Top 10 Retirement Challenges Facing the 21st-Century Investor

Chess game strategy

Retirement planning requires a robust strategy and familiarity with the challenges facing 21st-century investors. The following list is important to understanding what will confront us going forward in retirement. The Age Wave: We Americans are living longer and the greatest fear people have, next to maintaining good health, is the fear of outliving their income. The […]

Finding Balance in Your Retirement Savings Plan

If you are participating in 401k, 403b, IRA and similar qualified and non-qualified retirement savings accounts, putting all your retirement savings into stocks/equities can be very tempting. After all, stocks have the potential for much greater gains than bonds or cash, especially when cash positions offer such low-interest rates.  In fact, if in a ‘secure’ […]

Superb Endorsement of the Fixed Annuity for Income Guarantees

From Nobel Prize recipient Robert C. Merton “401(k)s face ‘crisis,’ says Nobelist Merton”  By Anne Tergesen Since the dark days of 2008, employers have taken some steps to fix the 401(k), the backbone of the nation’s private retirement-savings system. But Nobel laureate Robert C. Merton says that in the rush to upgrade these plans, plan […]

Money: Master the Game by Bob Rodriguez

The article below is an excerpt of an interview Robert Rodriguez held with ThinkAdvisor. I pulled some highlights of their conversation. Read the full article here. Fund manager rails against the Fed, Dodd-Frank, and the Affordable Care Act and tells what he’s investing in now Is the economy good right now? “I don’t know what […]

Troubling Stock Market Indicators

Record low borrowing costs and the soaring stock market have encouraged traders to aggressively use margin to finance their stock purchases, which is exactly what occurred during the Dot-com Bubble and the U.S. housing and credit bubble. Record low corporate borrowing costs, thanks to the Fed’s QE and the bond bubble, have led to a corporate […]

Multi-Point Features Checklist of the Index Annuity

The ability to receive guaranteed income for life. The ability to provide for survivor income continuation. The ability for your entire account value to bypass probate upon your death. The ability to “walk away” with your full account value during your lifetime. The ability to lock in all gains credited against any future market downturn. […]

Running Out of Gas In Retirement

Running out of gas while driving late at night pales in comparison to running out of money while in retirement! Yet, that is likely to happen to most who have not planned properly due to increased lifespan, inflation, ever increasing taxes, increasing costs of health care, stock market volatility/loss and other factors. It is important […]