Should You Retire To South Dakota?

Should You Retire To South Dakota?

Bankrate.com recently announced the ten best states for retirement.  The list, which includes such rugged spots as Colorado, Utah, North Dakota and Wyoming, was topped by, of all places, South Dakota.  My question: is South Dakota the retirement paradise to which we should all aspire? Before any South Dakotans that happen to be reading this…
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Retirement Planning Is a Family Affair

It’s pretty common among married couples for one spouse to take the lead as the family money manager. It’s usually the one with the most interest and/or time to spend dealing with taxes, investments, and household budgeting. Over the last several years I’ve been encountering more and more families where each spouse manages his and…
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IRA Rollover Loophole Soon To Be Plugged

The IRS wants to make it easy for you to set up and maintain IRA accounts.  Part of that strategy involves keeping your IRA accounts at whichever qualified custodian you prefer.  Should you become unhappy with the costs or services provided by one custodian, the IRS allows you to move some or all of the…
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How Market Timing Affects Portfolios

This is a follow-up to my post last October entitled “Should You Increase Equity Allocation in Retirement?”  (https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2013/10/24/should-you-increase-equity-allocation-in-retirement/).  At that time I cited research by Pfau & Kitces suggesting that retirees begin their retirement with their investment portfolio allocated very conservatively, and then gradually increase the allocation to stocks as they age.  In this post…
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Reverse Mortgages: The Good and the Bad

According to Consumer Reports some 70% of retirees’ net wealth is locked up in their homes. Given that, you’d think that reverse mortgages would be a very popular solution for tapping into all that wealth. Yet prior to 2012, the cost, complexity, and even stigma of utilizing a reverse mortgage have made it the choice…
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Not All Annuities Are Bad!

Annuities have been getting some bad press in the financial planning community. Financial planners tend to denigrate them due to their cost – “They have way too many fees, many of them hidden” – or due to the fact that they are not hedged against inflation, effectively reducing their usefulness at exactly the time (later…
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