If you have a 401(k) and you're staring down age 55, the IRS has a quiet exit door most people walk right past. It's called the Rule of 55, and it lets…
Michael Williams People imagine a cliffside terrace and the math working itself out. The phrase “without touching your principal” rules out the usual 4% drawdown framing and forces a pure yield problem. Here is…
Michael Williams Picture a 61-year-old who planned to claim Social Security at full retirement age in 2032, expecting roughly $2,400 a month based on the latest statement from the Social Security Administration. Then the…
Michael Williams A mid-career New York City public school teacher earns about $85,000 a year in exchange for lesson plans, grading, classroom management, parent conferences, staff meetings, and a daily commute. A portfolio can…
The Landlord Who Thought He Built a Steady Paycheck He’s about 70, retired, and owns a rental property or two that net him roughly $36,000 a year after expenses. He bought the…
Gerelyn Terzo Picture a 68-year-old retiree opening her tax return this spring and noticing her bill dropped by a few hundred dollars thanks to a new senior deduction. The same week, a headline catches…
Michael Williams If you have a 401(k) at work, there’s a chance you’re sitting on a tax-free retirement loophole worth tens of thousands of dollars a year and don’t know it. It’s called the…
Michael Williams A 64-year-old engineer takes a buyout from a 3,000-person employer in March. He signs up for 18 months of COBRA the same week, figuring he will deal with Medicare when COBRA runs…
Drew Wood We get a version of this question almost every week. Someone has a single pension and has been told The Villages is the affordable answer in Florida. They want to know if…
Michael Williams A 58-year-old caller named Keith dialed into The Ramsey Show sounding less like a man planning his retirement and more like a man waiting on a will to be read. He owns…
Michael Williams At 78, Elizabeth had $111,000 in checking, two properties, a disabled daughter, and no plan. Suze Orman's response cuts straight to the one question Elizabeth never thought to ask that changes everything…
Jake Fitzgerald If you hold iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:EEM), BlackRock skims 0.69% of your account every year before you see a single dividend. That is roughly $69 a year on every $10,000…
If you hold SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:JNK) for the yield, the fund’s marketing rarely mentions what you actually surrender to collect it. A 0.40% annual expense ratio sounds harmless…
Keith called into The Ramsey Show to complain about his sister draining his future inheritance, but Dave Ramsey zeroed in on a far more urgent problem hiding in plain sight on Keith's…
Jake Fitzgerald A 64-year-old in Ohio hears President Trump pledge to protect Social Security, then opens a forum thread where someone three years from claiming is debating whether to file at 62 anyway because…
Michael Williams