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Looking at Retirement as a “Life Segment”
Segmenting a lifetime into four primary phases (learning, growing, maturing, and exploring) can give one an entirely different view on what retirement is all about. Each of these four segments–about 8000 days in length–has a unique set of characteristics, as idenmtified…
More on the Downside of Filing at Age 62
Filing for Social Security benefits at age 62 has its upside…money in your pocket. But it also drags with it some serious long-term downsides, not the least of which is a lower monthly benefit that stays with you for life.…
And, on the flip side…
The preceding post addresses some bad reasons for filing for Social security benefits at age 62. But, as pointed out in this post by the Motley Fool Staff, there are also some sound reasons why this strategy could work for you. The…
Retirement…The Elusive Goalposts
Statistics show that Americans are remaining in the workforce longer these daysm, with labor force participation rates among men and women showing significant increases compared to the 1990s. As explained by MarketWatch’s Alessandra Malito in a post on marketwatch.com, there are several key…
Attention Women: Dealing With the Retirement “Wealth Gap”
Much has been written in the media about the “wealth gap” and the resulting financial challenges that women face in their retirement years. Whether the cause is the wage gap or the interruptions women typically experience during their worklives, the…
Alert: Protecting Financial Interests of Parents and Grandparents
Aging has its good points and its bad points. First, just reaching the plateau called “elderly” gives one the great benefit of reflecting on a life well-lived. But it also produces the need to be careful of the fraudsters and…
Social Security’s Lump-Sum Death Benefit
It’s a $255 payment made to a beneficiaries’ spouse who was living with the Social Security recipient at the time of the recipient’s death, or to a surviving child who receives or can receive Social Security benefits based on the deceased’s work…
Seniors and Student Debt…
The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published some alarming statistics concerning the number of seniors holding student debt. In fact, CFPB reports that “(t)he number of American consumers ages 60 and older with student loan debt quadrupled between 2005 and…
Postponing Retirement: Who’s Considering It and Why
With more than half of the workers age 60+ participating in a recent Harris Poll reporting they plan to postpone their retirement and remain in the workforce, CareerBuilder’s Rosemary Haefner, asses the impact this trend will have going forward. And it’s…
A Quick Review of FRA and its Implications
The Motley Fool’s Matthew Frankel, in a post today on www.fool.com, re-explains the full retirement age (FRA) concept, noting that a Fidelity Investments survey last year concluded that only about a quarter of Americans were aware of theirs. His post goes…