Tag: "IRA"

Don’t Treat the I.R.S. Like a Savings Account

Picture this scenario:  Suppose you are a habitual spendthrift and have great difficulty putting money aside for savings, so you ask a trusted friend to hold money for you.  Each month for a year, you give this friend $200 a month, which you cannot borrow against or ask to be returned to you until the end of a [...]

Apr 17, 2012 | 2 comments | by

Baby Boomers vs. Generation Y

The Insured Retirement Institute released a survey this week (described on the Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money blog) about the state of baby boomer retirement.  It is indeed a sad state, but nothing new to report.  As previous surveys have indicated, they are simply not ready: 35 percent of 50 to 66 year olds expect to retire after age [...]

Apr 05, 2012 | 3 comments | by

Mixed Messages about Saving

I have usually never met a tax cut I didn’t like.  But the House passed a bill Tuesday (yet to be voted on by the Senate) extending the reduction in the employee’s portion of the payroll tax (set to expire the end of December), which since 2010 has been 4.2 percent instead of the usual [...]

Dec 15, 2011 | 2 comments | by

Will You Live Past 90?

The latest Census data show that more people are living to age 90, according to Healthday.  In fact the 90-and-beyond crowd has tripled since 1980, to 1.9 million people today.  Most are women (75 percent), and many live alone but are not necessarily independent and healthy.   The average income for people aged 90 and older [...]

Nov 18, 2011 | 3 comments | by

Walk….Don’t Run When the Financial Markets Speak

One of the most important things to remember in an emergency is to remain calm.  Panic tends to cloud a person’s rational thinking and judgment.  In every situation, panic can create more problems than it solves.  It does two things:  1) It causes us to misunderstand the ramifications of the problem we are trying to [...]

Aug 10, 2011 | 1 comment | by

Converting a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA

Do you want to pay the piper now, or later?  Currently, only households making less than $100,000 a year or spouses filing jointly can convert their traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) into a Roth IRA.  But as noted in a recent Wall Street Journal article those restrictions will be lifted in 2010, so that workers of [...]

Jun 25, 2009 | 1 comment | by

Staying the Course

To readers who are having misgivings about the stock market, the bond market, your 401(k) or IRA accounts and retirement savings in general:  Take a look at the new NCPA policy report, "Ten Ways to Wreck Your Retirement."  While some of the ways seem obvious, the recent economic turmoil have left some savers tossing common sense out the window.  [...]

Mar 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment | by

A Retirement to Come Home To

It looks as if pensions aren’t going to be enough to secure a good retirement for most Americans.  According to a study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), less than half of men (42.6 percent) and just over a quarter (27.9 percent) of women aged 65 and over received annuity or pension income in [...]

Dec 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment | by