Now that I’ve reached age 70, I’m looking forward to getting just a little older. Why? Because when I reach age 70½, I’ll be eligible to make Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs). I first mentioned QCDs on this blog in an article published in December of last year titled ”My Year-End Retirement Stewardship Review and Planning … Read more
I recently read an interesting study on retirement from A.G. Edwards and AgeWave. It was published earlier this year. The study covered a lot of ground and was only partially focused on the financial aspects. You may want to read the study in its entirety, but in this article, I’ll touch on its most significant … Read more
If you read much about retirement finance, you’ll see a lot of hyperbolic rhetoric about “Required Minimum Distributions,” or “RMDs.” You’d think RMDs are going to sneak up on you and devastate your financial plans in retirement. Spoiler alert: they’re probably not. Yes, RMDs will impact your savings, income, and taxes, but not as much … Read more
I have written about the significant changes in the U.S. and the world economies and how they might impact our retirement portfolios. These changes are not all bad (for example, many people think it’s good that the Fed wants to take a more passive role in controlling the U.S. economy—after a round of quantitative tightening, … Read more
I recently received another one: an invitation in the mail to a “free dinner and retirement discussion.” It seems like I’ve been averaging one every few weeks or so. (My wife also receives one every once in a while. So does somebody named “Current Resident” who apparently lives with me who I don’t know.) I’m … Read more
Some months ago, I received an email from a reader who was considering a particular mutual fund investment and had this question: I was looking at the holdings of a particular mutual fund and noticed a few gaming (i.e., casino games/gambling) companies in the holdings. What are your thoughts on that as believers? It is … Read more
If you believe, as I do, that we’re likely in a period of “epochal change” (which I defined as the next few decades not being like they were for the last few), we’re left with the question I posed at the conclusion of my previous article: What to do? The most important thing Before I … Read more
I recently came across the phrase “epochal change.” It was used to describe the domestic and global economic changes that I discussed in a recent article titled “A Challenging Time for Retirement Investors.” The basic idea is that we have reached a historical inflection point due to dramatic economic and political changes. Of course, we … Read more
Like millions of others, I watched the Super Bowl this year, which some dubbed the “Crypto Bowl.” The reason? A bunch of crypto exchanges (places online where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency) aired ads during the game at the cost of ~$7 million (or about 167 bitcoins) per 30-second spot. (One of my favorites … Read more
