At some point, most new parents or grandparents begin thinking about how to pay for college. Since educational costs have risen at a rate well in excess of inflation over the last two decades, covering… Read More
The Ups and Downs of Investing in Emerging Markets
One of my favorite charts on investing is the Callan table of investment returns. The chart depicts the return of various asset classes1 from year-to-year, and just a glance at it shows how volatile relative… Read More
Long-Term Care Insurance: How to Determine If It Is Right for You
A question clients often ask as they approach retirement is whether or not they need long-term care insurance. The basic concept is pretty straightforward – if, at some point in the future, you need long-term… Read More
Working Past Retirement Age – Things to Consider
A pretty common stereotype when it comes to retirement is the overworked, underpaid worker who would retire immediately and pursue the Island Life if they only could. And while I have worked with some clients… Read More
Medigap Insurance: What You Need to Know
If you are planning for retirement, estimating healthcare costs should be part of your plan. In recent posts, I have covered a Vanguard study on retirement healthcare spending, as well as the structure of traditional… Read More
Prescription Drugs and Medicare: How to Enroll in Part D
In a previous post, I took a look at Medicare Parts A & B, which cover many types of inpatient care along with what are generally defined as medically necessary services. In this post, I’ll… Read More
Understanding Medicare: Your Medicare Coverage Choices
In the last blog post, I outlined key findings from a recent Vanguard white paper on healthcare spending in retirement. In this post, I’ll break down the various parts of understanding Medicare—traditional Medicare—as you consider… Read More
Spending on Healthcare in Retirement: How to Plan for It in Your Budget
If you are planning to retire, budgeting for healthcare should be part of your plans. In fact, when we build plans, we have begun breaking out healthcare costs as a separate category. Doing so allows… Read More
When Things Change – What to Do About Estimated Taxes
The IRS not only wants you to pay what you owe but in many instances, they don’t want you to wait until the end of the year to do so. If your primary income is… Read More
It’s Hard to Be Humble – Overconfidence Bias and Hindsight Bias
Over the last few weeks, I’ve written about several cognitive biases. Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts we all use, but if we’re not careful, they can lead us astray. This is undoubtedly the case when… Read More