Ring! Ring! It’s 7 A.M.! ……When Is My Retirement?

Planning for retirement is like choosing to eat a healthy salad over a Twinkie. Start making better choices by reading this week’s terrific links. 2020 retirement savings levels have been increased. CNBC Is 70 the new 60? MarketWatch Dying pensions deserve an autopsy. Forbes Retirees have a unique tax situation. Barron’s Should you claim Florida…

You! You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide!

The fumigation of teacher’s rancid 403(b) plans has commenced. Fire at will. The SEC is investigating Valic, a unit of AIG, for improper sales and disclosure practices. According to the Wall Street Journal, The inquiry centers on whether incentives in Valic’s compensation structure rewarded representatives for selling higher-cost products to retirement plan participants and whether…

Ring! Ring! It’s 7 A.M.! …..When Is My Retirement?

The average American watches T.V. for 5 hours a day but doesn’t have time to plan or retirement. Take a break from binge-watching to read this week’s terrific links.   Early retirement isn’t good for your brain. Science Daily How to figure out when to take Social Security. MarketWatch Do you spend enough time on…

Ring! Ring! It’s 7 A.M.!…..When Is My Retirement?

If your retirement plan wasn’t built to be changed, you don’t have a plan. Read this week’s links and learn what’s really important for your retirement. Don’t let surrender fees stop you from getting out of expensive annuities. Dollars And Data What are experiences really worth? The Wall Street Journal Never take retirement advice from…

The Getting Out Of Investment Jail Almost Free Card

Only in 403badlands could wealth subtraction lead to wealth addition. The data proves this seemingly outrageous statement. Don’t believe me? There’s a reason, My colleague Nick Maggiulli is called Nicky Numbers. Using his skills, he crunched the numbers on the average surrender fees teacher’s pay to get out of costly variable annuities. The results were…

Financial Sales Incentives Are Motivational Junk Food

“What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee ” Marcus Aurelius Financial sales incentives are the twinkies of human motivation. Shelly The Machine Levine, notwithstanding, the financial sales incentive structure conflicts with the fundamental needs of human happiness, productivity, and creativity. Susan Fowler points out the three intangibles that motivate all of us…

Ring! Ring! It’s 7:00 A.M.! …..When Is My Retirement?

You can worry about saving money now or worry much more later. It’s your choice. Instead of worrying, check out this week’s terrific retirement links. Medicare isn’t free. CNBC Flextime would keep more older workers employed. Bloomberg Be very careful before you take a lump-sum pension payment. InvestmentNews You will meet these nine types of…

Investors Need To Ask What, Not Why

To paraphrase President Kennedy – Ask not questions about why the unknowable occurs – ask what you can do to focus on the controllable.   Why questions invite belief systems to the curiosity party. Not a good thing. Depending on who you ask about the same topic, the answer is often completely different. Competing responses presented…