Why Disability Insurance is More Important Than You Think

June 13, 2012

In my last guest blog post for Financial Finesse “Why Your Employer’s Disability Insurance May Not Be Enough”, we reviewed the concept of group long term disability insurance. In this post, we’re taking a more in-depth look at why you would even want disability income insurance. The answer is quite simple. If you have an income that you are dependent upon, then you have a need for disability insurance and the question is what programs are out there.  Continue reading “Why Disability Insurance is More Important Than You Think”

When Do You Know It’s Time to Retire?

March 14, 2012

With spring right around the corner, it seems employees start to ask themselves if this work stuff is really worth it.  This week alone I have seen an uptick in the number of employees that are contemplating whether or not it is time to take this next step.  Here is just a smattering of the questions we have received via phone calls and emails this week alone: Continue reading “When Do You Know It’s Time to Retire?”

How to Plan for an Extreme Early Retirement

February 02, 2012

My most popular blog post (and the most popular one on our whole blog) called “How to Be Financially Independent in 5 Years (No Matter What Age You Are)” was about a concept called “Early Retirement Extreme” in which people save very large percentages of their income to be financially independent before they even turn 40. For example, if you save 75% of your take-home pay and earn a 5% real rate of return, you would have enough savings in just 5 years to maintain that standard of living for the rest of your life (assuming a standard 4% safe withdrawal rate of your initial savings amount and adjusted each year for inflation). While this would probably not be realistic for most people, the more you can save, the sooner you can be financially independent to use your time as you see fit. (The author of the blog that inspired my post actually ended up going back to work but out of enjoyment rather than financial necessity.) But in addition to the challenge of living on much less income than we’re used to, there are some other considerations facing anyone looking to retire extremely early: Continue reading “How to Plan for an Extreme Early Retirement”

The Biggest Myths About Social Security

November 10, 2011

In talking to people all over the country about their retirement, there are two big myths I’ve noticed when it comes to Social Security. The first one (which I hear less and less) is that there’s an account set up somewhere for you that you’ve been contributing to with your tax dollars. Unfortunately, Social Security doesn’t work that way. Instead, your tax dollars are immediately paid out to current beneficiaries with the expectation that future taxpayers will pay for your benefits when you retire. Continue reading “The Biggest Myths About Social Security”

Do You Know Your Retirement Number?

August 10, 2011

There is a series of humorous commercials that show men and women holding a long, seven-figure number under their arm.  This number is supposed to represent “their” number; the amount they will need to save in order to enjoy the retirement they are looking forward to.  It seems silly, but the truth is, very few people actually know how much they will need to save in order to retire comfortably.  Even our own research suggests that only about one in three employees has used a retirement calculator.  With so few crunching the numbers, it’s any wonder retirement confidence is at record lows, but the good news is that this number doesn’t have to be a mystery.  Let’s look at six (relatively) easy steps to finding yours: Continue reading “Do You Know Your Retirement Number?”

Retirement Preparedness: Don’t Work Until You are 70

April 04, 2011

I read an article today titled, How to Collect Social Security and Still Keep Working?,  and found myself yelling at the computer screen in a rant similar to what I have seen my husband perform during sporting events when his team is losing.  It is out of character for me but this article got me going.  The article gives details of how much you can earn at 62 and still collect your social security and goes on to explain how income from working affects your income after you hit your full social security age (for me that is 67)  but the whole premise to me is backwards.  We CAN collect Social Security and still keep working if we time it correctly and we don’t make too much money if we are under our “full” retirement age.  But seriously, do we really want to? Continue reading “Retirement Preparedness: Don’t Work Until You are 70”

Retirement Preparedness: A Wake-Up Call for Generation X Investors

March 11, 2011

Talking with a group of pre-retirees, one of the people in the room (a born entertainer) used Styrofoam coffee cups as visual aids to illustrate his point.  We were talking about incomes and expenses during retirement, and he broke out into a comedy routine/illustration of his financial life.  He filled a big pitcher with water and filled the first cup, broke out a Sharpie and labeled it “Pension.”  He had been an employee of the phone company for 40 years and has a very solid pension income.  The next cup he labeled “Social Security” and he filled that cup about ¾ full.  The 3rd cup he put a few drops of water into and labeled it “Investments.”  He said the 401(k) plan arrived a little too late in his career and he had not participated until the last several years of his career, plus he had a number of children that all went to college which left his personal savings and investment balances rather low. Continue reading “Retirement Preparedness: A Wake-Up Call for Generation X Investors”

Financial Education in the Workplace: The 2% Decision

December 28, 2010

Now that our politicians have finally come to a decision about the new 2011 tax law, your employees have a decision of their own to make – what will they do with the 2% raise they will see in their paychecks?  With the December 17th passage of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, employees will only pay 4.2% towards Social Security tax in 2011, instead of the traditional 6.2%. Continue reading “Financial Education in the Workplace: The 2% Decision”

4 Steps to Take Now so Tax Cuts Don’t Affect Your Retirement

December 22, 2010

Have you seen the news lately?  The president has announced his support of an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, but there are some other tax cuts in the fine print that may hurt your retirement.  The proposed legislation includes a 2% reduction in Social Security taxes.  Say what?!?  Isn’t Social Security in enough trouble?  According to the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security expenditures have EXCEEDED tax revenue for the first time ever this year.  The fund itself is expected to run out of money by the year 2037.  So what can you do in response to this potential derailment in your future Social Security benefits? Continue reading “4 Steps to Take Now so Tax Cuts Don’t Affect Your Retirement”

More is ALWAYS Better…(or is it?)

November 05, 2010

I saw the movie “Supersize Me” recently.  (Yeah, it’s been out a long time and I’m just now getting around to it!  But I HAVE seen every Disney and Pixar movie made in the last 10 years.)  One part of the message that I heard in the movie was that “We’re Americans! Bigger is better!!!”

The “bigger is better” mentality permeates our society, and excess is often rewarded.   Just look at any Red Carpet event and the attention heaped on celebrities for proof.  But, can this culture of excess be a bad thing financially?  I think so. Continue reading “More is ALWAYS Better…(or is it?)”