If part of your retirement planning involves investing, how do you pick the companies you invest in? There is lots of advice about how and where to invest your money these days. Some of that information is focused on the…
Retirement Plan Check-Up
Retirement plans are not something you can set and forget. You may find that throughout your working career that the amount you are putting away into those plans may have to be adjusted from time to time. Therefore, it’s good…
IRAs and Education Expenses
It’s no secret that you can take a penalty-free distribution from your IRA before the age of 59 ½ if the funds are to be used for qualified higher education expenses. Do you know what such qualified higher education expenses…
How to Trust the Financial Advice You Get
There is a lot of retirement planning and financial advice out there these days. The Internet has made such information freely available with the stroke of a few keys on the keyboard. However, that doesn’t mean that all the information…
Determining Retirement Withdrawal Rates
Conventional wisdom states that you should plan to withdrawal about 5 to 7 percent of your retirement savings each year in retirement. Those are reasonable numbers if you have been working with a financial planner and have been saving enough…
Viewing Your Portfolio as a Whole
Your investment portfolio consists of a number of assets, most likely multiple stocks or bonds. Some of which may be well known and performing stronger than others. If a particular investment is doing well, you are probably focused on it…
Do You Know Your IRA Value?
The assets within an IRA don’t just have to be stocks and bonds, but can include real estate, promissory notes, or investments in businesses, among other things. Regardless of what you invest in, you should know the value of those…
Make Sure You Choose the Right Place for Your IRA
There are many places where you can set up an IRA. Such places include banks, brokerages, insurance companies, and other custodians. While many places offer opportunities to set up such accounts, all those different places offer different resources and services–some…
Knowing Your Limits
Do you know the limits to your retirement accounts? Do you know the ultimate amount that you can contribute each year? What about withdrawals? Do you know when and how much you can withdrawal at a given point in time?…
Is an NUA Strategy Right for You?
Are you familiar with the Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) tax break? The NUA rule allows people to qualify for capital gains treatment on distributions of appreciated employer stock from an employer retirement plan. It should be noted that there is…