retirement
Working a side gig to make ends meet
Are you working a side gig to supplement your income or your retirement? You are not alone. A recent survey from My Guide to Retirement reports that “44 percent of respondents said they took on an extra gig to achieve…
Will $2 million be enough for your retirement
A recent survey by BlackRock reported that the average American said they needed $2.09 million to retire comfortably. That’s an astronomical figure for many of us. Even BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, wrote. “That’s a lot and more than I was…
Stretching your Social Security benefits
Nearly 22 million seniors rely on their Social Security benefits for the entirety of their retirement income, according to a recent 2025 survey. The same survey reports that an estimated 31.8 million seniors get by on less than $2,000 a…
Timing is everything when it comes to Social Security
“Timing is everything.” — Buck Brannaman. This statement applies when it comes to when you should claim your Social Security benefits. If you take them at age 62, they will be permanently reduced by as much as 30 percent compared…
What to know before you take your first RMD
Are you turning 73 this year and facing taking your first required minimum distributions (RMDs)? If so, congratulations; if not, you may want to take notes for when it’s your turn to start taking RMDs. Maurie Backman, writing for The…
How to avoid costly mistakes in retirement
“Retirement isn’t the end of the road — it’s the reward for the path you planned.” – Unknown Planning for retirement is hard, but it is worth it. Although some of us thought we had planned well for retirement, certain…
Waiting only makes the changes larger and more difficult
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regularly publishes reports presenting its baseline projections of what the federal budget and the economy would look like in the current year and over the next 10 years if laws governing taxes and spending generally…
Data Breaches and Social Security
A Complex Online World It’s a complex electronic world we live in today, with nearly all organizations transitioning rapidly to online services. We are often encouraged to do our banking, manage our investments, renew our licenses, and pay our monthly…
Sounding the Alarm: Social Security in Financial Trouble
In somewhat of a “Johnny-come-lately” mayday alarm, this MorningStar article by Jessica Hall reports that the latest from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is that Social Security’s reserves may be fully depleted in about the year 2032 – an issue…
Social Security Taxation Rules – 2026
There has been a lot of media discussion about taxation of Social Security benefits, what with the passage of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) last year. But as beneficial as the OBBB is to your IRS tax bill,…