Personal Finance Articles

It’s always a good idea to keep your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) assets untouched until you can withdraw them penalty-free at age 59½, but you may need to make an exception in this economy.
How can you avoid the tax implications?
In most cases, all or part of any early withdrawal from a traditional IRA will be [...]

[Read more →]

Choosing a financial advisor is only half the battle in ensuring that your investments are properly looked after. Finding a good one is also important.
Following are some tips to help ensure that your experience is a good one:
First, it’s a good idea to set up some ground rules. For example, you may want to ask [...]

[Read more →]

Many of today’s retirees are facing an unfortunate scenario. To retire on time, they’ll need to turn their depreciated savings into extra income - at a time when the bond market could start faltering.
Over the past year, bonds have been a haven for many investors seeking alternatives to the low rates available in bank deposits [...]

[Read more →]

It’s not a well-known fact, but younger retirees face a harsh penalty for working part-time. If you retire younger than normal retirement age, there’s a limit to how much you can earn and still receive full Social Security benefit payments.
The Social Security administration specifies that “normal” retirement age can vary from age 65 (if you [...]

[Read more →]

Should you invest with a pro - or is it better to try it yourself?
It’s a perennial question for individual investors.
Should you make a go of it alone or consult a professional when it comes to managing your investments?
Ultimately, the answer depends on a number of factors, ranging from how knowledgeable you are as an [...]

[Read more →]

If you’re nearing or in retirement and worried you won’t have enough income to support the lifestyle you want, you’re not alone - and there’s still hope.
According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s March 2010 annual retirement survey, 29% of retirees have saved nothing to support themselves, while only a third have saved at least [...]

[Read more →]

If you’re looking to invest in an index fund because of its broad exposure to one area of the market and its low fees, you may want to consider an exchange-traded fund (ETF) as well.
ETFs are essentially index funds.
They’re portfolios of stocks, bonds or other securities that can be bought and sold just as investments [...]

[Read more →]

Cash may be king when markets are volatile, but that doesn’t mean it’s without risks.
In troubled times, financial advisors may recommend that investors raise their allocations to cash equivalents, which include vehicles such as Treasury bills, insured fixed-rate certificates of deposit and savings accounts.
There are good reasons for doing so.
Cash, which is presumably risk-free, protects [...]

[Read more →]

Many people with Medicare believed that their 2010 premium would be frozen at 2009 levels, but it’s jumped by 15%.
The reason?
It’s because of an unusual meeting of the rules governing Medicare and Social Security.
Each year, the Department of Health and Human Services sets the premium for Medicare Part B, which covers physician visits and outpatient [...]

[Read more →]

The U.S. federal estate tax has been repealed.
This came about under a 10-year bill that steadily increased exclusions from the tax before fully repealing it in 2010.
That’s obviously good news for most Americans.
However, there is one issue that many people might not know about.
The negative consequence is that Americans who don’t update their wills could [...]

[Read more →]