The recent CARES act allowed for a special mid-year adjustment to benefits elections to allow employees to adjust how much they spend on medical insurance and fund their medical cost savings plans. Given that studies estimate that couples over age 65 could spend over $350,000 on medical costs – including Medicare – during retirement, funding […]
Most people think of Medicare as the health insurance nirvana: get to age 65 and there’s a free healthcare plan waiting to take you through retirement. With political debate centering around expanding the program, it’s important to understand what it will provide and what it won’t. First, who qualifies? With more than 50 million people […]
In response to the massive economic impact of the coronavirus, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) on March 27. This sweeping action brought over $2 trillion to fight unemployment, bolster public health and provide some tax relief to businesses and individuals. Though much of the bill focuses on unemployment benefits […]
A Westmont College-hosted talk in February by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman spoke to the increasing awareness of behavioral economics. Kahneman won the prize in 2002 for his creation of the prospect theory: the concept that investors feel the pain of losses much more than the joy of gains. This echoed a similar sentiment from […]
A new Federal law passed in December has made sweeping changes to the retirement plans used by most Americans. The SECURE (Setting Up Every Community for Retirement Enhancement) Act brings with it many benefits, including pushing back the mandatory retirement distribution age for IRAs, but the cost is the removal of the popular “stretch IRA” […]