Retire With Confidence

With the new mandatory auto-enrollment rules taking effect in 2025, employers need to understand the details of how these changes will impact 401(k) and 403(b) plans. The regulations set specific contribution requirements while allowing employees the flexibility to adjust or opt out. Here’s what you need to know about contribution structures, withdrawal options, and compliance […]

As we touched on in Organize Your Investments: A Well-Structured Portfolio, when you sell an investment for more than you paid for it, there can be burdensome capital gain taxes realized in the year of the sale. How do you manage for this challenge? It helps to identify which trades can be placed promptly, and

In a recent piece, we explored how to invest available cash: Should you invest it all right away as a lump sum? Or are you better off wading in more gradually with dollar-cost averaging?   In round one, we discussed why lump-sum investing is generally expected to generate the highest returns over time. In markets that

Retirement represents a major turning point in one’s life. One factor that remains, regardless of this new chapter in your life, is the presence of taxes. If you’ve followed the advice of retirement plan advisors, you should already be saving in tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Taxes are deferred in these accounts until you take money out

A secure and happy retirement requires careful planning and is a well-constructed process. Starting now will give you plenty of time to make the strategic changes and improvements that will bring your retirement goals closer to reality. Here are 7 tips to prepare you for retirement: What will you do? Establish definite objectives and plan

In Part I of our three-part series on investing for retirement income in low-rate environments, we explained why we don’t advise bulking up on dividend-yielding stocks as a reliable way to generate retirement cash flow. Like the Three Little Pigs’ straw house, dividend-yielding stocks can disappoint you by exhibiting inherent risks just when you most

If ever there were an appropriate analogy for how to invest for retirement, it would be the classic fable of The Three Little Pigs. As you may recall, those three little pigs tried three different structures to protect against the Big Bad Wolf. Similarly, there are at least three kinds of “building materials” that investors

With U.S. credit card debt recently soaring to a record high of $1.08 trillion, retirement plan sponsors face a pivotal moment. This staggering amount, a $48 billion escalation since the second quarter and a $154 billion increase year-over-year is a cautionary signal for Americans’ financial stability. The compounding pressures of post-pandemic recovery and inflation have

In our last piece, we covered fund management costs. Next, let’s take a step back from the mutual funds, ETFs, or other holdings you decide to invest in. Where do these holdings live—and what does it cost to buy, sell, and hold them?     An Account of Your Accounts  First, let’s define a few terms:  

What are your investments really costing you? If you’re not sure, you’re not alone. It’s not like you’re handed a menu of charges to choose from when it’s time to place your order. Even when you know where to look for investment costs, the information can be difficult to digest.   Let’s fill in some of