Each October, the Internal Revenue Service announces changes to annual contribution limits for IRAs and workplace retirement plans. Are any of these limits rising for 2017? Will IRA contribution limits go up? Unfortunately, no. Annual contributions for Roth and traditional IRAs remain capped at $5,500 for 2017, with an additional $1,000 catch-up contribution permitted for…

Even though 2016 may end up being a subpar year for stocks, you may realize short-term capital gains. What will you do about them? You could do what many savvy investors do – you could “cash in your losses” and practice “tax-loss harvesting.” Selling losers to offset winners. Tax-loss harvesting means taking capital losses (you…

Are you worried about retiring? Many baby boomers are, and they have reason to be, given low interest rates, subpar returns on equities, increasing health care costs, and the issues facing Social Security. Now, do yourself a favor. Read that last sentence again, and ask yourself, “which of those four things can I control?” The…

Imagine if you could preview your retirement in advance. In a sense, you can. Financially and mentally, you can “rehearse” for the third act of your life, while still enjoying the second. Pretend you are retired for a month or two. Take two steps to act out your rehearsal – one having to do with…

When a spouse passes away, the emotion and magnitude of the loss can send our lives reeling. This profound change can also affect our finances. All at once, we have a to-do list before us, and the responsibility of it can make us feel pressured. With that in mind, this article is intended as a…

JTWROS. JT TEN. What do these acronyms stand for? To what degree do their meanings differ? If you own or co-own assets, you should know the subtle distinction that some states make between them. JTWROS stands for Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship. JT TEN stands for Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship. No difference,…

Every day, articles appear urging people to save for retirement. These articles are so prevalent that it may seem like retirement planning is entirely about getting people to save. Actually, retirement planning concerns much more than that. It has another aspect well worth discussing: the eventual spending of all of that money that has been…

ECONOMY EXPANDS 2.9% in THIRD QUARTER After just 1.4% growth in Q2, this was welcome news. Surging exports and greater inventory investment and federal spending made Q3 the best quarter for the economy in two years, according to the Department of Commerce. The federal government’s core PCE price index was up 1.7% for the quarter…

A consumer survey series commissioned by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP®Board) examines four groups of Americans based on their saving patterns and finds one group demonstrates heightened concern over their financial future due to competing obligations, such as paying mortgage and credit card debt. The group, identified as “Tentative Savers,” is…

Will you live to 100? Your odds of becoming a centenarian may be improving. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control reported that the population of Americans aged 100 or older rose 44% between 2000-2014. The Pew Research Center says that the world had more than four times as many centenarians in 2015 as…