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If you plan to take your benefits early, you need to be aware of these potential consequences
According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, roughly 45 percent of claimants take their Social Security benefits at age 62, with approximately 60 percent claiming between ages 62 and 64. Although there are plenty of valid reason…
Retirement will change your life
You can plan for your retirement, you dream about it but there is no way to tell for sure what retirement will be like until you actually retire. Retirement changes the structure of your days, your friendships and possibly your…
Medicare basics
Medicare can be intimidating with so many options, confusing terminology, and people everywhere telling you something different. So, what do you do? You start with the basics. Click here for the Medicare basics. Notice: The link provided in the text above connects readers…
Do you know what the Social Security tax is?
What is the Social Security tax? The Social Security tax is the amount of money that gets taken from almost every American worker paycheck to pay for Social Security benefits. You pay a portion of your salary, and your employer…
Deemed filing rules do not apply to survivor benefits
An internal SSA report found that agency representatives gave widows and widowers incorrect guidance 82 percent of the time based on a random sample of claims by surviving spouses who were also entitled to claim their own retirement benefits. According…
The truth behind health care costs in retirement
Most Americans are aware that health care expenses will be significant during retirement, but it can be tough to decipher exact amounts to set aside for medical treatment. According to a 2018 Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald & Associates…
Your side job can give you a better retirement
If you have both wage income from a job and income from a part-time self-employment (Schedule C income), you may be missing out on a unique opportunity to simultaneously save on taxes and accumulate additional savings for retirement. How? The…
Steer clear of these four retirement planning mistakes
Retirement can be a fulfilling time in people’s lives, but it can also be a stressful one. In Maurie Backman’s article, she reviews four retirement planning mistakes you probably don’t even realize you’re making and how to avoid them at…
Property tax deferrals could free up additional retirement income
Many retirees are struggling, amid longer life expectancy, high healthcare costs and low interest rates, to live on their retirement income. Some retirees are turning to property tax deferrals, whereby you put off paying the taxes on your home, are…
Pros and cons of a Roth conversion
You have probably heard about the option to convert your traditional IRAs or retirement plans into a Roth account, but do you know what that entails? The attached article explains when this strategy makes sense to employ. If you think…