If we know that on average our money is losing a value of between 2-3% yearly, then we know that in 20 years from now our money will have lost about half of its value. Or simply put, in 20 years our cost of living will double. That means if you make $50,000 per year now, you’ll need to be making around $100,000 in 2041 to maintain the same standard of living you have today. So what is your plan in retirement to double your income in 20 years?
What if you're age 55 or older and you just don't want to wait until age 62 to retire? Many of you are stuck in that 50-58 age range where the thought of retirement can be a little scary. Let's look at some options.
High Blood Pressure is often referred to as the silent killer of human beings. It has no obvious symptoms to indicate something is wrong. Many people don't even know they have it. It develops slowly over time and although it can't be cured but it can be managed. Your retirement plan has a similar killer...inflation.
Yearly portfolio returns are literally meaningless in retirement and conversations about them put me into a deep REM type sleep. The only thing that matters in retirement is that you don't run out of money (also known as purchasing power). That's it! It turns out that "beating the market" or an imaginary benchmark in retirement doesn't really matter if you don't have two nickels to rub together and you're looking for a job when you could be hanging out with your grandkids.
Social Security lowered my monthly benefit because I am working and making too much money. Will I get that money back? Am I losing that money?
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen first hand how world events can affect the markets here in the United States. We’ve seen lots of market volatility since the beginning of the year. But guess what? The market is always volatile. And the reason for that is many investors make all their decisions based on emotion. And by doing this they blur the lines between volatility and risk. Risk and volatility are not the same thing. In fact, they aren’t even remotely related.
The secret to investing is complex. There is no silver bullet, there is no pill to take, there is no hot new stock, etc. Everyday we are bombarded by advertisers trying to sell us quick fixes to complex problems.
If you are about to retire or already retired, chances are you've been approached or heard a pitch from an Annuity Salesman. (I'm referring to after market annuities in this blog. Not the annuity option available from your NRECA R&S Plan).
Successful investing for retirement and in retirement is not that complicated. The planning process can be complicated, such as when to liquidate certain investments, how much cash to keep on hand, and sticking to your plan, but not the investing process isn’t hard at all.
When reviewing the key differences between Roth accounts and Traditional accounts, it’s important to ask yourself: “When is the most advantageous time to pay tax on my income?”
You may be considering retirement from your cooperative this year. Most cooperatives that participate in the NRECA plan provide you with an annuity option, lump sum option or some variation of both options via your R&S pension plan. If you are not familiar with annuities and their payment options the choices can be a bit confusing. I'm going to list the options with plain definitions that are easy to understand in hopes that it can help you make an informed decision.
It seems there are many people who can't distinguish between risk and volatility. Volatility isn't risk. They aren't the same thing at all.
If you spent ten minutes this year reading economic forecasts, you've wasted ten minutes of your time that you'll never get back. By the way, time is your most valuable asset. Invest it wisely.
The three most common business structures that use the terms are Insurance Companies, Broker Dealers and Registered Investment Advisers. All three are very different in how they run their business and each will specialize in different areas.
The timing of your Social Security benefits can be important. It could make a difference of thousands of dollars in your retirement income. Although there are many factors to consider when making a decision about Social Security (more about that later), it’s fairly simple to calculate your break-even age. Let’s use an example to illustrate the calculation:
Many investors understand the basics of Roth conversions, however just as many do not. In this blog we will discuss the basics of Roth conversions as well as why you might do them, when you might do them and how you actually do them.
