spousal social security
When One Spouse Retires First
It’s easy to think of retirement and dream of a relaxed stroll into the sunset with your significant other by your side. After all, many advertisements repeat this theme with salt-and-pepper-haired couples strolling hand in hand across a beachfront. Yet, this is not always the case. Anymore, we often see couples retire at different times…
Read More3 Common Questions About Social Security
While Social Security shouldn’t be relied upon to be the sole source of income during retirement, it can play an important role in your overall financial strategy for retirement. But making sense of the basic ins and outs of Social Security can be overwhelming. Here are three questions people commonly ask as they approach retirement…
Read MoreTax Strategies for Retirement Portfolios
Tax-deferred financial vehicles are an effective way to accumulate assets while you’re working. However, once retired, individuals should carefully consider how (and when) to position assets to help optimize growth and income while reducing their tax liability. The following are some points to remember about distributions. Taxable Investment Portfolio Short-term capital gains are taxed at…
Read MoreThe Old-School Stool
The proverbial “three-legged stool” of retirement funding traditionally comprised Social Security, a company pension and personal savings, but that stool has been wobbly for quite some time. In fact, the traditional pension has been replaced largely by employer-sponsored 401(k) plans. This development firmly places the responsibility of two of the three stool legs on individual…
Read MoreAvoiding Biased Decision Making
When you hear something repeated enough times, doubts may start to slip away, and eventually it’s accepted as a fact. Believing the things that are imbedded in our psyche because we’ve heard them before is known as an “availability bias.” This may partially explain why blue-chip stocks are popular, as more investors tend to be…
Read MoreHave You Ever Thought of Your Social Security as Life Insurance?
A newly widowed client came to my office this month in despair. Her husband Dave had just passed away from an unexpected and sudden heart attack. She, the surviving spouse, was not currently working, opting instead to stay home to raise her son, (age 13) and step-daughter (age 17) who are both in public school.…
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