Social Security
Found 254 Articles.
Get access to our full article archive by subscribing to Retirement Watch and Retirement Watch Spotlight Series.
Beating the Market – Updated
This week’s announcement of the Nobel Prize for Economic Science triggered a lot of fresh debate about market efficiency and whether it is possible to beat the market. I like this column by John Cassidy. He argues, I think correctly, that markets aren’t efficient. But here’s one point that I think many people miss. They […]
Nobel Prize in Economics – Stock Market Pricing
Three economists who separately worked on how assets, especially stocks, are priced won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. It’s an interesting collection of co-winners. One can argue that their research builds on each other, or one can argue that they are contradictory. I’ve reviewed several articles explaining the different research of the winners […]
Choosing Social Security Benefits
I was one of the first to take a hard look at the best time to begin Social Security retirement benefits. Since then, a number of others climbed on board with their own studies and analyses. Economists are very interested in the topic. It’s good to see so many joining the discussion, and satisfying that […]
Advanced Social Security Strategies for Couples
Social Security benefits are a key source of retirement income. While many people approaching retirement say they don’t plan to rely on Social Security, a majority of those already retired say it is an important percentage of their income. Too many people leave money on the table by not maximizing their Social Security retirement benefits. […]
October 2013
October 25, 2013 11:45 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review Investors need to be careful now when reviewing three- and five-year returns for mutual funds. We’re past the five-year anniversary of the worst of the financial crisis, and stock indexes have recovered dramatically from that point. Most stock-based mutual funds are going to have […]
What’s Wrong with Stock Indexes and Index Investing
I’ve never been a fan of index investing or benchmarking a portfolio against an index. Passive investing is a different animal in my mind, and certain types of passive investing can be effective. Here’s another explanation of the problems with stock indexes, and it is consistent with views I expressed in the past. There are […]
Avoiding Costly Medicare Errors
The wild card in most retirement plans is medical spending. Too many people approach retirement believing Medicare and their last employer will cover most retirement medical costs. Even after people realize their full potential exposure to medical expenses, many miss critical opportunities to reduce their share of the costs and especially to reduce the uncertainty […]
Staying in the 15% (or Lower) Tax Bracket
Most retirement tax planning and tax discussions have the wrong focus. They look at marginal tax rates, or the tax rate on the next dollar of ordinary income earned. If you’re married and earning $50,000 annually, for example, your next dollar will be taxed at the 15% rate. That’s a fine approach during the working […]
