Retirement so far
Everyone has their own unique retirement journey. Here is mine. You may get some ideas for your own. Work journey I grew up in the Sputnick era and majored in Chemistry in college. My first professional job was in graduate school where I was an assistant in a...
Extra retirement income
How much will your future lifestyle cost? Will your Social Security and investment income be enough to pay for the lifestyle you want? If that’s not enough, you could have up to six other possible, less common, sources of income. Two of the potential income sources...
Later is too late
In her recent book Later Is Too Late: Hard Conversations That Can’t Wait, Susan Covell Alpert tells what she learned after the death of her husband and also from observing the deaths for other couples. This is a difficult topic to address but a very important one. I...
Cabin to Kids
In Minnesota and many other places, families sometimes own a cabin on a lake. That cabin becomes a vacation destination and even a refuge where the family can spend quality time together. They may do that for many years. The parents might decide to leave the cabin...
Achievement in retirement
Do you enjoy your work? Do you have a sense of achievement from your work? Perhaps at work you use your creativity and push yourself to overcome your own personal obstacles or limitations. Your work may help you to grow and develop. Your work accomplishments might...
Social Security: Part 4 – Previously Married
If you are currently single but were previously married, then you are either widowed or divorced. Even though you are single now, you may be entitled to a benefit from Social Security other than your own. However, you must be vested to collect this benefit - how...
Social Security: Part 3 – Married Couples
Married couples have two extra benefits as compared to individuals. Those benefits can make all the difference for maximizing your lifetime benefit from Social Security. Spousal benefit The first is the spousal benefit, which permits you to collect up to half of the...
Social Security: Part 2 – Individuals
One of the major objectives for most retirees is to maximize their Social Security benefits over their lifetime. The strategies for doing this differ for singles, compared to married partners. Note: for Social Security purposes, single individuals include those who...
Social Security. Part 1 – Background
In the old days, people used to retire and then, if age 62 or older, start to collect Social Security. We now know that this could be a terrible approach, costing literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost benefits over a lifetime, depending on how long you...
Making a BIG Goal Happen
Something BIG, a Bold Imaginative Goal, can add meaning to your retirement and lead to an amazing life. (See my last blog.) How can you make a BIG project actually happen? Consider three examples: launching a business, learning a foreign language, or developing a...