From the category archives:

Retirement

Is Long-Term Care Insurance Worth It?

My mom asked me about long term care insurance recently and I started to mull over the financials to see if it made sense or not. We had some experience with other distant relatives that had to tap the insurance and in one case, they were surprised that they didn’t qualify when they thought they [...]

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43% of Americans have less than $10k for Retirement, Seriously

I was shocked by the results of a recent survey outlining how almost half of Americans have virtually no savings, no retirement, nothing (Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey via CNN) . Now, this excludes the value of real estate and pension promises, which is a major culprit I believe. With the nanny [...]

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How Does Society Value Additional Time for Your Dying Loved One?

There is an excellent article in this week’s BusinessWeek written by the widow of a man who fought a long and courageous battle with cancer. What differentiated this article from other similar accounts is that the article stepped through a very detailed financial account of just how costly it is to sustain a terminal patient [...]

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401K Loan Rules – Taxes, Interest, Pros and Cons

401k Loan Rules allow for easy access to retirement funds, but is that a good thing? Many employees are unaware that they can take a loan from their 401k account for basically any personal need with very little hassle. There are clear negative attributes to this route, but some situations may warrant considering this option, [...]

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Abysmal Survey Results: Americans Don’t Understand Basic Financial Concepts

A recent financial literacy survey conducted by Financial Finesse, a finance eduction outfit, revealed some pretty alarming results – downright abysmal in fact. It revealed what most of us probably suspected, but with specific numbers tied to it, the prospects don’t look good with regard to the financial literacy of everyday Americans. According to the [...]

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Family Money – Fairness vs. Favoritism in Gifting, Wills and More

Family Money is a sensitive topic to cover, but I think it’s critically important from both an estate planning standpoint and from the standpoint of personal relationships with family members. Primarily, when it comes to things like wills, gifting, and financial assistance to family members (usually children) there are a complex array of considerations that [...]

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How Does Deferred Compensation Work?

I first heard of a deferred compensation plan a few years ago when one of my old bosses left my company and within a few years, quickly became a high-flyer in the organization, overseeing operations in several countries and managing thousands of employees with a global biopharma. Evidently, many things went right for him, and [...]

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Why were the Risk-Averse so Heavily Invested in Stocks?

Akin to how our grandparents’ generation is known for their thrift and frugality from living through the Great Depression, our generation may very well be known for a similar sort of risk-aversion…a changed generation of humility and financial conservatism, after seeing the worst financial conditions and stock market deterioration in our lifetime (note: in our [...]

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7.25% Tax-Protected Guaranteed Return – Would You Take It?

I saw this question posted by a municipal employee on a message board and wanted to share it here with a broader audience and give my perspective – and invite thoughts/ideas. “I have an offer to join a new retirement plan that boils down to a (one time option to join, non-revocable) guaranteed 7.25% annual [...]

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