When I worked as a U.S. financial advisor, I had to familiarize myself with a number of age-related rules, such as “How old do you have to be to start collecting Social Security?” and “How old do you have

You’ve probably heard that when it comes to working with a financial advisor, you should choose a fee-based advisor (meaning one whose compensation doesn’t vary by what they recommend to you) over an advisor

Happy New Year! If you’re familiar with my work, you know I’m a fan of Roth IRAs. Where else can you invest with almost total freedom and be able to look forward to reaping the rewards tax-free? I’m writing

I’ve written before that the easiest way to set yourself up with tax-free income (and the way that offers you the most investment freedom) is a Roth IRA. However, one of the most frustrating limitations

Today, I’m going to talk about a financial product that, like annuities, is highly controversial: cash value life insurance. Some people are staunch advocates of CVL for its potential to build tax-free

Ever since spring of 2009, when the stock market started to recover from its biggest meltdown that most of us alive today can remember, a lot of people have been wondering, "When's the next big one

I've always been a big fan of "following your dreams", but I've come to shift that to "finding and living your purpose in life". Why? Because a dream isn't necessarily that thing you

This post is for anyone who has a pretax account and is at the stage of life when you have to take RMDs (required minimum distributions). (If this isn't you, it may be someone you know.) First, a friendly

A lot of “solopreneurs” (entrepreneurs with no employees) make the mistake of relying on their business as their sole retirement plan. But that’s like investing all of your retirement money in a single

(Photo by Jonathan Meyer from Pexels) In my last blog post, I talked about how annuities can provide value as a form of insurance against outliving your money, and addressed some of the common criticisms

(Photo by icon0.com from Pexels) Imagine if you had your own personal pension, guaranteed to send you a check every single month for the rest of your life (starting in your 60s or later). Would that help

Up to now, we’ve focused on why you might want to put some of your paycheck into your 401(k) or other workplace retirement plan. Now, let’s turn to the question of what you should select inside the plan.

Continuing from Part 3, here are a seventh and eighth scenario in which it might make sense to contribute to a workplace retirement plan. (7) You want to lock in favorable terms on an annuity that’s available

Continuing from Part 2, here are a fifth and sixth scenario in which it might make sense to contribute to a workplace retirement plan. (5) It’s a 457(b) (“Deferred Comp Plan”) Despite their overwhelming

Continuing from Part 1, here are a third and fourth scenario in which it might make sense to contribute to a workplace retirement plan. (3) You want to lower your tax bill for the current year further

In a recent post, I talked about how relying too heavily on your 401(k) as a retirement vehicle can lead to unintended tax consequences later in life. Well, another issue with 401(k) plans is that they

In my last post, I talked a little about tax-free accounts and how my wife and I are making use of them. So I thought it only fitting to introduce the easiest type of tax-free to open: the Roth IRA. I’m

In Part 1, we went over the hidden trap of making a pretax account like a 401(k) your primary retirement vehicle. Here, I want to give you some ideas on what you can do to avoid that trap. But instead

Let’s face it: we all have a tax life. And most of us would like to make our tax life more satisfying (or at least less painful). Whatever your views on taxes are, it’s an inescapable fact that our ability

I remember a day back in high school when the TV news and newspapers reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (a common measure of the condition of the U.S. stock market) had experienced its largest