What you need to know if you want to retire early — Want to know what makes me most anxious about retirement planning? Longevity risk. My dad lived to 91 and even then, died due to a surgical mishap. Mom also lived to 91. I also happen to be Caucasian, highly educated (PhD), and well off, all factors that point to a…

How much you should invest in stocks in retirement depends on what you prioritize — I’ve been thinking about “retirement” for three decades. I put the word in quotation marks because I don’t mean to ever retire in the accepted meaning of the word. When I was 30, an Ameriprise financial planner who wanted to sign me up as a client asked me when I…

What the latest research says on this crucial question… — This question is a critical one for lots of people. Perhaps you’re like me, in your early 60s, and want to retire in the next few years… Or maybe you’re an adherent of FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early and want to know how much you need to set aside…

Over the long term, such calls could be worth as much as earning over $1100 an hour! — They count on us being lazy. They count on us having short memories. Once we buy from them, they count on us to just accept whatever they offer in the future. Why? Because, for the most part, they’re right! We’re lazy, we don’t remember what we paid last time, and…

Are you confident your retirement will be great? If so, even if you have your financial plan taken care of, you may be forgetting something… — The Two Ways People Flunk Their Retirement There are two ways to fail your retirement. The first and most common is to reach the point where you’re forced to retire without enough money to enjoy your post-paid work life. What could force you to retire before having enough money to afford retirement?

Financial pros weigh in on the most important criteria for finding an advisor that’s right for you (including if your advisor should have more money than you…) — A few days ago, I wrote an article titled, “Eye-Opening Takes from 7 Financial Pros on Spending Too Much, Too Little.” Eye-Opening Takes from 7 Financial Pros on Spending Too Much, Too Little I asked the pros for stories about clients who overspend or underspend and how they help them change. Here are their…themakingofamillionaire.com

I asked the pros for stories about clients who overspend or underspend and how they help them change. Here are their responses… — I dare say most of us struggle with money in one way or another. Some simply can’t make enough to make ends meet. Despite it being a common narrative in some circles, this is rarely the result of a character flaw — someone who can’t control him- or herself and…

Spending too much? Too little? The way to solve two opposite yet pervasive problems and stay on the narrow and winding right path. — We had just moved halfway around the world, to West Texas, of all places. My wife wasn’t allowed to work, so our young family had to survive on $31k a year, which wasn’t easy. Then, my wife started grad school, making things even tighter. In those years, despite being extremely…

Answering 7 crucial questions you should be asking… — If you’ve ever thought of life insurance, it was probably colored by the instinctive unease of thinking about your mortality — the fact that one day you’ll no longer be around. After all, that’s the main reason to buy life insurance — making sure that your passing, as traumatic an…