Most of us don’t want to think about or discuss what will happen after we die. Because estate planning forces us to do just that, we tend to avoid it.  However, if you want to protect your family and your assets, creating an estate plan is a necessary task. And if you take the right steps, you can ensure that …

Lifetime income annuities provide the best means to ensure against outliving one’s assets in retirement, according to a study from research fellows at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. The study, “Investing Your Lump Sum at Retirement,” states that a “perfect storm” of influences, along with improvements insurers have made in annuity products, combine to make life annuities the best investment …

Everybody looks like a genius when the markets are doing nothing but climbing. But we all know that markets can go down as well as up.  Stocks of any kind are innately risky, and there are never any guarantees. For that, you have to go with annuities. Annuities vs. Mutual Funds  Mutual funds– With mutual funds, you and other investors …

Experts estimate that about $60 billion is lost annually due to Medicare fraud.  Consumers do not have to be Medicare beneficiaries to be affected by the high cost of fraud. Costs are passed down to all Americans in the form of increased insurance premiums, higher medical care outlays and inflated price tags on medical equipment.  Since Medicare fraud can affect …

Recent research showed that baby boomers and Generation Xers who are in the lower income brackets are more likely to fall short of their retirement goals, which will leave them lacking enough money to live on.  Researchers at Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress found that that some people may run out of funds within their first year of retiring, and …

Health Care Costs to Consume Half of Social Security Income by 2030 In 9 years, health care costs are projected to consume at least half of the average senior citizen’s Social Security income, even with basic Medicare coverage. Also, by 2030, some 42% of all seniors will be spending at least 20% of their total incomes on health care expenses. …

Many people, after their children have grown and they’ve paid off the mortgage, consider not renewing their term life insurance coverage or surrendering their permanent life policy, particularly as they near retirement. But that may not always be the best strategy, and there are instances when maintaining a life insurance policy in your retirement makes sense. The decision should be …

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on our mortality, and those of us with dependents obviously worry what would happen to our loved ones if we were to be taken prematurely by the coronavirus. As a result, there’s been a growing interest in estate planning to secure the futures of our loved ones should we pass.  COVID-19 brings opportunities …

When you apply for life insurance, or open a retirement account, you’ll be asked to name beneficiaries. This is an important step in financial planning. Failure to name beneficiaries can be a costly mistake, and one that can cause your loved ones a great deal of hardship after you’re gone. What’s a named beneficiary? A named beneficiary is the party …

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) eliminates the stretch IRA for most non-spouse beneficiaries, beginning with deaths in 2020. That means many taxpayers should look at revising their estate plans. Here’s why. New IRA rules Prior to the SECURE Act, which was a tax measure signed into law in December 2019, the law …