Retirement

In 2008, then-Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass wrote a column about corruption in Illinois, “In Combine, cash is king, corruption is bipartisan.” Commenting in the middle of the trial then underway for political fixer Tony Rezko, Kass relates a conversation with former-Senator Peter Fitzgerald, “the Republican maverick from Illinois who tried to fight political corruption

Back last June, the FDA made the controversial decision to approve a medication intended to treat Alzheimer’s disease, despite the lack of solid evidence of that drug’s effectiveness, and the strong appearance that it had cherry-picked studies to include only a single trial and exclude those which showed no effectiveness. What’s more, the drug, Aduhelm,

By Emelie Smith Calbick and Betty Wong, Next Avenue Every entrepreneur has experienced it. Those days when nothing seems to be going right. Those frustrating times when you can’t see a path to success ahead. Before you throw in the towel and give up, learn from these entrepreneurs on how they push through the tough times. In October, our

Does second-to-die insurance create a tax bonanza? Not exactly. “I’m thinking about a second-to-die policy that would pay off after my wife and I are both gone. “Here’s some proposals the agent came up with, based on gifting premium dollars to a trust owned by the two boys. I need to work through all the

Talking about one’s end of life wishes is typically uncomfortable for most. We think of the subject as one for our aging parents to have with us when they are “old”. We don’t usually think it is a necessary subject for younger adults to know about. The truth is, many younger adults are already caregivers

To bunch or not to bunch? That is the question. Over the past few years, mostly since the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) at the end of 2017, there have been significant conversations around whether you should utilize a bunching strategy as part of your tax planning – combining large gifts,

Ask most retirees what’s the one thing they wish they had known before they retired and they’ll probably tell you, if they had to do it all over again, they would have liked to have that one piece of advice that would have made things significantly easier. Here’s your chance to get that “one” piece

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about how early retirement benefits affect later spousal benefits, eligibility for divorced spousal benefits and taking reduced survivor’s benefits before retirement benefits. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. See more Ask Larry answers here. Have

The market has started to create a ‘correction’ or a 10% decline. As of January 24, 2022, the NASDAQ was in correction, the S&P 500 was down about 11.1% (from January 3), and many crypto currencies are down as much as 50%. In addition, many stocks are fully off their highs. Down markets can be

The numbers are less than encouraging. The trend is even worse. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary released earlier this month, more than four-and-a-half million people quit their jobs in the most recently reported month (November 2021). Specifically, the report says: “Quits are generally voluntary separations initiated

Cost of living benefits promised to retired teachers in Ohio were slashed a decade ago and then totally eliminated 5 years later, as payments by the state teachers’ pension to Wall Street’s highest cost money managers secretly skyrocketed. Retired teachers have suffered over the past decade as Wall Street has prospered. An Ohio lawmaker wants

Consumer spending changed a lot during the pandemic. Among the industries that took off in 2021 are fun industries like restaurants, amusements, gambling venues, hotels, performing arts and air transportation. Plants, puppies, and pots and pans were hot items in the last 22 months as people feathered their nests. Soaring sales of sourdough starter surprised

I have a friend who lives in another state, and for a year I’ve not been able to figure out whether she’s retired. I don’t know if it’s an ego thing, her fear of getting old, or just something she thinks is none of my business. That’s her call, but I submit there are a

A friend, new to Medicare, asked me whether Medicare covered annual physicals. I told him, “No, it doesn’t.”   A week later, he told me I was wrong. He found proof that Medicare does indeed cover these examinations. “Physical exams, right there, on the HHS.gov website, in the list of services that Part B covers.” (Health and

Just about anyone will tell you they’re tired of staying home, avoiding groups and trying to stay safe from infection. Our aging loved ones are particularly hard hit, because when any surge happens they are the first to have to go back into strong protective measures. If your aging parent lives in a seniors’ community

Quite a few retirees may be shocked when they check their Social Security payments this month. If you heard about the largest Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in decades, you would expect that your Social Security check would be increasing in 2022. That may not be the case for all retirees. If you are fortunate

Retirees who have assets in an IRA and make contributions to charities can use qualified charitable distributions (QCD) to reduce their federal income taxes. However, there are a few key rules you must comply with, or you could lose the tax savings. Background The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), passed during the Trump administration,

Hong Kong is culling (cute) pet hamsters by the thousands in a fierce effort to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Experts say there is little risk from getting infected from an animal. But when a HK pet store owner had tested positive for COVID-19, tests found that the shop’s hamsters imported from The Netherlands

Continuing to work after age 62 can affect your level of Social Security retirement benefits, whether you are receiving benefits at the time or not. Knowing how continuing to work might change benefit levels can lead to better decisions about when to claim benefits and whether to continue working. You can begin claiming Social Security

There was a time when I thought the optimal goal of financial planning was to collect vast amounts of information, boil all of that information down to an extensive list of assumptions and finely-tuned projections, and then to “click a button” and calculate precisely what a client should do based on those assumptions.  I thought