Deciding Where to Retire: Spousal Conflicts

Do you anticipate conflicts with your spouse when deciding where to retire? Do you already have differences of opinion? Has it caused you to push the “where should we retire?” question to the background? The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article this past week on this very subject.  Read more

Exploring Myths About Medicare

The closer I get to age 65, the more curious I become about Medicare. Earlier in my retirement thinking (perhaps five or ten years ago), I casually made some assumptions about Medicare – both positive and negative – that turned out to be untrue. This earlier thinking was generally along this incorrect path: Medicare is free, covers most everything an older person would need, but finding providers who would accept Medicare would be difficult. Now my thinking about Medicare is more accurate but there are still some myths out there.

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Working in Retirement: Intentions vs. Reality

According to a recent Retirement Confidence Survey, Americans are now shedding their false confidence about their retirement futures and accepting that their meager retirement savings won’t last very long. But the benefits of accepting that they have a retirement problem may be short-lived. Read more

Emergency Preparedness Revisited

The news from Japan is tragic. It is also a warning and reminder that we must be prepared to take care of ourselves and our families under emergency conditions. We made preparations for this several years ago. Read more

Taking Social Security Early – Boomers Panic

Boomers are in a full-blown Social Security panic. We are claiming benefits at age 62 in record numbers. In 2007, 38% of 62-year olds claimed Social Security retirement benefits. In 2009, it was 42%. Financial planners think the number is even larger now. Read more

The Right and Wrong Ways to Set Retirement Goals

We told our kids to “do your best.” When we think about our retirement saving and planning, we tell ourselves “I’m doing the best I can.”  The problem: That’s the wrong approach. Read more

Focus on the Why not the What

Lots of boomers are playing catch-up with their retirement investments and plans. The government even provides some “catch-up” help by allowing the over-50 set to make larger contributions to their 401(k) and IRA retirement plans.  Read more