How to Fact-Check AI Financial Advice in 7 Steps
More retirees are asking AI the money questions they used to ask financial advisers. The appeal is obvious. AI chatbot answers arrive in seconds, nothing is embarrassing to ask, and it costs nothing. The problem is that a wrong or incomplete answer looks…
How to Turn Your RMD Into a Smart Tax Strategy
Required minimum distribution season sneaks up on many retirees. RMDs are the amounts you must withdraw from tax‑deferred retirement accounts once you reach the required age, which is 73 for individuals born from 1951 through 1959 and 75 for those born…
Older Homeowners Are Cutting Their Property Tax Bills by Volunteering
Shortly before 9:00 a.m., Diane, a 68-year-old retired middle school teacher, walks into her local library and notices a crooked display of flyers for after-school homework help. She straightens them before signing the volunteer timesheet at the front…
Rate Hikes Are Back: What It Means for Retirees
Do you remember the spring of 2021? It felt like we had all been let out of COVID-19 jail. Sure, there were new variants of the virus, but most people were vaccinated and eager to swipe, tap or hand over cash. We promptly took our then-3-year-old to…
Retiring Abroad Sounded Good — Until I Realized What I’d Be Giving Up
During my years as a full-time staffer for Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, I wrote or edited nearly a dozen stories about potential retirement destinations. We profiled college towns, beach communities and overseas enclaves for expats in search of…
My First $1 Million: Mechanical Engineer, 69, Los Angeles
Welcome to Kiplinger’s My First $1 Million series, in which we hear from people who have made $1 million. They’re sharing how they did it and what they’re doing with it. This time, we hear from a 69-year-old mechanical engineer in the…
The $100K Inheritance Blueprint: Where to Put Your Money First
Receiving a financial windfall through an inheritance can trigger feelings of guilt and sadness that come as a result of losing a loved one. After all, what you’ve been left with is so much more than a number. It’s a lasting legacy, and the…
How to Avoid Medicare Penalties When Working Past 65
Most of the expensive mistakes I see in retirement planning as a CFP® are subtle. This one is not. A Medicare enrollment trap springs most often on the very people who feel least worried about it: Those working past 65 with what they assume is perfectly…
How to Invest for Higher Rates
Bonds are tempting. The yield on a 10-year Treasury note has increased by a factor of eight in just six years. Do you want to own stocks, which for the past hundred years or so have returned an annual average of 10%, or do you want to own a 30-year bond…
6 Essential Estate Planning Documents to Prepare Now
Like many, you might have the best intentions of “getting your affairs in order.” Year after year, it lands on your list of resolutions. Yet, every December, it rolls over, untouched, to the next year. You aren’t alone. Trust &…