How to (Legally) Maximize Your Social Security Benefits

How to (Legally) Maximize Your Social Security Benefits

The Social Security Administration gives retirees the option of collecting social security (SS) benefits as early as age 62. But they offer a much higher monthly benefit if you choose instead to delay collecting benefits until age 70. How much more? According to Elaine Floyd of Horsesmouth, LLC, a financial advisor consulting company, if you…
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A New Metric to Aid Mutual Fund Selection

One of the most widely debated investment approaches among financial planners involves active versus passive management, especially when investing in stocks.  Indeed, this debate has taken on many of the attributes of a holy war.  Those supporting passive investing argue that the odds of any individual investor putting together a portfolio that can consistently beat…
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Buying a Mutual Fund? Which Class is Right for You?

If you’re like many investors, you like the diversification and perhaps the active management that many mutual funds offer. And there are lots of resources available for you to identify, compare, and choose funds in which to invest. Let’s say you’ve decided to put some of your money into the Pimco Total Return Bond fund.…
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Are Your Children Putting You into Debt?

It seems like the bad news about our retirement prospects just keeps on coming.  According to a U.S. Census Bureau report just released, the median level of debt among households led by someone 65 and older more than doubled over the last decade from roughly $12,000 to $26,000.  This increase was the biggest among any…
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A New Benefit for Non-Deductible IRA Contributions

There are a number of tools you can use to reduce taxes on the growth of your investments. You can contribute to a traditional IRA, where you get a tax deduction for the contribution plus tax-deferral on all gains until you retire. Or you can contribute to a Roth IRA. You don’t get the tax…
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Ready to Start Financial Planning? Where to Begin?

Many of the individuals and families I’ve helped with financial advice over the numerous years I’ve been a financial planner initially came to me with a specific issue or concern.  Sometimes it was the need to consolidate and rationalize an investment portfolio scattered across numerous accounts.  Occasionally it was what to do with the money…
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