The end of the year is a new occasion to boost your retirement savings. As part of your year-end planning for 2024, it’s important to look ahead to the new 2025 IRA contribution rules from the IRS. Each year, the IRS sets new limits on how much you can contribute to traditional IRAs and Roth […]
Category: Personal Finance
Year-end Roth IRA conversions are popular — but don’t wait too long, financial experts say
If you’re weighing a year-end Roth individual retirement account conversion, waiting too long could be risky, financial experts say. Roth conversions move pretax or nondeductible IRA funds to a Roth IRA, which can start tax-free growth. The trade-off is upfront taxes on the converted balance, which boosts your adjusted gross income. The strategy has become […]
Standard Chartered lifts income guidance again after beating third-quarter profit forecasts
Standard Chartered on Wednesday upgraded its 2024 income guidance as it posted profits in the third quarter that beat expectations, driven by record performance in its wealth management business. Here are StanChart’s results for the quarter, compared with LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate: Pre-tax profit: $1.81 billion […]
Goldman Sachs Says the Market’s Going to Stink for 10 Years. Here’s How to Beat It.
This might be a good time to consider the types of stocks most investors haven’t been focused on in a while. Bad news for investors who are expecting the stock market to maintain its incredible growth streak — it’s not gonna happen. That’s the word from Goldman Sachs, anyway. In its most recent long-term outlook, the investment […]
System to replace life certificates will end unnecessary stress on pensioners
It was slow in coming, and a rare act of bipartisan agreement, but last Friday the Senate finally approved a motion to initiate legislation to make life easier for government pensioners, a group which has been poorly served by various administrations. The key element of the motion is that if and when the proposed legislation […]
It’s hard to save for retirement. Here’s what Gen Z and millennials can do instead
Americans on average believe they’ll need $1.46 million in savings to retire comfortably, according to a 2024 study from Northwestern Mutual. That might feel like a big number, but at the recommended annual withdrawal rate of 4%, that would provide about $58,000 per year in income, well below the current median income in the U.S. […]
Japan’s No. 2 Pension Fund Aims to Double Alternative Assets
Japan’s second-biggest pension fund aims to double its holdings of alternative assets such as real estate and private equity to boost returns. Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials, known as PAL, is targeting alternative investments rising to near 5% of one of its main funds from 2.1% as of March, said Satoshi Uemura, an […]
Social Security COLAs Often Fail Retirees. But You Can Make Up for That by Doing These 3 Things to Score a Larger Benefit to Begin With
On October 10, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that benefits would be getting a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2025. And many seniors are no doubt unhappy about that given that 2025’s COLA is considerably smaller than the COLAs that have arrived in recent years. But here’s the truth. It almost doesn’t matter what […]
Receiving Social Security benefits? You’ll get more next year, but not much
If you are receiving Social Security benefits, the good news is the Cost of Living Adjustment — COLA — will increase in 2025, meaning you will receive a few more dollars in your Social Security benefit. The bad news is the increase is smaller than it has been in recent years. For example, the COLA rate was 3.2 percent […]
Far Too Many People Make This Social Security Mistake in Retirement
It’s a slip-up that could wreck your senior years. If you’re not yet retired, you probably know someone who’s collecting Social Security each month. You may have a relative, neighbor, or former colleague who relies on those benefits to cover their retirement expenses. But there’s a big mistake retirees commonly make when it comes to […]
There’s still time to reduce your 2024 tax bill with these strategies
There’s still time to lower your taxes or boost your refund for 2024, financial experts say. Typically, there’s a refund when you overpay taxes during the year via withholdings or estimated payments. You can expect a tax bill when you don’t pay enough. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or TCJA, there […]
Social Security Payment of Up to $943 To Go Out This Week
Social Security disability and retirement benefits will be paid this week to millions of recipients. This week on Friday, November 1, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and those who have been claiming retirement benefits since before May 1997 will be paid their monthly benefit allotment. All Social Security benefits are paid directly into bank accounts […]