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How Do Survivor Social Security Benefits Work?

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Social Security is a robust system that provides aid to disabled workers, minor children, and surviving spouses/dependents. In fact, according to AARP, nearly 5.9 million people were collecting survivor benefits in 2020. Survivor benefits play an important role in the social security system, making it imperative that you know what it is, how it works,…
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The SECURE Act of 2019

The SECURE Act of 2019

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On December 20, 2019, the new SECURE Act was signed into law by President Trump. SECURE is an acronym for “Setting Every Community Up for retirement Enhancement.” The SECURE Act contains over six hundred pages and has 29 major provisions. Most of these provisions affect company-sponsored retirement plans (e.g. pensions, profit-sharing plans, etc.). However, in…
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Medicare IRMMA

Medicare IRMMA

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Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) is an amount that Medicare recipients pay in addition to their regular Part B or Part D premium if their income is above a certain level. The Social Security Administration (SSA) sets income brackets that determine your surcharges. SSA determines if you owe an IRMAA based on the income you reported on your IRS tax return two…
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Medicare Enrollment 2020

The Medicare Open Enrollment Period

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What is the Medicare Open-Enrollment Period? Each year Medicare has an Open Enrollment Period during which Medicare recipients can make certain changes in their Medicare coverage. For example, during the Open Enrollment Period, Medicare recipients can: Switch from Original Medicare (Part A&B) to a Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C) Switch from a Medicare Advantage Plan…
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Vanguard's Alpha and Morningstar's Gamma

A Brief Discussion of Vanguard’s Alpha and Morningstar’s Gamma

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This paper was written for educational purposes only. It must not be construed as the rendering of investment, tax, retirement, estate or risk planning advice. Please do not take action on anything that you read in any of our whitepapers, or anything that is mentioned in our classes, before first discussing it with your investment,…
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Understanding Risk Tolerance

Understanding Your Risk Tolerance

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Many people change their view of risk as retirement approaches. This change is a natural occurrence as you move from your asset accumulation years, to your asset decumulation years. During the asset accumulation phase, risk is sometimes viewed as a volatile 401k balance, but during the asset decumulation years, risk might be a major adjustment…
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Retirement Longevity Risk

The Challenges of Retirement Longevity Risk

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Planning for a journey of unknown duration Q – We’re considering the financial impact of using some of our retirement resources now, while we are still active, versus sacrificing now to be more certain we will be OK later.  How should we handle the tradeoff? A – One of the biggest challenges facing those planning…
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Sequence-of-Return Risk

Sequence-Of-Return Risk

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“My husband and I plan to retire in a few months. We are worried that the stock market will correct just when we start taking money out of our accounts. Are we just being worry warts? Not at all. What you are worried about is called the “sequence-of-return risk” and it is a real problem…
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Medicare Rules Explained

Understand the Complex Medicare Rules & Regulations

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“My wife and I pay over $10,000 a year in Medicare Part B premiums while my neighbors only pay about $3,200 a year. What gives?” By way of background, Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people who are age 65 or older. For most Medicare enrollees, the federal government pays 100% of the…
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