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Now may be the time to buy that vacation home

While there is a great deal of emotion that accompanies real estate purchases, the analysis from a financial standpoint basically comes down to a comparison of the costs of renting versus buying.

Is it time for your retired clients to buy that vacation home they have always wanted?
While there is a great deal of emotion that accompanies real estate purchases, the analysis from a financial standpoint basically comes down to a comparison of the costs of renting versus buying. Prior to the eco

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New benchmarks for retirement income management

With retirement income management becoming the primary objective of many investors, it's time for new investment benchmarks which reflect that. For decades, investors have been using the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average as defaults for investment performance. But constructing portfolios that track those benchmarks is of little value for investors who must live off the returns on their portfolios.

Do we still need ERISA? Only if we want to shortchange savers

With the technological advancements in money management platforms and payroll systems, one has to wonder whether the costs associated with ERISA compliance could be removed from the retirement plan system. If we could safely remove those costs, it's likely we could help employees accumulate between 20% and 30% more money for retirement. So it's worth considering.

To annuitize or not: The debate continues

In my last column, I provided an analysis of the income guarantees from a life-only, immediate annuity versus the likelihood of running out of money if you kept your retirement savings invested in the markets. I received a lot of comments on that column, and I thought I'd respond to several of them.