You have seen already, in slightly less than two months, Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress have put America on track for higher inflation. With trillions of dollars in stimulus, and new announcements of higher taxes on the horizon, and a push for a higher minimum wage, inflation expectations have soared. Expectations for inflation have increased 40% in the last five months, to 2.3% from 1.6% over the next ten years. As Brett Arends writes at MarketWatch, it may not seem like a lot, but if you're retiring it could make the difference between relaxing on the beach or going back to work. … [Read more...]
Do You Remember When You Purchased Your First Home?
Do you remember when you purchased your first home? If you’re old enough, you remember when interest rates were as high as 12 3/4%, as a client friend reminded me yesterday. “I didn’t worry too much about the interest rate because, in relative terms, it was reflected in the price.” The price was always the main driver of value. Still is. What’s always worth remembering, he reminded me, is you can negotiate the terms. But you can’t revisit the purchase price. And if banks aren’t interested in renegotiating the terms, you can do it yourself through the back door by doubling or tripling your … [Read more...]
If You Can, Tell Retirement “Not Yet”
Not many industries have been devastated by COVID-19 like the airline industry. Airlines are firing personnel, including highly skilled pilots, and asking others to go into early retirement. Many older pilots, for myriad reasons, are resisting retirement. The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Garry Krasnov, who would like to tell retirement "not yet," but in the end made the gut-wrenching decision to take an early retirement offer from Delta Air Lines. With a vaccine approved in the U.K. and more approvals expected, airlines are hoping travel will begin its recovery later next year once … [Read more...]
Why Your Retirement Survival is No Easy Task
You know how I feel about keeping what you’ve made and perhaps working a side hustle. You Owe it to Yourself to Continue Doing What You’re Good At Keep Working, if You Can How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Some Just Won’t Stop How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Today’s Elderly Twice as Likely to Work than in 1985 Your Retirement Life: You Can Keep Working These Americans Are Never Going to Retire You also know the benefits of working with someone who can be unemotional about your money. The entire country is emotional today. My RAGE Gauge, which measures … [Read more...]
You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life
You’ll love this if you’re dreaming of an active retirement life. My clients are ski bums. Well, not exactly, considering they own their own place in the Tetons. But rising before dawn, queuing up for the first tram, especially on powder days, is a ski bum’s life. That’s why it was no surprise to receive this email: Hi EJ! Snow over a hundred inches so far in 2020! Every day a powder day! Several more days for this storm cycle! We have been very happy with your care of our financials. Skiing has been fabulous. More powder tomorrow! Will give you a call when we come up for … [Read more...]
As Bankruptcies Rise, What’s Your Best Asset?
The NY Post reports that while bankruptcies are still nowhere near Great Recession levels, they are rising noticeably. John Aidan Byrne writes: New York state’s bankruptcy filings, for instance, have risen steadily the past three years, hitting 34,711 in 2018, up from 30,112 in 2016, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), based on data from Epiq Systems. More consumers nationwide are falling behind on their payments and filing for bankruptcy to resolve overwhelming debt loads. And low unemployment, an uptick in average wages and the latest Fed interest rate cut have not … [Read more...]
These Americans Are Never Going to Retire
A poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 23% of Americans don't expect to stop working during their lives. Andrew Soergel writes in The Washington Times : “The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn’t gone up that much,” says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement.” When asked how financially comfortable … [Read more...]
America is Beating Japan in this Retirement Savings Measure, but Not for the Right Reason
Running out of money during retirement is the greatest risk people take when they decide to stop working. The World Economic Forum has published new research that shows Americans aren't saving enough to cover the last decade or so of their retirement. That pales in comparison to the Japanese, who fail to save enough for the last two decades of their retirement. The only problem here for Americans though is that a big portion of that savings disparity comes because Japanese people are living so much longer, not because Americans are simply saving that much more. Bloomberg's Ben Steverman … [Read more...]
Don’t Just Think About Retirement Planning, Act Now
According to a report from the TransAmerica Center for Retirement Studies Americans are concerned with their retirement, but they're not actually doing much about it. I urge you and anyone who hasn't already taken action toward planning for retirement to not wait, get to work now. FEDWeek reports: The report, based on polling samples of the baby boom, generation X and millennial generations, found that majorities of all three expect to have a harder time achieving financial security for retirement than their parents’ generation, with the younger two generations agreeing more strongly; and … [Read more...]
Have You Already Lost Hope for Retirement?
A scary statistic was recently uncovered in a survey conducted by LendEDU. Nearly 40 percent of Americans fear they will never save enough money to retire. Bloomberg reports: That’s despite nearly one in five Americans who said having enough money saved to be able to retire is their most important financial goal, according to a survey of 1,000 adults conducted by LendEDU in May. More Americans said saving for retirement is more important versus those that indicated paying off credit card debt or building an emergency fund, according to the survey. However, slightly more respondents said … [Read more...]