• 403(b). More than Supplemental Retirement

    403(b). More than Supplemental Retirement

    The original premise for a 403(b) plan was to allow for additional retirement income if you wanted to save. However, there’s been a movement to get rid of or decrease the benefits of pensions. This puts pressure on the 403(b) plan to become the core source of income. In Illinois, the cost of living adjustment…

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  • What’s Your Retirement SAT score?

    What’s Your Retirement SAT score?

    When you hear SAT you typically think of college entrance and not retirement. But there’s an SAT score for retirement, too: Savings, Allocation and Time. Here’s how you can use these three criteria (your SAT score) to see if you’re on track to retire comfortably. Saving: are you saving enough? How much do you need…

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  • Turning retirement into financial independence

    Turning retirement into financial independence

    When you hear the phrase financial independence, what comes to mind? When you hear the word retirement do the same images come to mind? This isn’t your grandfather’s financial independence The word retirement conjures up thoughts and emotions. Many of those thoughts and emotions are negative. Doing nothing. Having no purpose. Death. Retirement for many…

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  • Is Financial Freedom Your Retirement Vision?

    Is Financial Freedom Your Retirement Vision?

    In your busy life, have you taken some time for yourself to think about your vision of financial freedom (retirement)? After all, your retirement vision has more to do with having enough resources to live the way that you want to live. Financial Freedom -Less We all have two visions of retirement one vision, one…

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  • Stealing from your future self

    Stealing from your future self

    Would you steal from yourself? Most people would answer no. But when you take money earmarked for retirement and use it now, that’s essentially what you’re doing. I believe you should only be guilty of a crime if you’re doing it knowingly… so I put together this quick explainer. Here’s how failing to prepare for…

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  • Tax Planning: Writing History or Recording History?

    Tax Planning: Writing History or Recording History?

    Many people think tax planning occurs around April 15 when what they are actually thinking of is tax preparation. The best time to start tax planning for 2014 was January 1, 2014, and not April 15th of 2015. Many of us are used to focusing on meeting deadlines. You might buy one of the popular…

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  • Retirement Crisis? How to keep building your retirement savings today!

    In 2007, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College published a research paper entitled, Is there really a retirement savings crisis? An NRRI Analysis. And in the 2022 winter edition of  National Affairs republished a 2014 article written by Andrew G. Biggs & Sylvester Schieber entitled Is There a Retirement Crisis? However, a recent op-ed for ThinkAdvisor…

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  • Financial Planning: Slavery or Financial Freedom?

    Financial Planning: Slavery or Financial Freedom?

    Retirement Vision: Financial Freedom or Halt Working? What comes to mind when you hear the word- retirement? For many, those images are not positive. It means past bad decisions and continuing to live in the slavery of a job that one hates, but pays the bills. For others it means not working. Not working doesn’t…

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  • 7 Ways to Damage Your Retirement Planning

    Check out these seven ways to damage your retirement planning: 1. Not enough retirement savings. Most Americans have never attempted to calculate how much they need to save for retirement. Pensions hire actuaries to do these calculations. No matter what your investment returns, if you don’t save enough you won’t have enough. 2. Retirement saving…

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  • Your guide to pensions

    Your guide to pensions

    If you’re like me, you hate decisions that you can’t change. They invite way too much second-guessing. Unfortunately, what you do with your employee pension is one such decision. Companies sometimes ask employees to consider a pension buyout. This usually entitles a lump sum payment now in lieu of monthly payments for life. So if…

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