Are you deciding to retire? I’m often asked: “Why retire at all?” I never want to retire. As my dad used to say, “I hope they carry me out in my boots–and I was working the day before.” I think what I do is so exciting that I want to continue doing it as long as I’m mentally and physically able.  Going back to the question, I could see a compelling case to retire if you had so many other projects you wanted to do. Or, if you had already done a lifestyle assessment of what you could afford based on your level of savings and your degree of success in your investing, that would make sense ..read more

When preparing for retirement, there are some critical financial decisions everyone looking down the barrel of this transitory time in life must make. As you work to create your overall financial plan, you have to factor in these decisions and make them a part of the overarching goalposts. A good retirement plan doesn’t only involve how much money you need to maintain your lifestyle but should also have guidelines for approaching Social Security, Medicare, and your retirement accounts. In fact, these are the top three areas to consider as you move forward. By focusing on them now, you’ll save ..read more

Many people wonder, “When is the right time to retire?” This is one factor in a long list of what to consider before retiring. But if you ask me, the best time to retire in my book is never. Retirement is an antiquated idea the Baby Boomers grew up with. This generation believed–and many still do–that if you work hard your whole life, once you turn 65, you can say, “Ah, now I can relax.” In my opinion, It would be silly if you did that. We’ve learned that, as you age, you deteriorate; your mind slows down, and all you’re doing is giving the Grim Reaper an upper hand to take you sooner. I ..read more

As we already know, creating long-term wealth is about increasing our inflow and decreasing our outflow, and being smart about how we manage those two financial pipes going in and out of our bank accounts. Either way, the more we bring in or the more we save means that we create more wealth for ourselves. The main question when it comes to cutting costs and saving money is this: How do we do it? Thankfully, there are lots of wealth-building strategies that involve how to save money, how to cut costs, and how to negotiate better deals. But first, you have to know how to negotiate.&nb ..read more

Some things in life are better done solo, like reading. Meditating. Using the restroom. In virtually all facets of life, the best approach is to adopt a team mentality. We see it in health and medicine: you have a general doctor for most things, but you may also have an eye doctor, a private-parts doctor, and a surgeon if you need one. We see it in the workplace: big bosses, middle managers, worker bees, and interns. We see it in sports: athletes, coaches, and trainers. We see this kind of team philosophy everywhere, so much so that it’s simply assumed that your life revolves around all ..read more

Even if you’re a good person, your online presence isn’t guaranteed to be safe from cybercriminals. Neither is your bank card at the gas pump or supermarket. You may have a strong plan to protect your investments from the market’s ups and downs, and you might have made a lifetime’s worth of good financial decisions — but anyone can be a scammer’s next victim. Your best bet to avoid financial fraud is to develop some common sense and a few good strategies, not just relying on your good nature. Today, we’re in the age of hyper-fast and hyper-advanced technological methods of interacting and doi ..read more

Do you know how to ask for financial help? If you don’t, you might find yourself in a tough spot, desperate for answers to navigate a sticky situation. In sports, desperation is being down by three home runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.  In love, desperation is searching Match.com on February 13th.  In movies, desperation is hanging from a helicopter with one pinkie.  We all know what desperation means, no matter the genre.  You’ve got no shot, no answers, no hope. And, even if we don’t spend much of our lives in desperate situations, we can imagine how it fee ..read more

Do you know a surefire way to send parents into a tizzy? Have them try to list every single thing they’ve spent money on for their kids. From the diapers to the daycare. From the toys to the tuition. From the Air Jordans to the hair accessories to the birthday gifts to the summer camp costs to all the rest, it takes a lot of money to raise a child. Current estimates from a U.S. Department of Agriculture report called Expenditures on Children by Families illustrate that, for the typical middle-income family, it takes about $300,000 to raise one child for the first eighteen years of life. After ..read more

Do you know when to retire? When we think about retirement, a lot of people have opinions about the right timing — and the wrong timing. Answering this question can be stressful because it’s so personal, and many factors go into your decision-making process.  I’m just going to say it: “Retirement” is a four-letter word. No, I’m not mathematically challenged. No, I’m not disparaging the notion that retirement is one of the things so many of us are working toward—it’s the time in our lives when we can decompress from the stress and pressures of work, knowing we’ve done the right thing and ..read more

    If you think putting money into an account like a 401k or IRA is one of the best ways to save money for retirement, there are some important things to consider.  First, the number of 401k and IRA millionaires have gone up – and then back down again – in recent years due to market volatility. When the market was up, the number of 401k millionaires reached a record high. Back in 2019, Fidelity did a study about this record-breaking number of 401k millionaires.  According to Fidelity, 1.6% of its existing retirement accounts had a balance of $1 million or more in 2019. T ..read more