In one particular chicken-and-egg debate, what comes first is clear: It makes sense to hire a financial adviser only after you can afford one — not in the hopes of building wealth someday. Financial advisers often require a minimum amount of investable assets (for many advisers that amount is at least $250,000), and their fees […]
Americans are afraid — and not just about the recent volatility in the stock market. Nearly one quarter (23%) of people say a lack of emergency savings is the one financial issue that keeps them up at night. Some 22% who say they don’t have enough retirement savings, 20% fear they’ll be the victim of […]
The virtue of using these tools is that, simply put, you’ll finally know where all your money is going. Some even do a pretty good job of categorizing your spending—though they wouldn’t know how you use your cash—which gives you a better understanding of not just how much you’re spending, but also exactly what you’re […]
Historically, personal-finance experts and policymakers haven’t worried much about the debt borrowers take on to attend graduate school. Conventional wisdom goes that a graduate degree will give these borrowers enough of a boost in the labor market to successfully pay off their debt. But a report released this week by the Brookings Institution, a Washington, […]
Though Social Security isn’t designed to sustain seniors by itself, those benefits play a huge role in helping retirees manage their bills. Deciding when to claim those benefits, though, is something many would-be recipients find challenging. Eligible workers get an eight-year window to file for Social Security that begins at age 62 and ends at […]
Nearly 42 million Americans work for small businesses. Just 14 percent of small employers offer a retirement plan, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. What’s worse: Most workers without a workplace plan have no retirement savings, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta said in a press conference this week. The Labor Department this week […]
When was the last time you played the lottery? If the answer is “yesterday,” you might want to keep reading. The media likes writing stories about lottery winners because the masses like reading about those stories. For those who consistently play the lottery, the stories offer a sort of validation. But the fantasy of winning […]
The vast majority of older working Americans don’t have sufficient savings to retire full-time at age 65 with their pre-retirement standard of living. That’s one of the sobering conclusions from the recent Sightlines report issued by the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL). As a result, the report noted, workers approaching retirement will either need to […]
If you are a salaried employee, you’re probably entitled to a number of workplace benefits, some of which you may have the ability to elect yourself or opt in and out of. The time to choose those benefits is none other than open enrollment season, which typically takes place during the last few months of […]
With more than 10,000 people turning 65 each day in the U.S., a common question I encounter as a certified financial planner is, “How much can I spend in retirement?” The answer to that question is complex because it is mostly determined by six interdependent variables: Investment account balance Investment account tax status and taxation […]
The average Social Security retirement check was recently $1,417, and the maximum check topped out at $3,698. That’s a big difference, and if you’d like your own Social Security benefits to be closer to the latter than the former, read on — because there are ways to get more out of the program. Below are […]
Working from home can be isolating and distracting. You have nobody around you during the day, and being surrounded by your stuff can divert your attention from what you have to do. Coworking spaces offer an alternative for at-home workers. Instead of renting an office — where you would still be alone, just not at […]
