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Saving, investing, and Social Security
You’ve probably read the news that Americans simply aren’t saving their money as they should to enjoy a comfortable future retirement. In fact, one pundit recently said that 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings – hardly enough…
When to apply for Social Security: Some basics
Obviously the amount of your Social Security benefit will depend on how much you earned over your working career, but it also depends upon what age you apply for benefits. Simply stated, the earlier you apply the less you’ll get…
Reverse mortgage a bad way to fund delaying Social Security benefits
When advising clients who seek to maximize their Social Security benefits, most advisors will explain that delaying those benefits and earning delayed retirement credits, even up to age 70, is the best way to get the most you can get. But,…
Social Security questions answered
Tom Margenau, noted national columnist and former Social Security Administration employee, appears regularly in several publications answering readers’ various questions about Social Security, In this tucson.com (Arizona) column, Mr Margenau answers a range of questions about benefits, penalties, documents, widow’s benefits…
What does your future self look like?
One of the most important things for anyone to visualize when planning retirement is what their “future self” will look like, compared to their present self. In other words, how do you see yourself in retirement? The answer to that…
Planning for retirement isn’t just about your finances
Financial advisors almost universally focus on helping you accumulate the money you will eventually need for retirement, but the reality is that your savings nest egg is only part of what’s really needed for a happy retirement. After toiling with work…
Equifax: Learn from others how to handle, and how not to handle, this crisis
It has been all over the news, but the Equifax data breach potentially affecting 143 million Americans is an issue of crisis proportions for the company itself. Equifax hasn’t been particularly forthcoming about what happened, nor have they been especially…
Women should plan differently for their Social Security retirement
It may be stating the obvious, but when it comes to considering how Social Security fits into a retirement plan, women have a whole different set of scenarios to consider. Even putting aside the gender pay gap, women tend to…
The retirement savings crisis: Fixing it is crucial
It’s fairly well known that Americans are simply not saving as they should to ensure a comfortable retirement, with fully 1/3 having nothing at all saved for their future. Couple this issue with the looming threat of future cuts in…
Medicare for all: Good or bad?
With Bernie Sanders hitting the D.C. circuit with his “Medicare for all” proposal, many pundits are offering opinions as to whether the single-payer healthcare concept is a system whose time has come, or an impending disaster. In this National Review…