While everyone says get the 401k match, lower income employees end up losing out in a system against them.
Pension Choices: Lump Sum, Single Life Or Joint & Survivor
How do you decide which payment option is the best for your pension? A lump sum, lifetime monthly payments, or a joint & survivor pension?
Retiring Early: Effect On Social Security Benefits
Retiring early means lower average earnings for calculating Social Security benefits. However, once you reach the second bend point, you aren’t losing much. I show you how to see when you will reach the second bend point.
401k Match Policies: Every Payroll and True-Up
If your employer has an outdated 401k match policy you will have to do extra work. Employers current with the best practice give a true-up match every payroll.
Polepole: Anti-FOMO In Preparing for Retirement
Reject FOMO. Go at your own pace in preparing for retirement.
Social Security Claiming Strategy Calculators Compared
I compared two free calculators for the optimal Social Security claiming strategy with hypothetical test cases. They both do a good job.
You Can’t Eat Your House. Or Can You?
A paid-off home not only provides you a place to live. It can also fund your retirement.
Plan It and Update It
Putting your financial plan into a simple table helps you focus on the major blocks and see where you are.
Maintaining and Executing An Estate Plan
Real life experience and learning from maintaining and executing an estate plan.
Switching Brokerage Account Into A Trust: Fidelity, Vanguard, Merrill Edge
Just having a trust document doesn’t do much. You need to put accounts under the trust’s name. I walk you through for how we did it with Fidelity, Vanguard, and Merrill Edge.
Will and Trust Through Employer Legal Plan
Using the legal plan through an employer works for simple estate planning.
Financially Comfortable and Pivot
Pivoting when you are financially comfortable offers a safer and more enjoyable path to a second childhood.