1-minute video: How Can You Take Care of Your Spouse Just in Case Something Should Happen to You? Still working? About to retire? Retired? How might you replace lost income for the survivor? Money needed – a lump sum – may come from savings/investments set aside, life insurance, a standby reverse mortgage line of credit, or […]
Tag Archives | standard of individual living
1-Minute Video: How to Set and Keep Financial Goals
Please enjoy this 1-minute video (for those receiving this by email: please click on the blog title line above to view). The video discusses the fundamentals of goal setting. But where (what) is the goal post for retirement planning as a goal? There’s more to it than simply saying I’ll retire and income will come […]
How Social Security Benefits Keep Up with Inflation for Those Working or Retired
With inflation dominating the news, people may be developing more than a passing interest in how the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is figured for inflation’s effects on the loss of purchasing power of each dollar. Whether it’s a matter of simple curiosity or an effort to maximize benefits through strategic claiming, people should know […]
What’s the AIM of both investing and planning?
The aim of retirement planning while working is to accumulate shares. The aim of retirement planning once retired is to conserve shares! Both working or retired, the aim is share management! The value of each share goes up and down over time. Shares are the store of wealth. Dollars are simply a measure of spending […]
Timeless nuggets of wisdom! Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
Psycholology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed and Happiness by Morgan Housel is a timeless work about how our feelings, emotions and interactions with money often results in different outcomes for different people – because people are different. So, insights into how to think and behave about money is instructive. You may think you […]
Social Security: Retiring at any age prior to age 70
When do you claim your Social Security when you want to retire (stop working) at age 60? Or 58? Or some other age before 70? 62 is the earliest you can claim your benefit (reduced), and age 70 is the latest you should claim because that’s the age the benefit is maximized. Your stop working age […]
Do you really know who you WILL be?
It is human nature not to be very good at imagining our future selves. Scientists call this “temporal discounting” (temporal discounting on Wikipedia). Various experiments have shown that we either imagine our future selves to be healthier, richer, or more disciplined than we turn out to be, or we feel disconnected from our future selves, thinking […]
How might you replace lost income as a survivor?
Most people don’t realize (or do, but don’t plan for it) that, as a couple, there is lost income from Social Security automatically built in. I discussed examples in a post titled “Social Security and Survivor Considerations.” In this post, the question is … How much money* is needed to replace that lost income? First, the […]
Social Security and Survivor Considerations
Did you know that Social Security for couples has a built in pay cut for survivors? How does that happen? Retirement has three basic phases for couples: Phase 1: Both are here – Retirement Plan. Phase 2: One is here as the survivor – Survivor Plan. Phase 3: Neither are here – Estate Plan. Most couples […]
Spending Shocks, Budgets and Savings: Working and Retired
Whether you are still working, or retired, most people haven’t structured their budgets for spending shocks. In truth if you spend less than you could, regardless of working or retired, you build in a buffer that helps keep stress on your financial life lower. Most recognize the below as logical. Yet, many spend everything that comes […]