The countdown! getty For decades, plain vanilla financial advisors have pitched a “4% withdrawal rate” as a retirement solution. Most were lazily stealing this advice from the smart, thrifty fellow wh...
Tag: Retirement planning
‘I’m spending a fortune on home maintenance. I realize my second husband is essentially living in my house for free’: What is a fair way to split costs?
I am a retired 62-year-old woman. I was widowed in 2006 at the age of 46 and raised my two children (now 24 and 27) on my own. I used my husband’s life insurance money (about $500,000) to maintain our...
Opinion: Why I don’t want bitcoin in my 401(k)
Hooray! At long last, the company managing my 401(k) plan will allow me to bet up to 20% of my retirement funds on a digital Ponzi scheme that generates no income and has no practical use. Fidelity In...
Fidelity offers 401(k) investors access to bitcoin, a retirement plan first
A Fidelity Investments location in New York. Scott Mlyn | CNBC Fidelity Investments said Tuesday it will offer investors the option to put bitcoin in their 401(k)s, making it the first provider to off...
Weekend reads: How to position your investments before the Federal Reserve causes a bear market
Do you remember all the times Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was quoted as saying inflation in the U.S. was “transitory”? With the Fed now ready to fight inflation, the bond market has quickly...
‘I’m already feeling guilty’: My uncle is leaving me a large inheritance, but excluding my siblings. Should I gift them money every year, or set up a trust?
Dear Quentin, I am soon to inherit a sizable sum of money from an uncle with whom no one in my family still speaks; I’m the only one who has stayed in contact with him. While it seems a bit grotesque ...
Why you should retire with more money than you need
I’m frequently asked some variation of this question: Can I afford to retire? The question seems simple, but it’s trickier than you might think. The simple answer is: It depends on how much you need f...
When a traditional IRA makes sense over a Roth account
Saving in an IRA makes sense whether you have a retirement plan at work or not, but investors then have to decide if a traditional or Roth account is better – as always, it depends. Retirement Tip of...
Cut Your Retirement Spending Now, Says Creator of the 4% Rule
For decades, retirees have relied on the 4% rule to determine how much was safe to spend in retirement. Now, the rule’s inventor says current market conditions may require an even more conservative ap...
Have fun AND retire rich — a great tax-refund life hack
For the 100 million of you who will get a tax refund this year, the former head of retirement solutions at J.P. Morgan has a great and very simple idea. Don’t spend all your refund. And don’t save all...
This is how much you made if you bought into the oil crash 2 years ago
If you want to retire rich, the late, great Dan Bunting has some advice for you. “Always buy the market (i.e., stocks or even just the index) after a spectacular bankruptcy,” my old friend Bunting, a ...
A retired nurse lost $43,000 to bitcoin — watch out for red flags online
A New York retired nurse lost $43,000 of her life savings to bitcoin scammers, after transferring the money to them through a malicious computer pop-up – an unfortunate reminder to be vigilant when it...
Worried about rising inflation? Nearly risk free I bonds may soon pay 9.62%
Eakgrunge | Istock | Getty Images Less risk often means lower returns. But that’s not the case with I bonds, an inflation-protected and government-backed asset, which may soon pay an estimated 9...
4 big expenses you should factor in for retirement
Retirement planning is part savings, part guessing game. While many of your day-to-day expenses will remain the same, there are big-ticket categories that can take a large bite out of your savings. Th...
‘The weight of this debt is crushing’: I’m 74, and a retired speech-language pathologist with a student-loan debt of $200K. Am I obliged to pay it off?
Dear Quentin, I have not seen anyone address student-loan debt for people over 70 years of age. I am a 74-year-old retired speech-language pathologist with a student-loan debt of $200,000. I’m on a ...
I’m 62 with $100K in student loans and $13K in credit card debt. What can I do?
How to get out of student loan debt Getty Images/iStockphoto Question: I work as a nurse for a small for-profit agency. I am salaried and have no option for overtime. I only have every other weekend ...
Here’s Another Reason to Do a Roth IRA Conversion. Your Heirs Will Thank You.
Dreamstime Text size If you’re planning to leave a tax-deferred account to your children, you may be able to save them a lot of money by doing Roth conversions while you’re alive. Suppose you have a ...
Opinion: The best retirement investment strategy Generation Z can learn from boomers
Generation Z will soon surpass millennials as the most populous generation on earth, with more than a third of the world’s population counting themselves as Gen Z. And this group is motivated to retir...
I’m 61, left my job due to medical reasons, and made $150,000 from the sale of my home. I’d like to work for at least another 5 years. Can I still retire? If so, how?
Dear Quentin, I recently sold my house and had to leave my job due to a medical issue that was easily resolved, and I am now fine. I have approximately $150,000 in my checking account from the sale of...
‘We are not sure how prepared we are for retirement’ – we are 60 and 61, and don’t know how much longer we can work, have $360,000 in retirement savings and a pension
I am a 61-year-old teacher in Missouri who plans to work 3-4 more years before retiring. Depending on what option my husband and I choose from the Public School Retirement System, we should get betwee...
Not So Easy to Follow the 4% Rule in Retirement
April 26, 2022 12:19 pm ET Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News “It’s Time to Rethink 4% Retirement Rule” (Personal Journal, April 20) is fascinating, especially the revelation that Bill Bengen, now re...