Weekly News
Financial Independence, Retire Early
Do you know what FIRE is? FIRE, in financial terms, stands for “Financial Independence, Retire Early.” The goal of FIRE is to save or invest enough of your money that you can retire earlier than traditional retirement plans would permit. Essentially, you need to keep your expenses low so that
Will You Have to Retire Early?
“More than a quarter of all workers say COVID has prompted them to move up their retirement date,” finds a survey released in February, by the National Institute for Retirement Security. One study even suggested that nearly 2 million older workers have left the labor force for good since the
Financial Literacy
Many consumers have little understanding of the long-term problems that poor financial decisions can create. One of the key reasons that many Americans struggle with making the right decisions when saving and investing is a lack of financial understanding. Financial literacy is becoming increasingly important as more and more people
How Much Is Enough?
Most Americans haven’t saved enough for retirement. A recent article on Yahoo Money states “1 in 4 have no retirement savings.” Clearly $0 in retirement savings is not enough, so just how much is “enough”? How do you know how much you should be saving in order to reach your
How Well Did You Adapt?
We can all agree that the pandemic created many unexpected events in each of our lives, and we’ve all had to figure out how to adapt. That means now is a good time to review how your needs may have changed, and if those changes have impacted the financial goals
The Psychology of Saving for Retirement
If you have ever wondered why saving for retirement feels so difficult, this week’s article may be helpful to you. The article explains, “Psychology is often just as important in personal finance as are the numbers – the way we save, spend and invest are all influenced by the way
Avoiding Risk With Your Retirement Strategies
While you may know that you cannot avoid risk in your life, you can prepare for it with your retirement strategies. Depending on your stage in life, there are specific risks you may want to think about and incorporate into your planning. We read about three key retirement concerns and
Independent Living
Sometimes when we think of our later years in retirement, we forget to reflect on what savings we will need beyond the monthly costs of healthcare, rent, food, etc. at an independent living facility. We need to remember to consider the larger sum of money needed to “buy in” to
Retire In 10 Years
“If you want to retire in 10 years it might be possible. But it’ll require some work.” The opening sentence of this week’s article caught my eye as getting finances in order now to meet goals later on takes planning. We are aware of some options that not only can
Tips for Saving Money After Retirement
We thought to share this week’s article with you because it discusses 27 tips for saving money after retirement. It’s important to remember that “it’s never too late to save, even after retirement.” The author of the article tells us how to “get on track once you’re retired” based on
Capital Gains Taxes Explained
We’ve received calls asking to explain capital gains taxes so we thought this week’s article might be of interest. It tells us, “There are two categories of capital gains: short term (assets held for a year or less) and long term (assets held for longer than one year). The day
Savings By Age
We enjoyed reading this week’s article because it provides useful information that applies to the different generations in any family. Saving money is an interesting conversation because while it usually involves the idea of needing to have retirement money in the future, we often forget to think about saving money
Saving Vs. Spending
This week’s article asks the question, “When do you stop saving and start enjoying the fruits of your labor?” We could help you understand at what age you can start to transition from saver to spender. It could mean the difference between: A retirement of constant penny-pinching and being stuck
We Have An Idea
This week’s article includes 4 ways for us to prepare and save enough to retire in 10 years. But we have the 5th idea, not mentioned in this article! As you accumulate savings meant to carry you through retirement (alongside your social security), we suggest putting some or all of
Eliminate the Guesswork
A survey released in 2019 found that 46% of Americans are guessing at how much money they need for retirement. With increasing life expectancies and financial uncertainties, guesswork is playing a big part in determining whether Americans have enough saved to make the decision to stop working and cross over
The Best Day to Start Saving
This week’s article tells us: “The best day to start saving is today, even if you can save only a little bit.” The math is very interesting and worth the read. The article explains, “If two people put the same amount of money away each year ($5,000), earn the same
Rethinking Retirement Savings
We came across an article written in the Harvard Law Review and thought to share it with you all. This article discusses rethinking retirement savings and puts into context how much money we have in retirement accounts ($35 trillion collectively!), where it comes from, and what ‘buckets’ exist that provide
Starting to Worry Again?
Are you holding your breath starting to worry about the market again? Fortunately, you can build a diversified portfolio with principal protection. Our team at Simply Smart Solutions can assist you in building your portfolio in a way that distributes risk and prepares your retirement savings for growth in a
The New ‘Life-Is-Short’ Mindset
This week’s article explains how affluent Americans are rushing to retire sooner than they had originally planned due to the new ‘Life-Is-Short’ mindset, a product of the pandemic. Even if we now have the ‘Life-Is-Short’ mindset, Americans are still living longer and will need income during retirement that won’t be
Is Your Social Security Check Going to be Enough For You?
Whether you’re recently retired, nearing retirement, or a few years in, an annuity can help build tax-deferred savings. Why is that important? Annuities can provide a guaranteed lifetime income to supplement your social security. According to a Gallup poll, 85% of investors “strongly agree that it’s important to have a
Benefits of Fixed Indexed Annuities
As a reminder when you are considering where you can place your hard-earned savings to generate a guaranteed income, remember that FIAs are insurance products that can guarantee income over a period of time — even over a lifetime. Unlike a 401(k), the insurance company absorbs the risk of market
