What Does a 95% Success Rate Really Mean?
Most of us have spent our lives being evaluated on a scale of 0 to 100. From elementary school through college, we learned that higher scores meant better results. A 95 was an A, a 75 was a C, and anything below 60 usually meant we had some work to do. That way of thinking […]
A Zero-Dollar Tax Bill Can Be a Missed Opportunity
Paying no federal income tax can feel like an obvious win, especially after decades of watching taxes come out of every paycheck. Once work ends, income often drops, deductions may cover much of what remains, and it can be satisfying to see little or nothing owed when your tax return is finished. The problem is […]
Filling Tax Brackets May Be the Wrong Roth Conversion Strategy
Paying $0 in federal income tax during retirement might sound like the ultimate tax-planning victory. After decades of paying taxes on your earnings, investments, and retirement savings, reaching a point where you owe nothing can feel like evidence that you planned exceptionally well. But a $0 tax bill can also represent a missed opportunity. Each […]
You May Not Get to Choose When You Retire
You may have spent years planning to retire at a specific age, only to discover that the timing is not entirely yours to control. A company restructuring, a sale, a family member who suddenly needs your support, or a change in your own health can bring your working years to an end sooner than expected. […]
Using Home Equity as a Retirement Buffer Asset
Periods of financial stress can set the stage for difficult decisions for retirees, particularly when markets are down at the same time cash is needed for living expenses or an unexpected cost. Having another source of funds available can help reduce the need to sell investments after a decline and give the portfolio more time […]
Can You Live Off Dividends in Retirement?
Selling an investment in retirement can feel very different from receiving a dividend. One feels like spending down something you worked for years to accumulate. The other feels like skimming income off the top while leaving the underlying investment alone. Retirees who spent decades being told to save, invest, and avoid touching principal can be […]
How to Build a Social Security Bridge to Help Manage Sequence Risk
Social Security is a particularly valuable source of reliable retirement income. It functions much like a lifetime inflation-adjusted annuity backed by the federal government, providing income for as long as you live and adjusting benefits over time through cost-of-living increases. For married couples, the claiming decision can also affect the survivor benefit available after the first spouse dies. Unlike […]
The Wrong Way to Decide Whether an Annuity Is Expensive
One of the hardest problems in retirement is not knowing how long your money needs to last, and that uncertainty shapes almost every decision about how much you can safely spend. If you knew with certainty that retirement would last exactly 20 years, the planning would be considerably easier because you could establish a spending […]
What Happens If Congress Does Nothing About Social Security?
If Social Security is part of your retirement plan, the headlines can be unsettling. The program’s trust funds are running down, Congress has not agreed on a solution, and future benefits may eventually be lower than the amounts shown on today’s Social Security statements. That uncertainty can make it tempting to leave Social Security out […]
Keeping More of What You’ve Saved: The Power of Asset Location
When planning for retirement, most people concentrate on how much to save and how to invest for growth. Both are critical, but they only tell part of the story. The true measure of retirement success isn’t the size of your account; it’s how much you can actually spend each year without running out of money. […]
