Unless you are extremely wealthy, there aren’t many tax shelters available to you and healthcare costs are likely a rising concern. For both of those reasons, I am a big fan of Health Savings Accounts… Read More
A Framework for Helping Parents with Finances
Stepping in and helping parents with finances can be a challenge. In some instances, the parent needing the help may have managed finances for decades and be reluctant to accept help. At the opposite end… Read More
The Retirement Advantage of Working in Academia
I was listening to a podcast recently featuring Meir Statman, an academic who has long focused on the field of behavioral finance. While the topic itself was interesting, one thing Statman said that stood out… Read More
How Federal Employees Can Plan a Successful Early Retirement
If you are a federal employee and are considering early retirement, this article will help you understand your options and how to determine if early retirement is feasible. We’ll examine how your FERS annuity and… Read More
Understanding Your Options and When to Withdraw from Your FERS Annuity
Federal government pensions are really pretty complex because they’ve become progressively less rich. The pensions for federal government employees that were employed before 1987, they had what was known as the CSRS or the Civil… Read More
The Best Time to Withdraw From Your TSP Account
If you’re a federal employee and are planning on retiring soon, you need to understand when you can and when you should withdraw from your Thrift Savings Account (TSP). In this article you’ll learn about… Read More
Roth IRA or Traditional IRA – What Works Best for You?
One of the questions clients ask most often is whether they should invest in a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA. There is no one right answer – as with most issues in financial planning, it… Read More
Retirement Planning: Keep a Pension or Cash it In
Not so many years ago, financial advisors viewed retirement planning as a 3-legged stool. The first leg was a pension, the second social security and the third being the retiree-to-be’s savings. In the intervening years,… Read More
What We Can All Learn from Financial Planning for Teachers
When my aunt founded Minerva nearly 30 years ago, one of the first groups for whom she did a good deal of work were teachers. At the time, the State was looking for assistance with… Read More
Who Needs a Comprehensive Financial Plan
In last week’s blog post, I covered what every financial plan should include regardless of whether you were concerned with retirement planning, planning for an inheritance or some other issue. This week, I want to… Read More