A 67-year-old wife who is collecting a Social Security spousal benefit on her husband's record should compare her current benefit with her own retirement benefit before switching benefits, according to this Q&A article on Forbes. She will be better off waiting until the age of 70 before shifting to her own retirement benefit if she remains healthy and her retirement benefit amount will be higher than her current spousal benefit. It does not make sense to shift to her own retirement benefit just because the program's future viability is at stake, as history shows that Congress had acted in the past to keep the program afloat.
Parents should stop supporting their adult children financially at the expense of their own retirement security, writes an expert for the Washington Post. "Pulling back financial support can be difficult when your adult child is starting out and struggling under the weight of student loans and high housing costs," the expert writes. "But coddling them too long at the expense of your retirement security will eventually shift the financial burden to your children, who may not be able to handle the burden of your care."
A study by the Financial Planning Association and Janus Henderson Investors has found that a majority of financial advisors do not have a formal succession plan once they hit retirement, according to this article on CNBC. Having a succession plan is important when running an advisory firm, experts say. “I think our biggest concern is that when a client asks you what would happen if you get hit by a truck or something else bad happens, the response usually isn’t an acceptable one,” says an expert with Fidelity Investments.
Clients who want to minimize the tax bite this year should start making moves now, according to this article from USA Today. For example, they should determine the filing status that will enable them to save more on taxes, boost their pretax contributions to their 401(k), IRA and health savings accounts. Investors are advised to review their portfolio to make it more tax efficient and make the most of the tax breaks under their control. “Since charitable deductions are fully controllable, bunching your charitable contributions into a single year, rather than contributing smaller sums over several years, may put you over the new standard deduction hurdle,” says an expert.
