Question: Dear Steve, Last year we put our house, which is paid for, on the market, expecting it to sell quickly and purchase another house with a mortgage. Our realtors lower the price by $75k to sell it, but we feel that won’t give enough to invest for our retirement. Would we be better off … Read more
In a report issued more than two years ago, the National Insitute on Retirement Security said that more than 100 million Americans had no retirement savings whatsoever. As Diane Oakley, NIRS executive director, observed: The facts and data are clear. Retirement is in peril for most working-class Americans . . . When all working individuals … Read more
Here is a question I answered for someone over on another site. They were asking about how to prepare for retirement. If you think I got the answer right, please give it a thumbs up on Quora. Read Steve Rhode's answer to How is your retirement preparation paying off? on Quora
A couple of smarty-pants researchers at Ohio State University came out with a very interesting paper about people borrowing from their retirement accounts. When facing money troubles it seems people are too often willing to rob from their retirement accounts to deal with an immediate financial threat. This is the classic definition of hyperbolic discounting. … Read more
For many Americans, saving for retirement is a luxury they simply cannot afford right now. Although investing for the future is essential, COVID-19 has left millions across the U.S. concerned more about the present as they struggle to cope with record unemployment and unprecedented economic uncertainty. In the second annual FinanceBuzz retirement survey, we look … Read more
Americans have always struggled to save. Many live paycheck to paycheck, on the very edge of financial security. Historically, that savings shortfall has been all the more dramatic when it comes to saving for retirement. But with the coronavirus pandemic and the havoc it has wrought on the economy, that retirement savings gap may worsen. Beyond … Read more
into Social Security — that you would not be eligible to receive Social Security benefits. Well, that’s not the case. In fact, there are several different scenarios in which a person can receive Social Security benefits without ever having paid into the system, or even worked, for that matter. Among the people eligible for Social Security without having worked … Read more
Phil Moeller, the author of Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximize Your Coverage, Minimize Your Costs and co-author of the updated edition of How to Get What’s Yours: The Revised Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security, answers a reader question about Social Security: Question I was born in 1951 and my wife in 1950. She began drawing … Read more
For many Americans, reaching retirement age doesn’t mean the end of work. In a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 23% of workers said they don’t expect to stop working. Additionally, new stats show that people above the age of 65 are already working at all-time high rates since record keeping began. … Read more
Data is increasingly showing that many Americans, even those in their 50s, have saved little for their retirement. According to research by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute, among households headed by adults ages 50 to 55, the median retirement savings is only $8,000, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Lack of retirement funds is all … Read more
This year, for the first time, the Social Security Administration paid out more to retirees than it received in Social Security contributions from working Americans. That’s really bad news; and, as journalist David Shribman recently observed, no one running for President is even talking about this problem. Some pundits think the Baby Boomers brought this … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I’m about 45,000 in debt. Were at negative cash flow and starting to pile up debt outside of just the credit cards. I pay the mortgage to my father who I have the house in an irrevocable trust for me in his passing. At the time of the purchase, I was working … Read more
Contributing author Richard Fossey recently wrote about how badly retirement is going to treat Baby Boomers. His post The Baby Boomers are Toast: Massive Suffering is Right Around the Corner says, “And many of my contemporaries are frightened. One-third of senior Americans live entirely on Social Security, and the average payout is only $1,220 a … Read more
That loud trudging sound in your workplace may be boomers marching into work — in numbers and for lengths unseen in the past 50 years. The long-held dream of retiring by age 65 (or earlier) is harder to achieve now than it was 30 years ago, as health-care costs have exploded and retirement savings have … Read more
Saving for retirement is an important financial task. And while there are plenty of options available, many Americans are still confused about how best to prepare for retirement. In fact, only 34% of Americans said they were knowledgeable about independent retirement accounts, according to a recent study by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. And only … Read more