If you’re in or near retirement, the performance of the stock market probably has you rattled - that’s perfectly normal. The best thing you can do is reduce your expenses as much as possible so that you can let your investments, those...

This really only applies to people who are decades away from retirement. This week started off rough. Merill Lynch agreed to be purchased by Bank of America, Lehman brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, and AIG looked about fifteen minutes away...

An important question you should ask yourself, as a couple nears retirement, is whether they should stagger retirement. It’s a topic that is worth exploring with your loved ones because there are many financial and relationship issues that...

Developing a productive savings plan is something that anyone can afford, even if you think your budget is already stretched tight enough. Regardless of the amount of money you are currently left with at the end of the month, a savings plan is...

Recently a reader asked: I would like to know the breaking points for annual income that affects the percentage of social security that is taxable. example…low income only 15% is taxable.

Every once and a while, someone emails me to ask how I find a good stock broker for my retirement assets. What do I look at when I compare stock brokers? My answer, almost always, is “it depends.” Ahhh I bet you hate that answer too. Well,...

While no one welcomed the news of no cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 2010 for Social Security recipients, I didn’t hear anyone complain about an “artificially high” 5.8% increase this year (2009). Artificially high is the term used in a NY Times...

When it was revealed that there would be no cost of living adjustment for Social Security in 2010, people were livid. Just reading the comments on my blog revealed that people were furious there was no adjustment next year, so you can imagine how the...

Fortune has published a list of the best companies to retire from and the companies they list come as no surprise to me: IBM – They cite the 401(k) plan as a “gold-standard” with automatic contributions of 4% plus a match of contributions up to 6% of...

Every year in mid-September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases inflation data for the last year and tax mavens get to calculating how much all the various tax numbers will move. It turns out inflation was a mere 0.19%, meaning most of the figures...