Retirement

One of the advantages of the Social Security system is the Survivor Benefit. Of the 65 million people receiving Social Security, approximately 6 million receive the Survivor Benefit because they are the widow, widower, surviving ex-spouse, minor children, or permanently disabled adult children of a deceased worker. The amount received is based on the deceased worker’s earnings history.   Switching [...]

Since its beginning in 1935, Social Security has become synonymous with retirement income. But as with any government program, Social Security is a behemoth with a lengthy list of rules and hidden intricacies that can make a huge difference in the amount you receive. Collectively, Americans lose trillions of Social Security dollars because they don’t understand the system. It’s not [...]

There are not many advantages to getting old—hair thins, wrinkles show up at an accelerated rate and there’s a cornucopia of new aches and pains we’re introduced to. As crazy as it sounds, for many, one benefit to getting older is having access to Medicare. When Congress passed Obamacare in 2010, healthcare in the United States was thrown into turmoil. [...]

Hey! It’s just an IRA. What is there to know? You put money in and it’s a tax deduction, you get to take it out after 59 ½ without paying a penalty, and at 72 the IRS makes you take some out. What else could there be? In reality, there’s a lot more. Besides being able to contribute $6,000 every [...]

Social Security, even with all its problems, is unquestionably an important component of retirement income for millions of American retirees. For about half of seniors, Social Security is 50% of their income, and 1 in 4 seniors say it makes up at least 90% of their income. There are more parts to Social Security than most people realize. Only in [...]

Let’s update some two-thousand-year-old tax advice—Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but don’t give him more than that. Today, tax deductions and credits help determine how much Caesar gets. As an old guy told me a long time ago, “If it’s in the IRS code, it’s there to be used.” Unfortunately, there are tax breaks available to retirees that [...]

Social Security is an important part of almost every retirement plan, whether you’ve saved enough or not. That’s why it’s important to know as much about your Social Security situation as possible. And you don’t want to wait until you’re about to retire to gather the facts and take appropriate steps. Social Security planning needs to start 5 years before [...]

Remember that sage financial warning, “It’s not how much you make. It’s how much you keep.” Truer words were never spoken when it comes to retirement income. And taxes, federal and state, are one of the biggest determinants in just how much retirees have to live on. Here are some taxes you’re likely to see in retirement, who’s doing the [...]