5 Things to Know About Your IRA Agreement

There is a lot of paperwork involved when you open an IRA account. You have to prove to the bank who you are and that your funds are legitimate. There is an account opening form and a beneficiary form to be completed. After you do all of that, then you get a...

401(K) Contribution Limits and Late RMDs: Today’s Q&A Mailbag

Question: Ed, great article on reasons for taking RMDs early in the year, but here’s the other side of the argument, at least for me (which is why I am responding via email rather than online). My wife and I are both retired.  We have a pension, social security...

How Having Multiple IRAs Can Help Bequest Planning

Having just one IRA instead of several may simplify paperwork and minimize fees. But when you begin to think about leaving IRA funds to heirs, consider using more than one IRA to do so. Here are reasons why:   Preserve Funds for Bequests in a Roth IRA Statistics...

6 Lessons From the First Year of Retirement

After one year of retirement, here’s what you need to do. Once you get through the first year of retirement, you probably think you can coast for the next 30 years. That’s not necessarily true. This is not the time to get comfortable. Things are never that simple in...

April 2018 Market Review and Outlook

All of the major US stock indices had positive returns for the month of April, as strong earnings reports allowed the markets to regain some of the earlier losses due to proposed tariffs and interest rate increase concerns. During the month, concerns about a hawkish...

Four Reasons to Own an Annuity

Now that the Powerball winner has come forward to claim her prize of $758 million (before taxes), you can’t turn on the television or radio without hearing the word “annuity.” The winner of the lottery had a very important choice to make: to take an after-tax lump sum...

Fixed Indexed Annuities FAQ

Discover our most frequently asked questions about fixed indexed annuities (FIAs). Get the answers you need to help calculate your path to retirement. What is an annuity? In the most basic sense, an annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company that says...

March 2018 Market Review and Outlook

During the first quarter, investors wavered from euphoria to despair, as record market gains in January were followed by the first “corrections” (drops of 10% from record highs) in February in more than 2 years. The Dow and S&P 500 closed out the month of March...

Olympic Athletes Can Teach Us Valuable Lessons About Retirement

Last month, athletes from around the globe came together to compete in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. While for some, these games were a debut, others retired from their sport following the competition. Each Olympian’s journey is unique from its infancy to its...

February 2018 Market Review and Outlook

What a difference a month makes! 2018 began with strong gains, only to see much of those gains evaporate as volatility returned to the markets amid concerns of continued interest rate hikes by the Fed. The conundrum is that interest rates are rising because of...

January 2018 Market Review and Outlook

2018 is off to a good start, as during the month of January the major indices were setting records on a daily basis. Worldwide markets are off to their best start in over 30 years. A well-known market adage says that so goes January, so goes the year. And historical...