many retirees from speculating with their retirement money. Much of this “speculative mentality” is driven by ...

No other savings vehicle is as misunderstood, under appreciated and maligned as fixed annuities. Most people who can benefit from annuities have been bombarded by misinformation, biased opinions and outright lies. The truth is: fixed annuities are safe because they are guaranteed by insurance companies, a great place to keep retirement money because they pay tax-deferred competitive returns, and all of your money is working 100% of the time ...

Many retirees live on income from their portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other market-related securities. On October 09, 2007, the market [as measured by the DJIA] peaked at 14164.53 and then started a dramatic decline until March 09, 2009, when a trough of 6547.05 was reached. This 53.8% shrinkage played havoc with retirees’ portfolios and forced many back to work or slimmed down their lifestyles. If you had $500,000 at the peak and were withdrawing $25,000 [5%] annually to support retirement, the same withdrawal of dollars at the trough amounted to 10.82%. This alarming ...

The Great Recession has probably thrown your investments in reverse, and you’re hoping to soon “get back to break even”. Not only may this be wishful thinking, it is probably bad strategy – because this is the exact strategy that got you to the bottom in the first place. What’s more, your investments – and the market – may not cooperate by coming ...

You get a call from your broker or someone else that wants you to invest money. You’re told that you can expect a double-digit return and there is no risk. No doubt the “sales pitch” will be more subtle but the proposition is the same: above-market return with low or no risk. The one immutable law of investing is ...

As you are painfully aware, the before-tax money you’ve put away for retirement, and which has been growing tax deferred, has a co-owner: Uncle Sam. The tax laws say you must start withdrawing and paying taxes on this money...

Reverse Mortgages are currently the hottest part of the real estate market, especially for retirees. It is an option you need to know about. Here are the requirements: you must be at least age 62 and own a home in which you have equity. Let’s immediately dispel the common misconceptions about Reverse Mortgages: your retirement benefits and Social Security will not be affected; there is no danger of foreclosure from...

Most of us measure our retirement money by how "tall" it is rather than how "long" it is. It's not how much money you've got that's important, but how long it will last. Because of uncertainties like inflation, taxes, investment losses, emergencies and more, retirees don't know how long they might live; thus, it is hard to determine how long the "tall money" will last.

Outliving their money is the greatest fear of most retirees. Because of massive market losses since 2007, high and rising medical costs and more taxes & inflation as fallout from the unprecedented federal deficit spending, retiree fear is at an all-time high. But for the stronger gender, females, it is especially alarming, because they are...

There has been a lot in the press recently about the solvency of Social Security and how it could go broke by 2016. Seniors and late boomers are concerned about their future Social Security benefits and want answers. The following will shed some light on the matter.

Many Americans of yesteryear relied on employers to provide a defined benefit pension at retirement. They were guaranteed a lifetime income whose amount was based upon how long they worked for the employer and their ending salary. For example, a defined benefit pension plan might pay a retired worker 2% of their last year’s salary for every year over twenty they worked for the employer. This meant a 40-year employee could...

When leaving an employer at retirement, changing jobs, down-sizing or starting your own business, leave behind only what belongs to your ex-employer. That means not forgetting your retirement plan money! About forty percent of departing employees, ages 60 to 65, leave their retirement money behind in former employers' plans. They cite several reasons...

The greatest fear of most retirees is the risk of longevity: outliving their money. The meltdown of retirement accounts, rising medical costs, uncertain entitlement programs and higher taxes have added to the risk. Facing 30 years of retirement living on past savings and Social Security benefits is a scary reality. What can be done?

We've spent our adult life working for retirement. We've scrimped, cut corners, saved and managed our savings so we can enjoy a secure retirement. Mostly, we've avoided bad investment choices. The dot.com bust in 2000-02 and the market meltdown of 2007-09 were big setbacks, but we've survived. We've made it this far with...

If you have money invested in the market, chances are very high that you have a loss. In talking to savers and investors like you, I’m amazed that they all tell me the same thing: "As soon as my investments get back to where they were, I’m getting out of the market". Let’s give some thought to this exit strategy...

Your biggest worry about retirement is probably that you'll run out of money before you run out of breath. For the past two years, I have been surveying boomers and seniors and over fifty percent have voiced this fear. These same surveys also tell me "why" your greatest worry may be well-founded. The good news is that outliving your money is preventable if you'll do a few simple things. Let's see how...