What is lifestyle inflation and why does it matter?

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

One of the secrets to building lasting wealth is to consistently spend less than you earn, which can be hard to manage no matter what your income is. As tempting as it may be to spend more as you make more, it’s important to stay focused and watch out for the common pitfall known…

Should you retire with your spouse?

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

Many couples dream of retiring side by side. Due to factors like health, employment preferences and household finances, however, life often calls for a change of plans. Surprisingly, retiring a few months or years apart often leads to happier results overall, especially when it comes to money matters. 

Finance Strategies

If your retirement nest egg could use…

4 million-dollar investing myths you need to stop believing

From: www.marketwatch.com

Don’t cheat yourself out of long-term returns

I’m continually amazed at the investment misconceptions that lure people into cheating themselves out of long-term returns.

Some are little more than plausible-sounding rules of thumb passed from person to person without much careful thinking taking place.

Let’s look “under the hood” at four examples.

These million-dollar investing myths prompt investors to effectively rob themselves of hundreds of…

The Importance of Income & Diversification

From: MFS

Chasing yield and return in your fixed income investments whether it’s before taxes or based on tax equivalent yields could leave your portfolio overly correlated to stocks.

The following chart shows five-year monthly correlations and yields of fixed income categories compared to the S&P 500 as of 6/30/18.

A Different Kind of Diversification Pays Off for Retirees

From: www.kiplinger.com

Retirement savers can get more income with less volatility using income allocation instead of asset allocation.

Before you take the leap into retirement, you want to feel completely confident that your money will last. It’s natural to want to be sure you have enough saved, but rather than focusing on savings, you should be looking at how you’re going to create income…

What Will Social Security Look Like in 50 Years?

From: www.fool.com

Every month, roughly 62.5 million people, most of them senior citizens, receive a Social Security benefit check. Better than three out of five of its aged beneficiaries rely on the program for at least half of their monthly income.

As we look into the past and examine the present, it’s pretty easy to forecast how the program will perform, as well as…

2018 Capital Gains Tax Rates — and How to Avoid a Big Bill

From: www.nerdwallet.com

All about long-term and short-term capital gains tax rates, including what triggers capital gains tax, how it’s calculated, and 6 ways to cut your tax bill.

In 2018 the capital gains tax rates are either 0%, 15% or 20% for most assets held for more than a year. Capital gains tax rates on most assets held for less…

Long Term Care Insurance Isn’t Dead

From: Wall Street Journal

Last year, after finishing with college tuition for their three children, Jessica Galligan Goldsmith and her husband, James, treated themselves to something she had long wanted: long-term-care insurance.

It hasn’t been cheap. The couple, both lawyers in their mid-50s, will shell out more than $320,000 between them over a decade. For that, they will be able to tap into benefits topping $1 million apiece by…

The US National Debt matters because higher debt results in: higher taxes, reduced ‘benefits’ and programs, higher interest rates, and a weak dollar. All of which will make the United States a much weaker and less free nation. It is stealing from the future by spending their money today and reducing growth now which hurts everyone in coming years.

“USADebtClock.com is the current incarnation of our debt monitoring efforts. Begun in 1987 with…