For Mark Roberts' Use: We think of life insurance as a relatively modern innovation, but some form of it has been around since the days of ancient Rome! The original purpose was to protect a worker’s dependents from financial ruin in the event that something happened to him (usually a husband and father). But of course, [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: A hotly-contested election is one thing; once a new president begins to roll out their proposed budgetary changes, we have a whole new set of ideas to debate. One of President Trump’s campaign promises was to revise the tax code, and his recently proposed budget includes some major changes in that [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: When you were first hired on at your company, you were probably asked by human resources to fill out a number of forms. One of these forms pertained to your retirement plan contributions. You chose to automatically set up a contribution to your retirement account, based on a percentage of your income. [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: Most of us understand that Social Security will comprise an important part of our retirement plan. On the other hand, we also know that we can’t count on Social Security payments to provide for all of our income in retirement. The program is meant to be a supplement to your income [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: What’s your retirement dream? The answer will vary from one person to the next, but most people agree that retiring debt-free would be ideal. In particular, we often hear pre-retirees say that they would love to pay off their home before this next stage in their lives. But of course, most home [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: As you enter the home stretch in your career, you’re probably running in “high gear” as far as retirement planning goes. You’ve almost reached your goal! Suddenly, an enormous roadblock looms ahead: Your kids are going off to college, and you have to find a way to pay for it. Obviously, prevention [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: You probably understand how important your retirement savings are. After all, you can’t count upon Social Security to provide for all of your needs in retirement, so the burden of preparing for a secure future rests on your shoulders. But sometimes, it can be tempting to withdraw money from your retirement [...]
Retirement planning can be a complicated matter, partly because there are so many different options available to you. This is actually a good thing, because it means we can tailor a retirement income plan to your very unique situation and needs. Of course, the downside of having so many options is that it’s easy to [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: Once you retire, you will probably begin taking distributions from your retirement account immediately. For most people this happens around age 65 or so, but in some cases retirement doesn’t happen that early and you don’t need to take distributions yet. Or, you might retire and prefer to leave your money in [...]
For Mark Roberts' Use: Social Security was created way back in 1935, as a way to provide retirees with supplemental income. For most Americans, Social Security is a significant piece of the retirement puzzle so the future of the system is critical. You might have heard that Social Security is “in trouble”, but what does [...]