Retirement Articles
Found 3630 Articles.
Get access to 4366 articles by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.
April 2012
April 27, 2012 04:20 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review Big decisions soon need to be made by policymakers and investors. As I’ve said the last few weeks, a wave of economic and market forces are coming together and forming a critical mass that’s creating a lot of stress on the system. It’s not […]
Picking IRA Beneficiaries
Many people make serious mistakes when naming beneficiaries for IRAs and similar accounts. Talk to almost any financial planner or estate planner and you’ll hear wild stories. People often have no beneficiaries named. Or a divorced or deceased spouse is the primary beneficiary. Some of the mistakes are so bad they end up in court. […]
Beware of State Estate and Inheritance Taxes
Many people are resting easy about estate taxes because of the $5 million federal estate tax exemption. They shouldn’t. Only 27 states have no estate or inheritance taxes. Of the 23 states with the taxes, most impose them at lower levels then the federal tax. Also, because of budget problems, a number of states imposed […]
Estate Planning for Grandparents Stepping in as Parents
A quiet trend in the U.S. is that a growing number of parents serve as the primary parents for their grandchildren. The Census Bureau started tabulating this information in 2000, and since then the numbers have grown. The 2010 census showed that 3.1 million children are living without their biological parents, and 59% of them […]
SUBSCRIBE TO Lifetime Retirement Protection Program
Bob’s exclusive new service gives members the tools and knowledge to maximize their retirement finances for the rest of their lives. The Lifetime Retirement Protection Program includes all monthly issues of Bob’s Retirement Watch newsletter, all monthly video webinars in his Retirement Watch Spotlight service, every one of Bob’s premium reports and white papers (past and future), complete access to RetirementWatch.com, and 90 days’ membership in Eagle Financial’s DividendInvestor.com. Click here now to access all of Bob Carlson’s research.
Are TIPS Best for Retirees?
There’s an ongoing debate in the finance community about the best portfolio for retirees whose savings aren’t clearly enough to sustain their spending indefinitely. One recommendation that’s getting a lot of attention is from Zvi Brodie of Boston College and co-author of the new book, Risk Less and Prosper. Brodie’s strategy is to buy Treasury […]
America’s Real Retirement Problem
Social Security isn’t a major problem. It can be fixed with a few tweaks, and the sooner changes are made the easier the tweaks will be. That doesn’t mean every American will have adequate retirement income, says Clive Crook of Bloomberg. Social Security doesn’t replace a lot of working years’ income for most people, and […]
The Bull vs. The Bear
It’s rare there’s a day with the stark contrast we saw yesterday. In the April issue of Retirement Watch, I remarked that I don’t recall see such a sharp divide between those who are optimistic and pessimistic about the stock markets. We saw that clearly yesterday. First, Goldman Sachs came out with a report arguing […]
Another Annuity Exit
The Fed’s zero interest rate policy and some other factors have been hard on insurers, especially those who sell annuities. They can’t promise the guaranteed income they used to when short-term interest rates are near zero and long-term rates are less than 4%. As a result, a number of firms have exited the business or […]
