Retirement Planning
Bob Carlson shares miscellaneous advice on retirement and related topics
Found 107 Articles.
Get access to our full article archive by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.
How Safe Are Your Assets?
Is your money safe? It is amazing how quickly investors went from not worrying about risk to having that be the first question on their minds. As the financial crisis spreads, people are worried about the safety of their money and how to make their assets more secure. Here’s an overview of the rules for […]
How Improved Websites Boost Your Benefits
Government benefits are complicated. It often is difficult to understand the rules well enough to maximize benefits from Social Security and Medicare. The government agencies know this and in response recently added features to their web sites to make it less painful to learn your benefit options. I have reviewed these features and believe they […]
Pay Off Debt or Continue Owing in Retirement?
Paying off the mortgage used to be part of the American dream and a prerequisite to retirement. Times have changed. These days many people enter retirement with mortgages and other debt, and some do not hesitate to increase debt during retirement. What is the best approach? Should you try to pay off the mortgage as […]
Should You Take that Early Retirement Offer?
With the economy slowing more people have to face one of work life’s more difficult issues: Should the early retirement offer be accepted? Evaluating the value and merits of a buyout offer can be difficult, because the offer contains many parts. Here is a summary of key points to consider when a buyout offer is […]
The 80%-2% Retirement Savings Solution
The best financial move a person can make is to start saving and investing early. That also is the hardest lesson to teach young people. Retirement is a distant, abstract concept, and young people tend to be present-oriented. Young people also are daunted by the amount of money they should accumulate by the time they […]
Are You Saving Too Much for Retirement?
People are saving more for retirement than is generally believed, but are they saving enough? Or are they saving too much? Two recent studies found that most people are on course to have enough saved for retirement. One study surveyed those born between 1931 and 1941 and found that at least 80% accumulated adequate funds […]
Retirement Planning: How Are You Doing?
Financial and retirement planning start with answering the question in the headline. After determining how you are doing, the next step is to define the actions that are needed to either help you do better or at least maintain your current status. Answering the first question is not as easy as many people suppose. Traditionally, […]
Planning Your Retirement: What’s Really Important?
Most people do their retirement planning backwards. They are guided that way by conventional advice and advisors. Retirement is more fulfilling and the planning is easier if the steps taken are a little different than those in the conventional planning process. The traditional retirement plan begins with money. The first step or series of steps […]
