April 2013 | FIGuide

How Many Lumps Do You Want

Apr 29 2013

Deciding whether to take a lump sum or monthly payments from your defined benefit plan can be one of the most important financial decisions of your retirement.

A defined-benefit plan is the promise of a monthly salary substitute after retirement. The employer funds the plan fully.

The amount you’ll receive from pension depends, first of all, on whether you work for a company that offers one. Most of us don’t. In fact, only 35 percent of Americans have such a benefit. In 1975, 88 percent of workers with workplace retirement plans had defined-benefit pensions.

If you are among the lucky …

What Is An Annuity?

Apr 29 2013

In the financial world, the word annuity may have various and often similar meanings. Below I’ll discuss each and how they may fit in your financial plan.

An annuity is simply a payment at regular intervals, such as monthly payment from your pension plan. Social Security can also be thought of as an annuity, especially when creating a lifetime retirement income plan. Monthly withdrawals from investment and retirement (IRA, 401k, 403b) accounts are yet another form of an annuity which you establish and control.

The second common meaning for annuity is in reference to the wrapper for the underlying investments. …

Organize Your Finances – Plan

Apr 29 2013

Many of us of us struggle to keep up. Often times finances are the last thing on our minds until there is a problem with them. This is part of a series of articles written to help you Organize Your Finances. As other articles come out, you can find them by clicking on the Organize category, or Organize Your Finances tab at the top.

Now that you’ve set your goals, and taken stock of your situation with a cash flow analysis, you can determine the steps necessary to accomplish your goals. You do this by putting yourself in situations that …

Socially Responsible Investing: What You Need To Know

Apr 29 2013

Individuals everywhere are concerned about our country, the world, its people and the environment. For these and other reasons, more people are investing their money to get back more than just a monetary return on their investment. Many are investing to make a positive impact in our country and around the world as well as to feel that societal concerns should be made an important part of their investment focus.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is sometimes referred to as “sustainable”, “socially conscious”, “mission,” “green” or “ethical” investing. In general, socially responsible investors are looking to promote concepts and ideals that …

Can A TOD Account Reduce Your Probate Expenses?

Apr 24 2013

It’s interesting. It is always the right time to do estate planning, but we never get around to doing it. But, it is especially important to think about estate planning when you go through a life transition, such as retiring or moving to a new state. And suprisingly enough, many of us have more complicated probate estates than we think (owning property in two states would be one example). A simple thing anyone can do to reduce probate costs and hassles is to reconfigure their non-retirement accounts as PODs or TODs. What are PODs and TODs? Let me explain. I’ll …

Archive - April 2013