Is It Better to Take Social Security Early?

Is It Better to Take Social Security Early?

I’ve written numerous articles over the years about strategies for maximizing your Social Security (SS) benefits. But the most fundamental decision all retirees face is when to start taking payments. If you need the money, you may have no choice but to start taking payments as soon as you can. But if that’s not the…
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Retirement Success: The One Thing Needed Most

I’ve written many times about various things you can do in order to maximize the chances that your post-retirement life turns out to be everything you’ve hoped it could be.  What is the number one thing you need to do?  In a word, save!  And I mean save early, save often, and save as much…
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Municipal Bankruptcies: It’s Not Just the Pensions

Detroit has recently joined Stockton and San Bernardino in filing for bankruptcy.  It’s the largest city in the U.S. ever to go this route.  How Detroit resolves its inability to pay in full the promises it has made to creditors and retirees will affect municipal bond holders, the insurers that guarantee such bonds, state and…
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CBO Paper Says Don’t Buy Annuities

It seems there’s been a lot of news recently around annuities. The latest is a working paper published by Felix Reichling of the Congressional Budget Office and Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. It concludes that most people should not buy annuities. This is a controversial finding that is bound to spark…
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Small Business Owners Not Saving for Retirement

I wrote a blog not too long ago about how much we need to be saving for retirement. It turns out that small business owners are among those most at risk. A recent AP report posted by MarketWatch shared the stories of a number of business owners who simply ignored their own future and focused…
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Why Good Annuity Advice is Hard to Get

Annuities can be a very valuable part of an investment portfolio.  Unlike stocks & bonds, they provide guaranteed income for as long as you live (at least to the extent supported by your state’s Life & Health Insurance Guarantee Association).  But getting help on what kind of annuity to buy (let alone which one specifically)…
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