Studies Show Age Affects Financial Decision Making

Studies Show Age Affects Financial Decision Making

Cognitive impairment in old age may not simply be the result of a random event such as Alzheimer’s or a stroke. There is increasing evidence that cognitive decline in old age is natural and inevitable, and cannot be slowed by education or intelligence, nor by so-called brain exercises such as solving crossword puzzles. Our brain,…
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Cash Balance Retirement Plans Are Becoming Popular Alternatives To Pensions

Kravitz, a national designer and administrator of corporate retirement plans, recently released their 2012 National Cash Balance Research Report, which indicates that cash balance plans continue to grow much faster than all other types of retirement plans.  In 2010 (the most recent year for which IRS reporting data is available), the number of new cash…
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Political Risk Could Have an Outsized Impact on the U.S. Economy in 2013

The combination of increased taxes and spending reductions that will automatically take effect on January 1 if Congress does not act has the potential to decrease the budget deficit by around $600 billion next year but also tank the economy, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.  Tax increases would account for about two-thirds…
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Is Day Trading Better Than Buy and Hold?

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times suggests that there’s a growing inclination among baby boomers to shift to day trading as a strategy to make up for all the losses they incurred since 2008.  The average 60-year-old currently has only $114,500 in his or her 401(k), according to benefits firm Aon Hewitt, and…
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How To Avoid IRA Penalties

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the IRS will be going after taxpayers that made contribution or withdrawal errors in their IRAs. There were over $280 million in uncollected tax penalties in 2007, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. That’s low-hanging fruit for a federal government strapped for revenues. With this…
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Five Simple Tips To Help Seniors Avoid Investment Fraud

A recent poll by the Investor Protection Trust, a non-profit devoted to investor education, found that almost 60% of respondents — all professionals who work with the elderly — deal with elderly victims of investment fraud “quite often” or “somewhat often.”   The respondents included state securities regulators, financial planners, medical professionals, social workers, caregivers, and…
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