Articles and Videos

Managing Your Financial Future

RMD Age Is Now Higher – But Should You Really Delay Your IRA Distributions?- Episode 122

January 24, 2023

As of 2023, the age when you must begin taking Required Minimum Distributions from your IRAs has been increased. This means you may have as many as three extra years to allow your savings to grow tax deferred. This may sound like a great idea: why pay taxes now when you can delay the inevitable… View Article

Investing and Personal Finance

Why It’s Time to Review Your Bucket One

January 20, 2023

We would like to spend just a couple of minutes talking about current fixed interest rates. Now, we probably don’t have to tell you that interest rates have moved up a lot in 2022. News of the Fed raising rates has been all over the financial news since March when they started the process. What… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

Secure Act 2.0: Your Financial Life Is About to Change- Episode 121

January 17, 2023

The SECURE 2.0 Act is now law. The legislation was signed by the president in late December of 2022, and it provides a whole slate of changes that are designed to help strengthen the retirement system—and Americans’ financial readiness for retirement. The Act itself contains dozens of provisions, building on earlier legislation that, among other… View Article

Investing and Personal Finance

Value Averaging: The Key to Surviving Market Downturns?

January 12, 2023

A good retirement plan and investment strategy should take market ups and downs into account, capitalizing on both. That’s value averaging.

Managing Your Financial Future

Buckets: Taking Advantage of Higher Interest Rates- Episode 120

January 10, 2023

Interest rates went up quite a bit in 2022 – did you notice?  It’s a pretty sure bet that you did, since everything from mortgages to credit cards to the value of the stock market were affected. But are higher interest rates good or bad?  Depends on whom you ask.  To borrowers, it’s not so… View Article

Investing and Personal Finance

Don’t Fear Stocks in Retirement

January 5, 2023

One of the more common beliefs about retirement finance is that the older you are, the less exposure to equities you should have. In other words, with each passing year in retirement, you should cut back on your percentage of stocks in your portfolio. But we think that’s the wrong approach. In fact, you may want to do the exact opposite. 

Managing Your Financial Future

It’s a New Year – Let’s Get Your Financial House in Order!- Episode 119

January 3, 2023

The new year brings with it some new opportunities, on both the planning and the saving sides. There are new contribution limits on your retirement plans, a fairly large cost of living adjustment on your Social Security benefits, a slight decrease in your Medicare premiums, and much more. Beyond that, there are also new opportunities… View Article

Investing and Personal Finance

Why You Should Consider Multiple Sources of Retirement Income

December 16, 2022

When it’s time for you to retire, it’s likely you’ll need a source of income to replace your salary. So how do you generate a reasonably stable income that will last as long as you do? 

Investing and Personal Finance

Stocks and Bonds Are Both Down – Here’s What You Should Do

December 8, 2022

Traditionally, when saving for retirement, many people have been advised to divide their portfolio holdings up into a mixture of stocks and bonds.  A 60-40 combination is common, but that ratio varies depending on certain factors, like age.  The idea was that when stocks were up, so were investors’ portfolios.  And when stocks were having… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

How Your Pension May Reduce or Eliminate Your Social Security Benefits- Episode 118

December 6, 2022

It’s a common scenario: you decide to take your Social Security early, maybe age 62 or 63, and then at age 65 you’ll begin taking your pension benefits.  You’ve already calculated what both your Social Security and pension payments will be, and so you set up your budget and your lifestyle accordingly. But once your… View Article

Investing and Personal Finance

Save Like a Pessimist, Invest Like an Optimist

December 1, 2022

One of my favorite authors in the blogosphere is Morgan Housel, author of The Psychology of Money.  He said something recently that really got me to thinking about why we believe so much in the power of a Bucket Strategy.   His advice was this: Save Like a Pessimist and Invest Like an Optimist.  So… View Article

Managing Your Financial Future

Are Fixed Annuities Better Alternatives to Bonds?- Episode 117

November 29, 2022

In the classic 60/40 stock-bond portfolio, the stock portion is supposed to provide the gains, while the task of the bond portion is to cushion the fall when stocks are going down in value.  This past year, though, things haven’t quite worked out that way. Both stocks and bonds are down in 2022, as interest… View Article