Retirement planning
Do Alternative Asset Classes Belong in Your Portfolio?
Alternative investments are often defined not by what they are, but by what they are not. It is this quality that could make alternatives potentially valuable diversifiers when added to a portfolio of traditional investments. While some investors may equate alternative investments with the high-risk/high-return vehicles that garner the lion’s share of media attention (especially…
Read MoreIt’s 2015: Do You Know Who Your Beneficiaries Are?
Many investors have taken advantage of pretax contributions to their company’s employer-sponsored retirement plan and/or make annual contributions to an IRA. If you participate in a qualified plan program you may be overlooking an important housekeeping issue: beneficiary designations. An improper designation could make life difficult for your family in the event of your untimely…
Read MoreRetirement Confidence: It’s All in the Plan
Americans’ confidence in the ability to afford a comfortable retirement continues to rebound from the lows reported between 2009 and 2013. The increasing optimism is coming largely from workers who indicate they and/or their spouse have a retirement plan, such as a defined contribution (401(k)-type) plan, defined benefit (pension) plan, or individual retirement account (IRA).…
Read MoreTips for Retooling Your Portfolio
Like a closet that isn’t reorganized from time to time, a portfolio that isn’t reviewed regularly can leave you feeling like the pieces no longer fit. Last year, for example, stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 had annualized returns of 13.69%.1 U.S. investment grade bonds gained 5.97%, while international stocks declined -4.49%.1 Given this…
Read MoreWhere You Live Matters: Counting the Cost of Long-Term Care
It probably comes as no surprise that the cost of long-term care services — including nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and home-based care — continues to rise steadily across the country. Among the various services tracked by Genworth’s annual Cost of Care Survey, home-based care costs are rising at a slower pace than other forms of…
Read MoreHow Will the One-Per-Year IRA Rollover Rule Apply in 2015?
Early this year the U.S. Tax Court ruled that the “one-per-year” IRA rollover rule applies to all of an individual’s IRAs, in aggregate, not to each separately. The IRS has backed the court’s decision and offered guidance as to how the new rule will affect rollovers completed in 2014 as well as new rollovers initiated…
Read MoreA Net Worth Statement Helps Keep Retirees on Track
A number of planning tools can help retirees monitor their cash flow and make appropriate adjustments in response to changes in income and expenses. Not the least of these is a net worth statement. By calculating your net worth, you are essentially taking a snapshot of your current financial status. That snapshot can then provide you…
Read MoreRetirement and Health Plan Limits for 2015
The IRS has released the cost-of-living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans. The table below compares both the retirement plan and health insurance plan limits for 2013 through 2015.1 1The Internal Revenue Service. Required Attribution: Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by Wealth Management…
Read MoreWomen: Make a Financial Plan – the Secret of Your Success
Financial planning is more than just a good idea. Research has consistently shown that people who have financial plans — and who work with financial advisors — save and invest far more and are nearly twice as likely to feel on track or ahead of schedule in preparing for major financial goals, such as retirement.1…
Read MoreFocus on Fundamentals: Asset Allocation
The way you divide your investment dollars among stock, bond, and money market investments is known as asset allocation.1 As simple as this strategy sounds, it is deceptively powerful: Studies have found that asset allocation decisions account for more than 90% of your portfolio’s performance over time.2 As we near the end of the year,…
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