Sometimes as we are in the midst of our retirement years, we need to have a serious heart-to-heart with our adult children. That conversation can often begin by explaining that not every decision you make will look the way they would personally choose to handle things, but that does not

The last thing you need to worry about when you retire is losing your sense of purpose. Staying mentally and socially engaged matters more than most people expect. Health tends to outweigh wealth, so maintaining routines that support physical and cognitive well-being becomes critical. Many retirees underestimate how important structure

If you are mulling over in your mind your list of tangible assets, savings accounts, and creating your will, you may be trying to determine that trifecta question of how to be able to keep what you have in your name, have access to income, but still leave something as

It is not surprising that people tend to compare their financial situation during retirement to others, because money is highly visible in life: through homes, cars, travel, and lifestyle. So it becomes an easy benchmark for perceived success. However, not only do these comparisons rarely reveal the full picture of

It is not surprising that the thought of retiring is overwhelming to many due to major life shifts. This could include financial uncertainty, loss of identity, and lack of structure. Studies show that high anxiety regarding outliving savings and maintaining one’s lifestyle is one of the more common reactions to

There is no one “ideal retirement.” But there are many ways to have a happy retirement if you have reflected on the choices you have, and what you are willing to leave to chance. The way you answer the following questions may help you decide what may need more thought

We frequently write about longevity and how important it is to have savings we don’t outlive. And while we’ve always striven to give our clients options for products where the income stream continues no matter how long you live, we are still often asked for a ‘number’ so that can

Working after retirement brings with it the need to understand certain tax and contribution rules governing the way you can use and/or continue to contribute to the money in your qualified retirement savings accounts. Looking first at continued contributions, in most cases, you should be able to, regardless of your

There is nothing generally inherent in any given year that says it’s a bad or good time to retire. The question that needs to be answered is whether you’re ready financially and emotionally. So, how do you determine if you are ready? Begin by asking yourself if you have estimated

We often think that emotions only impact inter-personal decisions, however making consequential financial decisions in a heightened emotional state also generally isn’t a good idea.  Behavioral psychologists have identified a few common biases that can undermine our decision-making skills. While some are rooted in emotion, others are what we think

Planning for the challenges of aging is one of those situations we are probably inclined not to want to think about, either for ourselves or our extended family. The term “diminished financial capacity” is often bandied about as we age and describes a decline in a person’s ability to manage

We wanted to bring to your attention the recent increase in social media scams designed to entice you into fraudulent financial activities.  We have probably all received the very real-looking – but fraudulent – emails that seem to come from PayPal, Amazon, Best Buy, and McAfee, which ask for us