One of the topics of discussion during the retirement planning conference I attended last month was: Target Date Funds. In fact, it deserved a lunch presentation to the full conference. Target Date Funds have taken the retirement accumulation market by storm over the last 10 years. In many cases, they have become the 401(k) and 403(b) “default” investments inside these work-site retirement plans at work. Nearly $1 TRILLION is now invested in them through brand-name firms such as Fidelity, Vanguard, TRowe Price, American Funds and … Continue reading
Don’t Blindly Trust Your Target Date Funds
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Tagged 401(k) investments, 403(b) investments, retirement investing
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Another Social Security tax trap!
At this time of year everyone is thinking about taxes! But what most people don’t understand is, if or how Social Security retirement income is taxed. But once they get their first tax returns done during retirement they find out. But they are probably also unaware of the next tax-trap that will eventually come. I lost my Mom in 2013, but the IRS allows a couple to file jointly for that years tax return. In 2014, since my Mom was no longer alive, my Dad … Continue reading
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Tagged taxation of Social Security
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1st Qtr – Stock Market Volatility
This market (and attached chart) is not exactly for the faint of heart. Although no major drops, it’s been just up and down… ending up just a hair above where 2015 started. The chart shows that in just the first 3 months of this year, we’ve had a roller coaster ride. The white line is the S&P 500 and the blue one marks the interim peaks and troughs drops and gains. Check out these 9 market moves within the year’s first 90 days: Down -2.73% Up +2.97% Down -3.37% Up +3.54% Down -3.30% Up … Continue reading
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the 3 Buckets of Taxation
I’m traveling to another retirement conference tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll learn some great new things to share with you in the weeks to come. But for now I wanted to show you my latest 1 minute retirement planning video about the 3 buckets of taxation. View the brief video here: https://youtu.be/pqJ9rTPn4H4 all the best… Mark
Social Security Planning with Minor Children
This is a subject that I wrote about in my Social Security Retirement Income Planning book, and it just came up again in a discussion with a potential client this week, so I thought I’d make a blog post that “steals” this chapter from it. If you know someone raising children (their own or otherwise) they should learn about this little-known Social Security filing strategy. This short chapter follows here: “I wasn’t going to include a section in the book … Continue reading
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