
Habits for Healthy Aging in Your 60s, 70s, and Beyond
Reaching your 60s, 70s, and beyond brings about noticeable changes to your body and mind. Although some changes are a normal part of aging, healthy habits can help reduce their negative impact and support physical health, mental sharpness, and mobility. For example, exercise becomes increasingly important with age, not only

Social Security For Couples
Most married couples think about Social Security as two separate decisions: Each spouse chooses when to file based on their own benefit. But in actuality, Social Security should be viewed as a household decision. Spousal and survivor benefits can significantly change the math. For couples, the goal isn’t necessarily to

Are You Prepared to Live Long in Retirement?
Retirement is changing in a significant way: People are living longer. Thanks largely to advances in medicine and improved living standards, life expectancy has risen dramatically over the past century. In the United States alone, it has increased by roughly seven years over the last five decades,* with recent estimates

Is $1 Million Enough For Retirement?
For years, $1 million has been viewed as a benchmark for a comfortable retirement. But the truth is, there is no universal savings target. Whether $1 million is enough depends on many factors, such as your lifestyle, retirement age, housing costs, health, and expected expenses. Creating a budget may help

Deciding Who Gets What
While estate planning typically focuses on the how–including tax strategies often involving trusts and wills–to whom can be just as complicated. We strive to help make it easier by laying out options you may have to convert some of your current assets into other financial products that will not only

Pause
Bank scams are on the rise. There are five common tricks of fraudsters. Did you get a call, email or message saying there is an issue with your account and you need to move money to resolve it? Are you being pressured to act fast or keep it secret? Did

Protect Yourself
Medicare provides foundational health coverage for retirees – but it comes with gaps, and there are no caps on out-of-pocket spending. That naturally leads seniors to search for answers to questions that arise. In doing so, please protect yourself from Medicare scams. The most common Medicare scams involve fraudulent health

When One Spouse Passes
When one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse’s social security benefit may change significantly, and many retirees are unaware that they generally do not continue receiving both monthly checks. In most cases, the surviving spouse receives the higher of the two benefits, while the smaller benefit stops, which will still

Trust
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

Dependable, and Not Just For Retirement
A fixed index annuity can provide a dependable stream of income, which becomes especially valuable after a divorce when household finances are often disrupted. It offers protection of principal while still allowing for some growth, helping preserve assets during a period of financial transition. Guaranteed lifetime income options can create

The Last Thing
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

The Trifecta
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

Taxes On Social Security
Our Clients have come to us asking why they are paying taxes on their Social Security income when they thought it would be tax-free. It isn’t just those that have built significant wealth that will be paying taxes on some of their Social Security; when your provisional income (your modified

Bonus Senior Tax Deduction
Because it’s tax time, our clients have been asking questions about how taxpayers ages 65 and older can make the most of the temporary $6,000 senior tax deduction that is in effect for tax years 2025 through 2028. This is an unusual situation, because a deduction is available to both

Comparison
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

Timing
When you withdraw your first RMD may impact your taxes. You may wonder how that can happen, and with tax season approaching, we thought it best to draw your attention to a nuance you may not be aware of. Typically, you have until December 31 to take your full distribution—or

Joint and Why Not?
We’ve received some questions lately regarding joint ownership of an annuity, and why it can’t be done in qualified accounts. Joint ownership of an annuity allows two individuals, usually spouses, to co-own a contract, ensuring income continues for the survivor. This offers security in that it provides income for two

Not Surprising
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

It’s That Time of Year
Since January is a popular month for email scams, here are some tips to help avoid them and keep the good times going all year long. Call us if you’d like more tips on how to avoid getting caught in a scam; we’re always here to help.

Preparing for the Future
Some clients have asked us what the difference is between having a life insurance policy that benefits their family, and having an annuity policy that has beneficiaries connected to it, in addition to the annuity having a specific death benefit feature. And that’s a good question, because it addresses the

Choice and Chance
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
