Survey Results: Investors Trust Financial Advisors More Than Primary Doctor or Accountant |
June 14, 2012 |
Annuity Basics
Financial advisors topped the list of trusted professionals in a recent survey published by John Hancock Financial. The survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Mathew Greenwald & Associates, who polled over 1,000 investors with household income of at least $100,000 and investible assets of at least $200,000 this April. The results showed that financial advisors had the highest top score of “trust strongly” among a list of professionals including primary doctors, accountants, contractors/handymen, bosses, and real estate agents. Financial advisors received the “trust...
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Why Spain is Unlikely to Continue on Its Financial Path |
June 13, 2012 |
Cal Burgess, Member Posts, The Global Economy
Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group PLLC Recently the growing Euro concerns are being shifted towards Spain, and rightfully so. When you take into consideration that Spain’s economy is twice the size of Greece, Portugal, and Ireland combined, it’s becomes clear why it is a serious concern for the EU. Spain’s financial crisis is arguably more of a question of morality than a true financial crisis, at least not yet. Spain’s bank concerns center around BFA-Bankia, which was formed in 2010 as a merger...
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What Will Be The Future Age of Retirement? |
June 12, 2012 |
Retirement Planning, Your Retirement
With the unstable market and low interest rates, the average retirement age of individuals undoubtedly will increase. The key question is really the extent of this increase. According to Robert Benmosche, chairman of American International Group (AIG), the ages will have to be 70 to 80 years old in order to make pensions and medical services more affordable. Considering that this is over a decade longer than historic averages, his commend has certainly raised some eyebrows across. Only time will tell if his prediction is...
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Why Financial Planning Will Fail Many Retirement Dreams |
June 11, 2012 |
Cal Burgess, Income For Life, Member Posts, Retirement Planning
Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group PLLC Over the last few years I have met many Americans, either already in or nearing retirement, who have told me that they have been urged to “stay the course” with their portfolio. These investors are putting their retirement dreams in a philosophy that utilizes projections, and not guarantees. The problem is many investors are hoping to retire in the next 10 -20 years and are nowhere near their long term goals. Considering that the S & P...
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5 Timing Rules You Need To Understand About IRAs |
June 8, 2012 |
401k and IRA Blogs, Retirement Planning, Your Retirement
Owning an IRA would be a simple process if only the tax code was flexible to adjust for missteps. However, the tax code is not at all friendly so we need to be very aware of the timing issues that most often cause the most problems. Fortunately, Robert Powell was nice enough to document the 5 most important timing issues that we must be sure to keep in mind before we take any actions which could cause unfortunate consequences. Here are the five timing rules...
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Death of the Traditional Pension Plan |
June 7, 2012 |
Cal Burgess, Income For Life, Member Posts, Retirement Planning
Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group PLLC The traditional pension plan is a concept from the past that is likely to never come back to the American culture. The concept of the pension plan is ingrained into the fabric of our country’s roots, and Generation X is going to be the first generation in US history that will not experience the benefits of this retirement plan. Through adamant deregulation of the investment banking industry from the early 1980s throughout the 1990s, deteriorating market conditions...
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GM Makes Strong Move Away From Pensions |
June 6, 2012 |
401k and IRA Blogs, Income For Life, Retirement Planning
GM announced last Friday that is will make a strong move to decrease its pension liabilities. For retirees, they will offer over 40,000 them a lump-sum payment of cash to end their monthly benefits. The rest of the 118,000 salaried retirees and spouses in the U.S. will be serviced by a group annuity that GM will purchase. Their overall plan is to unload $26 billion in pension liabilities from their books in a move that experts say are likely to become a trend as companies...
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The Accumulation Phase is the Missing Link |
June 4, 2012 |
Cal Burgess, Income For Life, Member Posts, Retirement Planning, Your Retirement
Written By: Cal Burgess, Retirement Servicing Group With respect to income and retirement planning, there are 3 phases of life. The introduction phase, the accumulation phase, and the preservation phase. The second phase, the accumulation phase, is the phase of life where you accumulate funds to retire (working years of life), pay off as much debt as possible, and try to achieve the best quality of life you can. This is the phase that is destroying the American dream of retirement. Most of us grew...
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