Keen On Retirement

I’ve often seen parents, who have the best intentions, provide ongoing financial support to their adult children that comes at the expense of the parents’ retirement savings. There’s a delicate balance here between our desire as parents to help our children and our need to protect our retirement nest eggs.

A pilot is preparing to depart on a planned flight. As he performs his final inspection, he spots a mechanical issue that he should have caught much earlier in his pre-flight check. Attending to this issue causes the pilot to miss his scheduled morning takeoff.

Today I’d like to delve into these underpaid benefits issues at the Social Security Administration and raise a couple points that just about anyone who is retired or about to retire should be aware of when it comes to your entitled benefits.

Less than a month to go until Tax Day! I know many of you out there are feeling the crunch, especially if you’re preparing your taxes on your own. But even if you do work with a tax professional, it’s important to have a basic understanding of how the IRS determines your taxable income this year, and an understanding of the new laws going into effect next year.

At Keen Wealth, we try to view these developments through a very wide lens and remind our clients that the long-term upward trajectory of our economy never follows a straight line. Today, I thought it might be useful to narrow our focus a little bit. Let’s look at how the rate of inflation affects your personal portfolio, as well as other factors that don’t necessarily make the headlines but can still impact your purchasing power in retirement.

Deciding when to start taking Social Security payments is one of the most important decisions you and your fiduciary advisor will make about your retirement plan. It’s also one of the trickiest to get right.