Congress has passed, and the President has signed, a spending bill that includes the SECURE Act, which makes a number of changes in retirement planning rules....more
Ages 25, 30, 35, 40 – save more spend less - Save as much as possible on a pre-tax or tax-advantaged basis - (Why think about retirement at these young ages? Because, with a little luck, you’ll be old someday)....more
In most households, there is one spouse who handles financial matters- paying bills, filing tax returns, planning retirement income. While division of labor might be great, there could be problems if the "non-financial"...more
An article in the September 4, 2018 Wall Street Journal discusses the question of what people will spend in retirement. Its author is connected with something called the Center for Advanced Hindsight, which I suppose is...more
A recent program presented by the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association offered suggestions on a safe withdrawal rate from accumulated assets during retirement. After much analysis, the author...more
A number of years ago, I spoke at a seminar organized by some clients, called "Sign here, my dear". The point of the seminar was that spouses, in most case wives, know very little about family finances and are often just...more
The more articles and blogs I write about planning for retirement, the more advice I get from people who have retired or are in the planning stages. Since the concept of retirement is still a mystery for many, I thought I...more
Members of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Tax and Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practices have outlined the recently announced 2018 dollar limits on the Social Security Wage Base, compensation and deferrals for...more
The baby boom generation (born from 1946 to 1964) is now entering retirement years, and the earliest members of this group are well into retirement, continuation of their careers in different ways, or encore careers. When...more
The Internal Revenue Service has just announced the limits on retirement plan contributions and benefits for 2018.
The limit on 401(k) contributions will be $18,500, an increase from $18,000 per year. The catch-up...more
A recent article in the New York Times describes some choices made by professionals of unique forms of retirement. Each of the individuals profiled in the article stopped what they had been doing for many years, but continued...more
Many people hope to make up for not saving enough for retirement by just saying: "I'll work past retirement age" or "I'll never retire". A recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute on its 2017 Retirement...more
There is so much being written about retirement these days, in large part because of the bulge of baby boomers now reaching and past retirement. My experience has been that many people fear retirement, because they think it's...more
Members of Saul Ewing’s Tax and Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Practices have outlined the recently announced 2017 dollar limits on the Social Security Wage Base, compensation and deferrals for retirement plans,...more
In Roe v. Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, No. 12–cv–04788 (NSR), 58 EBC 1077, 2014 WL 1760343 (S.D. N.Y. May 1, 2014), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held a self-insured health plan that...more
Advice on retirement planning is being offered by many entities and forms of media these days. Those of us in the early baby boom generation are bombarded by offers to have dinner and listen to lectures as to how to invest...more
Important decisions in planning retirement income and expenses can be made at seven ages, and the decisions made at those ages can have a substantial effect on the quality of retirement....more
Despite the extensive information available from many sources about retirement planning, many people remain puzzled and disconnected from that type of planning....more
Over the past 30 years, a dramatic change has taken place in the use of retirement plans to help people save for their later years....more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor will forever change many facets of the lives of same-sex couples....more
7/1/2013
/ DOMA ,
Equal Protection ,
Estate Planning ,
Estate Tax ,
Gift Tax ,
Income Taxes ,
Joint Tax Returns ,
Portability ,
Retirement Plan ,
Same-Sex Marriage ,
SCOTUS ,
Tax Exemptions ,
US v Windsor
Recent articles in the New York Times have added to he discussion of what amount is needed to retire. Focusing on $1,000,000, which is less than the cost of an average apartment in Manhattan, the first article suggests that...more
The website publications.USA.gov has many helpful publications, including some that offer practical advice about retirement. That website is now offering a series of pamphlets called Trustworthy Retirement Resources for...more
A recent article in the New York Times reports on a development in the ongoing saga of how people will meet their expenses in retirement. A borrowing technique has been heavily marketed, called pension advances, which are...more