Do You Feel Wealthy Again?

Do You Feel Wealthy Again?

The Federal Reserve just released its quarterly financial accounts report. Household net worth – which includes Americans’ home values and savings, less liabilities such as mortgages and credit card debt – rose to $74.8 trillion. We are now, according to this measure, wealthier than at any point in history. And we’re $6.7 trillion wealthier than…
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401(k)s Created More Losers than Winners

Today, many Americans rely on savings in 401(k)-type accounts to supplement Social Security in retirement. This is a pronounced shift from a few decades ago, when many retirees could count on predictable, constant streams of income from traditional pensions.  The question is: has this shift improved the average American’s retirement prospects?  According to the Economic…
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Is It Better to Take Social Security Early?

I’ve written numerous articles over the years about strategies for maximizing your Social Security (SS) benefits. But the most fundamental decision all retirees face is when to start taking payments. If you need the money, you may have no choice but to start taking payments as soon as you can. But if that’s not the…
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New Tax Benefits for Same-Sex Couples

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced last week that they will apply the federal “married” tax treatment for same-sex married couples no matter where they live — even in the 37 states that don’t recognize their own citizens’ gay marriages. The guidance is part of the government’s implementation of the June 26…
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Retirement Success: The One Thing Needed Most

I’ve written many times about various things you can do in order to maximize the chances that your post-retirement life turns out to be everything you’ve hoped it could be.  What is the number one thing you need to do?  In a word, save!  And I mean save early, save often, and save as much…
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Bond Funds Can Still Do Well When Rates Rise

As a follow up to a blog I wrote a few weeks ago (Do You Really Want to Sell Your Bonds Now?), I thought it would be a good idea to provide a little more data about how bond funds might be expected to perform during periods of rising rates. The following table was developed…
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