Advisors

FatCamera Most workers over age 40 don’t have sufficient retirement savings and aren’t setting aside enough to catch up, according to a survey from the Insured Retirement Institute. Despite the nest egg shortfall, many still expect to retire early and believe they will have ample retirement income.   More than half of older Americans have less

SDI Productions Expecting an enhanced write-off for charitable gifts in 2021? The deduction won’t look the same as it did in 2020, according to tax experts.  As the pandemic ravaged American lives, Congress added a provision to the CARES Act to spark more charitable giving: an improved tax deduction for cash gifts up to $300

Prostock-Studio | iStock | Getty Images If you get your health insurance through the public marketplace and are nearing age 65, don’t forget about Medicare. The general rule is that you must enroll when you reach that age unless you have qualifying coverage elsewhere — and plans through the exchanges (whether federal or state) do

Cecilie_Arcurs | E+ | Getty Images With fewer employer pensions these days, some retirees are hesitant to draw down their nest eggs. However, older Americans may spend more freely with a guaranteed source of income, such as Social Security or a private annuity. That’s according to a research paper that examines spending in retirement. The

PeopleImages | E+ | Getty Images In his poem “If,” British author Rudyard Kipling famously wrote that learning to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” is part of growing up. That very statement is also part of growing wealth. I wish I could go back to March 2020, when some investors

Peter Cade | Getty Images Most retirees — including those with less wealth — aren’t tapping their nest eggs before their required withdrawals, according to research from J.P. Morgan Asset Management and the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Some 80% of the retirees studied didn’t withdraw money from accounts before their required minimum distributions, known as

Klaus Vedfelt | Getty Images The Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2022 potentially will be the biggest in 40 years. Estimates indicate the annual boost could be 6.2%, prompted by rising inflation. But rising prices on grocery store shelves and at gasoline pumps aren’t the only reasons why those bigger monthly benefit checks will likely

Hero Images | Getty Images At some point, individuals who are charitably inclined might determine that writing checks here and there to various nonprofits is no longer cutting it. For those who want a more permanent way to help the greater good during their lifetime, and perhaps beyond, options include either a private foundation or

Getty Images The enhanced child tax credit captured America’s attention this summer as millions of families began receiving payments. But Congress also boosted a lesser-known write-off this year for working families: the child and dependent care tax credit. Often conflated with the child tax credit, the child and dependent care tax credit offers working parents

Image Source | Getty Images Many Americans have trouble covering their costs of living with income solely from Social Security. Now, a bill has been reintroduced in Congress aimed at reducing the risk that older Americans, women and people of color will live in poverty despite receiving their monthly checks. The proposal, called the Social

Although many Americans continue to face financial uncertainty due to the pandemic, the outlook for retirement savers is only improving. Retirement account balances, which took a sharp nosedive in 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak caused economic shock waves, are now at new highs, according to the latest data from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider

@Sabi32 | Twenty20 One in 3 American families couldn’t handle a mid-sized financial emergency before the pandemic, according to a report from the Stanford Center on Longevity and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center. Roughly 27% of American families couldn’t cover an unexpected $2,000 expense within a month, and 33% were struggling to make ends

JEFF KOWALSKY | AFP | Getty Images Federal unemployment benefits officially expire on Labor Day — but state administrative rules require that aid to end a few days earlier than some workers may anticipate. All states pay weekly benefits according to a schedule that ends on a Saturday or Sunday. However, the American Rescue Plan

krisanapong detraphiphat | Moment | Getty Images About 1 in 3 of the lowest-income families have a savings account, according to research published Monday by the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group. Thirty percent of households in the bottom fifth — those who earn less than about $26,000 a year — owned a

In this article ROST GCShutter | E+ | Getty Images The entire cryptocurrency market climbed to more than $2 trillion over the weekend for the first time since mid-May. Bitcoin, one of the more popular digital offerings, also surged to more than $48,000, though it has already lost some of those gains. If you’re like

Sawitree Pamee / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty Images When a financial advisor discusses the appropriate asset allocation for a portfolio, they are essentially trying to construct a plan that maximizes expected returns based on a given level of risk. The advisor pays less attention to the behavior of an individual security and instead focuses

katleho Seisa With inflation fears high and interest rates at rock-bottom lows, retirees may wrestle with how much cash they need during their golden years. The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, increased by 5.4% in July from the previous year, and the average savings interest rates are still 0.06%, making cash reserves

Hector Pertuz | iStock | Getty Images If you’re handling the financial affairs for an older person who has died, you may wonder how the government knows to stop sending Social Security payments. Or maybe there’s a surviving spouse or dependent who is hoping those benefits can continue. Although Social Security rules can be complicated,

Money in a special needs trust can cover supplemental needs not covered by Medicaid and SSI. Uwe Umstaetter | Getty Images Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., have touted a $3.5 trillion spending package aimed at helping to fight poverty. Yet initial drafts have not included proposed reforms to enhance Supplemental Security Income — also known

In this article MS BLK skynesher | Getty Images Direct indexing, which allows investors to buy the stocks of an index, instead of purchasing a mutual or exchange-traded fund, may soon be available to more investors. While ultra-high-net-worth people have historically used the strategy, those with fewer assets may soon have access as more financial