You know you need to do some estate planning to properly protect yourself, your assets, and your loved ones. But is your plan complete, or did you leave a few key assets out of those documents by mistake? Most people are unaware that retirement accounts are an important estate plan component. Fewer still understand the…
Retirement Planning Articles
Low Average Retirement Savings By Age: What To Do About It
If you look at the average retirement savings by age, you might find them alarming. You may even come to the conclusion that Americans are facing a pretty dire situation. Just take a look at the median retirement savings of families by age, reported by CNBC: 44 to 49: $6,200 50 to 55: $8,000 56 to…
How Remarrying Late in Life Could Affect Your Social Security
The Social Security Administration uses many factors to calculate benefit amounts for beneficiaries, including marital status. For long-married couples who are lucky enough to grow old together, calculations for spousal and survivor benefits are fairly straightforward. However, widowed or divorced Social Security beneficiaries can run into complications if they decide to remarry later in life….
How Social Security Calculates Widow and Widower Benefits
Social Security offers several different types of benefits to the survivors of deceased beneficiaries, but widow and widower benefits are the type of survivor benefits that affect the most beneficiaries. Though it can be unpleasant to think about you or your spouse dying, it’s a good idea for married couples to include widow or widower…
4 Big Ways Your Social Security Benefits are Getting Smaller
This year marked a rather significant increase in benefits for those receiving Social Security. The 2018 COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) was one of the largest in the past decade, giving retirement beneficiaries an extra 2% on their checks (the most significant jump since 2012.) Unfortunately, there are forces at work that can easily chip…
How Much Money Is Enough To Retire?
If you ask ten different people how much money is enough to retire, you can expect ten different answers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the idea of what makes a comfortable or good retirement varies based on personal goals and preferences. The truth is, there’s no magic number that will serve as a…
Do You Need to Pay Taxes on Your Social Security Benefits?
Tax season always brings about a bit of panic, as those who are getting Social Security benefits may be filing their first return since they started receiving payments. These payments, while a welcome addition to their financial support system, can feel uncertain (or even a bit burdensome) as the issue of tax liability comes to…
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