LivingAlmostLarge

So what happened this month?  Things were not good for our networth that’s for sure.  We kept our cash steady mostly because we still owe another $3k for DH’s next summer course paid for yesterday.  But we unfortunately lose $5k of 5% of our retirement portfolio.  Not a huge deal when you look long term, [...]

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I think this is a great article in the NY Times discussing different type of IRA retirement accounts.  So what are the different types of IRA?
There is a Roth IRA. It allows people under a certin income to contribute taxed dollars to a retirement account.  Currently the amount is $5k/annually, and will grow tax free [...]

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Could you retire on $12k/year?  This article explains how to do it.  Apparently the average SS payout is $1,082/month which is around $12k/year income to live on.  But do most people survive on it?  I think so.  More than you could imagine.  My grandmother lives on a bit less than $12k/year more like $10k ($900/month [...]

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Obama is proposing that Uncle Sam fund retirement.  The plan is that for families earning less than $75k, 3% of their salaries would be deposited into retirement accounts.  These accounts would have matching funds from the federal government up to $1000.  It’s supposed to be like a tax credit. 
I hate to say this, but why?  [...]

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A reader asked Walter Updegrave, “are my finances on track?”  He says there are two ways to determine how you are doing.  Go to Money’s Net Worth Calculator, use Census Bureau statistics, or use NetWorth IQ.  This will compare your standings to others or determine if you are “keeping up with the Joneses.” 
Updegrave says that [...]

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The question asked is $1 Million dollars enough to retire?  On Yahoo Finance, the article questions whether it is or not.  The article thinks that $1 million dollars is not enough to retire on today, but in previous generations it was.  The idea is withdrawing 4%, will give you a 90% chance of having enough [...]

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How much do you think you’ll need when you retire to cover medical costs?  One thing changing rapidly is people are no longer being covered by employer provided insurance in retirement.  Employer provided insurance is going down the same path as pensions, a once mythical benefit for those old enough to remember it.  This Yahoo [...]

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There are many changes for Roth IRAs in 2008, so I want to enlighten you to them. 

People are able to contribute $5k/year without being 50. If you are 50, you can save an additional $1k or $6k total.
Income limits are increased for contributing to a Roth IRA, $101k for singles and $159k for married filing jointly (the [...]

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Right now I’m sure a lot of people are wondering why are they contributing to retirement?  Especially if you are in your 20s and you’d really rather spend your money on anything else!  Personally I’d rather be blowing the money too.  But I’m not.  Here’s an article by Walter Updegrave about it (love his book [...]

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            For the most part people when they leave their job will rollover a 401k into a Rollover IRA.  From there they have the decision of further rolling over the 401k to their Roth IRA and paying taxes on it, or keeping it in the form of a rollover IRA.   The question many face is [...]

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