Knowing when to tap Social Security
By Joel Dresang
Timing retirement involves so much more than when to take Social Security. Still, those benefits play a bigger role than most people realize. […]
Financial Planning
How to optimize your giving
In a Money Talk Podcast, Bob Landaas leads a discussion about wise ways to be charitable. […]
Naming beneficiaries: Communicate clearly
Investors need to designate very clearly who they want to inherit assets they leave behind in investment accounts. Mike Hoelzl offers tips in a MONEY TALK VIDEO with Kyle Tetting. The video is part of the virtual 2021 Investment Outlook Seminar. […]
Social Security boosts benefits 5.9%
Retirees and other Social Security recipients will receive their biggest boosts to benefits in 40 years: A 5.9% raise from their 2021 monthly benefits. The Social Security Administration announced the increase as part of its annual cost-of-living adjustment, based on inflation measured by components of the Consumer Price Index. The higher benefits take effect in January and affects about 70 million Americans. […]
Yuletide logjams: Economy hits holidays
By Joel Dresang
Messages of “Buy-now-or-else!” make me wonder how economic circumstances affect holiday traditions. […]
Taking care of both health and wealth
By Joel Dresang
Being healthy lets us enjoy retirement more (and probably longer), but it also has financial repercussions. […]
Wealth effects: Spend, invest, retire
By Joel Dresang
The wealth effect usually is mentioned as a factor in spending, but it also plays a role in investing and retiring. Of the three, I feel it affecting me the most as an investor — but that’s just the phase of life I’m in. […]
Inflation raises benefits expectations
Early signs suggest retirees could get the fattest Social Security raise in more than a decade. […]
Not your parents’ investment plans
By Joel Dresang
Having smaller families has been affecting how we try to accumulate wealth and what we do with it. […]
Wake-up call: Protect against cyberfraud
By Joel Dresang
In the 14 minutes we were on the phone, Mark saved me $441.36. That was the good news. The bad news was all the other rigmarole still ahead for me — and the dreaded reality that this probably will happen again. […]
Pandemic-inspired retirement rehearsal
By Joel Dresang
Rehearsal helps performance. It conditions us. It informs our expectations. It lets us anticipate how we’ll handle a situation. Even improvisers rehearse. Research suggests rehearsal can help retirement, too. […]
Taking risks, fearing the wrong thing
By Joel Dresang
Life is full of risks, and as we try to assess how to handle them, it’s common to misjudge which risks to fear the most. […]