Medicare’s Future Several items that everybody seems to be overlooking in the recent budget deal signed by President Trump are potentially-significant changes to how Medicare is administered. First on the list is the elimination of Medicare’s independent payment advisory board, authorized under the Affordable Care Act to serve as a check on higher […]
Gender Differences—In Retirement You may have read that women are far more likely to face poverty in retirement than their male counterparts—but you may not realize just how big the disparity is. In fact, women are 80% more likely to fall into poverty toward the end of their lives, compared to men, according to a […]
The period between Thanksgiving and the end-of-year holiday season would seen like a sleepy time for financial planners, but in fact it is anything but. You might be surprised at how much activity takes place on behalf of you and your investments in the final month of the year. For instance? Even though this has […]
Everybody should have a power of attorney. But not everybody knows exactly what it is or why it’s so important. A power of attorney is a legal document that empowers a person you trust to handle your financial affairs if and when you become incapacitated. While you’re up and around, the document just sits in […]
Friday, June 9 quietly marked/will mark an historic day in the financial services world. On that date, all financial advisors will be required to forego any sales agenda and give advice that would benefit their clients or customers—or, if they decide otherwise, to explain how and why they intend to give advice that instead primarily […]
If you had to save $10,000 in the next six months, how would you go about it? Columnist Simon Constable took an inventory of average living costs, and came up with a surprising conclusion: this is actually do-able for some people, and it might actually be easy. However, for smart consumers, your total savings might […]
Everybody should have a power of attorney—that is, a legal document that gives a designated individual the right to act on their behalf when making financial decisions. The power of attorney is most often used by adult children to make decisions on behalf of aging parents when they are no longer capable of making sound […]
The number of Americans in or nearing retirement who are still holding significant mortgage, auto, even student loan debt has been rising in recent years. According to recent data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average 65-year-old borrower has 47% more mortgage debt and 29% more auto debt than 65-year-olds had […]
Several years ago, Jack’s father died. Jack grieved not only for his father’s passing, but also for his widowed mother who had been married to Jack’s father for 35 years. In due course, Jack’s mother remarried. However, when she eventually passed away, Jack suffered a double loss: Jack not only lost his mother, but also […]
