What is “Lifestyle Creep?” “Lifestyle creep occurs when an individual’s standard of living improves as their discretionary income rises and former luxuries become new necessities. The rise in discretionary income can happen either through an increase in income or decrease in costs.” Lifestyle creep can occur when your young when income tends to continue to rise. […]
Under Social Security rules, if a person receiving a benefit becomes entitled to a different benefit, that person may switch to the new benefit if it’s higher. This switching is one of the most important ways clients can maximize their benefits, but they don’t always know how or when or even if they can do […]
When you plan for retirement, I talk a lot about Social Security rules and strategies, such as when to claim benefits, how to coordinate spousal and survivor benefits, and how continued earnings (or lack thereof) may affect future benefits. This is all good. But once you have considered your options and decide on your strategy […]
So, your child is in high school. For some parents, the concerns about the next step to college begin to enter your minds. When should you begin to think about college for your child? As early at the 9th grade! Here’s why? The ignored Preliminary SAT (PSAT) can open invisible doors not imagined or seen. […]
Most people invest willy-nilly (without any planning or order). Taking some basics from journalism may help most people get better results (expectations) when they approach investing. Answers to questions about Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? “…are questions whose answers are considered basic in information gathering or problem solving.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Ws . They’re very fundamental […]
There are a few things you can do between 401k’s, Roth 401k’s, Roth IRAs and traditional IRAs … but the rules are tricky so don’t try these at home without the assistance of an experienced tax preparer! You don’t want to crack any nest eggs moving them between baskets! If your 401k has both after-tax […]
One of the big discussions in the profession is choosing the age retirement should be planned to. Should it be age 95? Age 100? Some other age? Here’s a good brief discussion on the implications of choosing an age: “How Life Expectancy Affects Retirement Planning” by Mark Miller at Morningstar. Assuming you’re younger than in […]
You’ve probably got a dinner invitation in your mail. Free dinners are popular marketing ploys. “The hook” is the free meal. You bite. The salesperson reels you in with a compelling presentation. They land you when you buy what they’re pitching. No surprise – typically it’s an annuity. Why typically? Because they have high commissions, […]
What can you do if you start your Social Security benefit and later change your mind? Why would you do that? Say you go back to work and no longer need the Social Security income, or you have other sources of income to draw from and wants your Social Security benefit to build delayed credits […]
What is the true source for the cost of delayed savings, or the cost of waiting? Most articles focus on the lost dollars, which is true. But why are those dollars lost? Please read the insert below (and a link to the post in case those who get these by email can’t access the embedded […]
