The Dock

The Problem with Student Loan Debt

For at least the last half-century, borrowing to obtain a higher education has been seen as good borrowing, because of the assumption (strongly supported by statistical evidence) that a degree will lead to higher income and greater financial opportunity. But too much debt or not enough earnings can undo the good idea of borrowing for a college education. And today, the numbers and anecdotal evidence strongly suggest that the fundamentals of educational borrowing are trending toward trouble.

Permanent Life Insurance: The Best Coverage for the Short Term?

One of the challenges in buying life insurance is that purchasers are making a financial decision regarding an unknown future event which could occur as soon as tomorrow or 50 or 60 years in the future. Consequently, any consumers end up repeatedly changing their life insurance coverage, just as they make adjustments to other pieces of their financial life. It may be counter-intuitive, but what some consider the most “expensive” type of life insurance is arguably the one that delivers the best benefits – over a lifetime and in the short term.

Mega Millions Winners Take the Lump-Sum
(What do they know?)

When three tickets matched all six numbers in the Friday, March 30, 2012 Mega Millions lottery drawing, the winners were faced with a wonderful dilemma: How to receive their portion of the record $656 million jackpot? The over-arching consideration: Better to pay the tax now, or later? For the Mega Millions winners, the decision was clearly to pay the tax now.

If You're Reading this Article, You May Life to be 100
(And that's a good thing!)

There is a “global problem” and it’s a “bigger risk than thought.”  A lot of people are exceeding their life expectancy. Who knew simply living longer could throw a monkey wrench in the global economy? Despite, the dramatic headlines, the news really isn’t that bad. The vast majority of people alive today who make it to age 100 will work longer, make more money, and live healthier lives.

TAX DEFERRAL and the SWORD of DAMOCLES

Over the years, the phrase “the Sword of Damocles” has come to be used to indicate any situation where there is a sense of foreboding because of a potential tragedy hanging over one’s head. Almost four decades after being established in the tax code, a variety of circumstances have come together to make the taxes American retirement account owners must pay when they begin distributions a financial Sword of Damocles.

As a financial strategy, the value of tax-deferral has always been dependent on whether the tax break received on the deposits will exceed the tax cost to be paid in the future.  Several factors – historic, economic, demographic and political – may prove these assumptions in error.

RETIREMENT INCOME DISTRIBUTION METHODS:
When it absolutely, positively has to last your entire lifetime

Retirement planning is a relatively new financial activity, one that has really only developed within the past two or three generations. The following is an overview of several prominent retirement income strategies, emphasizing the philosophies behind them, and highlighting their perceived strengths and weaknesses. While each strategy has some unique features, all approaches are attempts to address the main issue in retirement: sufficient income that lasts as long as you do.

TAKING THE TURBULENCE OUT OF THE LONG-TERM CARE INSURANCE ISSUE

When Prudential Financial announced on March 7, 2012 that the company would stop taking applications for individual long-term care insurance on March 30th, the news meant that 10 of the top 20 long-term care insurance companies by sales had left the market in the past five years, according to a March 10, 2012 Wall Street Journal article. These departures from writing long-term care insurance might seem curious, considering that long-term care is becoming an increasingly important financial issue in retirement; if anything, the demand for long-term has increased.