Small Business Owners Still Not Saving

Small Business Owners Still Not Saving

I wrote last year about small business owners who plow most of their savings into their businesses to the exclusion of their retirement and other financial goals.  I had cited a 2006 study by the Small Business Administration that found that only about a third of such entrepreneurs had individual retirement accounts or had made…
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Taxes Have a Big Impact on Retirement

A recent Lincoln Financial Group survey found that retirees significantly underestimate the impact taxes will have on them during their retirement years. When asked before they retired what they expected their top expenses to be in retirement, the majority of pre-retirees surveyed anticipated home and mortgage, health care, and travel/leisure costs to be the highest.…
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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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