Working Americans at or approaching retirement age today face many unprecedented challenges unique to their generation. That’s why it’s important to have a retirement plan that addresses these challenges and uncertainties head-on. One of the keys to doing just that is being aware of the retirement planning milestones that occur from age 50 onward. Several [...]

Dispelling myths, rumors and misinformation is an ongoing battle for financial advisors. Estate planning is a topic especially prone to myths and misinformation. In this report, I’m going to dispel 10 common myths about Estate Planning and give you the real facts — facts that could be critically important to helping protect your financial future. [...]

It’s no secret that Americans are living longer than ever. While that’s great news, it also creates many personal and social challenges. According to the Centers for Disease Control, for a couple in their mid-60s, there is a 50% chance that at least one of them will live into their mid-90s. That means Americans planning [...]

To say that March 2020 was a volatile month for the stock market would be an understatement. With the outbreak of the coronavirus and ensuing economic lockdown, the market ultimately dropped by some 40% before rebounding with the help of government-approved artificial stimulus. Financial markets around the globe were equally volatile — and to some [...]

Traditionally, the key to a financially solid retirement plan has been to save early, ideally from the day you start working. It’s always been good advice to live by, but today’s retirement is more complex. It requires a different approach. It wasn’t always this complicated. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when you [...]

Since many of today’s financial advisors got into the business in the 1980s and 90s, during the best stock market in U.S. history, most have become stock market specialists. Frankly, if they do fixed income, it’s usually an afterthought, and most will simply take the easy way out and invest their clients’ money in bond [...]

You try to protect your car, home, and your health with insurance, but are you trying to protect your retirement income? With the potential for tax-deferred growth and a guaranteed income stream, annuities can be important in helping meet your retirement objectives. How Annuities Work Very basically, an annuity is a contract between you and [...]

Not all financial advisors are created equal. Many say they specialize in retirement planning, but only a select few have the tools or training required to make them a true retirement “Income Specialist.” How can you tell whether your advisor falls into this elite category? Here are 10 signs to help you identify a true [...]

Nothing exists in a vacuum, meaning that even if you’ve determined the best time and method of taking your Social Security benefits based on your age, objectives, and lifelong earnings, it won’t matter unless you properly coordinate your benefits with your overall retirement income plan. Most people agree that Social Security is not enough to [...]

There is an ideal order in which to pull from retirement accounts when taking IRS Required Minimum Distributions (RMD). The goals, which often go unheeded, are to help minimize taxes, try to minimize taking principal, and earn as much as possible. These goals are easy enough to understand, but there are many factors to consider. [...]