Retirement

HOW PREPARED ARE YOU? Getting ready for retirement? Before you can cross that bridge, you’ll need to cross some important items off your to-do list. But thanks to our work together, you might be more prepared than you think! This handy checklist of ten crucial steps can help you visualize how far you’ve come. [...]

With the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, two strategies to potentially maximize Social Security benefit payments were eliminated. An Overview Prior to the budget’s passage, married couples had two strategies to help maximize their Social Security benefits: “file-and-suspend” and “restricted applications.”¹ Under file-and-suspend, the higher-earning spouse filed for benefits [...]

Most portfolios are constructed based on an individual's investment objective, risk tolerance, and time horizon. Using these inputs and sophisticated portfolio-optimization calculations, most investors can feel confident that they own a well-diversified portfolio, appropriately positioned to pursue their long-term goals.¹ However, as a retiree, how you choose to live in retirement may be an additional [...]

Pursuing your retirement dreams is challenging enough without making some common, and very avoidable, mistakes. Here are eight big mistakes to steer clear of, if possible. No Strategy: Yes, the biggest mistake is having no strategy at all. Without a strategy, you may have no goals, leaving you no way of knowing how you’ll get [...]

Social Security is a critical component of the retirement financial strategy for many Americans, so before you begin taking it, you should consider three important questions. The answers may affect whether you make the most of this retirement income source. When to Start? You have the choice of 1) starting benefits at age 62, 2) claiming [...]

For the casual observer, it sometimes seems that variable annuities are either “terrible” or “wonderful.”Commentators in the financial media seem to occupy a polarity of opinions we might see in politics. What gets lost when these commentators collide is “the individual.” Unfortunately, the discussion is rarely centered on whether a variable annuity is relevant and [...]

The reason withdrawals from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% tax penalty is that policymakers wanted to create a disincentive to use these savings for anything other than retirement.¹ Yet, policymakers also recognize that life can present more pressing circumstances that require access to these savings. [...]