For Mark Roberts' Use: A few months ago, we blogged about the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2017, which at the time was expected to be nonexistent. Experts were predicting that Social Security would not release a COLA in January, and that benefits checks would remain the same. Now, it looks like [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: What kind of deductible does your health insurance carry? What would you do if you suffered a severe illness or expensive accident? If you're like nearly 90 percent of middle-income Americans, you could be forced to sacrifice some of your retirement savings to pay high medical bills. Before making this drastic mistake, [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: After years of hard work and dreaming about your retirement, who could blame you for wishing it could start now? And if you're like a lot of people, you'd even be willing to make some major life changes if it meant you could give up your job now. According to one [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: Throughout your career and while you were raising a family, you understood that life insurance was essential to protecting your loved ones. But now, with your children grown, you might be wondering whether you still need life insurance. But don't drop that policy just yet! Consider the following reasons for hanging [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: You expect to retire around age 65, perhaps even later, but sometimes things don't work out as we had planned. In fact, 7 of 10 current retirees stopped working before they reached their 65th birthday. Sometimes an early retirement is intentional, but often the decision is forced upon us by illness, [...]
For Mark Roberts Use: Most people enjoy giving to charity, and they also appreciate the possibility of a tax deduction. For years, rules allowing for a qualified charitable distribution (straight from your IRA to the charity of your choice) have been hung up in the political machine. Some years you could claim the deduction, and [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: As the old saying goes, nothing is certain except death and taxes. And while no one loves discussing either of those topics, they both require some advance planning. In particular, once you pass away, your estate could be subject to the estate tax. And because you would probably prefer to leave [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: As you plan for retirement, it's normal and expected to focus on a particular savings goal. Or, perhaps you've already met that goal, and you just want to finish paying down your debts first. These are both worthwhile goals, and you should indeed set a goal based upon the income you [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: Each fall, Social Security releases an expected cost of living adjustment (COLA), which takes effect on January 1 of the following year. And each fall, seniors who live on a fixed income anxiously await this news, so they can prepare their budgets and make any necessary adjustments. With the cost of [...]
After years of dreaming and planning for retirement, you’ve finally crossed the finish line. In the first few months after you retire, you might experience a period of readjustment. You’re learning to live in an entirely different way, on a different schedule, and without the grind of a daily commute. At first you might feel [...]