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How to Generate Guaranteed Lifetime Income (Second Social Security Check)

January 11, 2019

Lifetime income security is what everyone wants in retirement, but it is increasingly a challenge to achieve. Low interest rates and investment returns, longer life spans, inflation, long-term care expense, medical expenses, higher taxes and more are major obstacles to achieving financial security in retirement. Everyone wants what I call the “Second Social Security Check.” […]

Why Annuity Investments Are on the Rise (With Help from the Federal Reserve)

January 11, 2019

People are buying annuities again, and for good reasons. Not long ago, there was a steady decline in the amount of money flowing into annuities and there seemed to be no bottom. Annuity purchases, however, have rebounded — and indications are that the demand for annuities is likely to keep rising. In the second quarter […]

Bob’s Journal 12/20/2018

January 10, 2019

Last week’s Employment Situation reports were extremely strong, but don’t use them as good indicators of the strength of the economy or its trend. The nonfarm payrolls report showed that 312,000 new jobs were created, and revisions added a total of 58,000 jobs for the previous two months. The number of new jobs was well […]

Bob’s Journal for 1/3/2019

January 3, 2019

While Treasury bonds outperformed stocks in 2018, what happened within the bond markets was more important to investors. Stocks outperform bonds over the long term, but bonds have better years from time to time. Treasury bonds have outperformed the major stock indexes for only a few calendar years since the end of the financial crisis. […]

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How to Trim Taxes and Maximize Benefits from RMDs

January 2, 2019

Last week, I shared   4 ways to trim taxes, and maximize required minimum distribution (RMD) benefits. This week, let’s continue the discussion, with 5 more strategies to consider, starting with.. Timing distributions. The tax law says the IRA must distribute at least the RMD by the close of business on Dec. 31. Other than […]

Estate Planning

Warning: Your Children May Have To Pay for Your Long-Term Care

December 31, 2018

What’s the cost of not planning for your long-term care? Your estate or your children might be required to pay for it. Some little-used laws make this situation possible. Use of these laws increased the last few years, and they are likely to be used more in the future. Either the government or non-government providers of […]

The 2018 Market and Economic Review

December 27, 2018

Almost everyone’s 2018 predictions were wrong. But that’s almost always the case. We had another year of unexpected and startling changes in the economy and markets. Trends couldn’t have been much better than they were at the end of 2017. The economy was surging across the board, and U.S. stock indexes were moving steadily higher. […]

IRAs

9 Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) Strategies Every Retiree Should Know

December 27, 2018

Every retiree wants to trim taxes, and maximize benefits. But very few know how to approach this the right way. Today, I’ll share how you can maximize your benefits from Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), and reduce your tax bill. Required minimum distributions from IRAs weren’t simplified or changed in the new tax law. Taxpayers ages […]

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