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Financial Planning Basics
The Other One Percent – Part 3 (The Value of Waiting)
This Part 3, of a 3-part series, read the other parts here: Part 1, Part 2. In my previous two articles, I talked about both the relatively small number of Americans who delay receiving Social Security until age 70 (the age that would maximize their benefit), here, and how a breakeven analysis of Social Security[Learn more…]
The Other One Percent – Part 2
This is Part 2, of a 3-part series, read the other parts here: Part 1, Part 3. In my previous article, I noted the (surprising) fact that although most financial planners recommend people delay filing for Social Security until age 70, when the benefit will be highest, only about 1% of Americans actually do this.[Learn more…]
The Other One Percent – Part 1
This is Part 1, of 3-part series, read the other parts here: Part 2, Part 3. There’s been a lot of discussion lately about “the one percent.” And while income inequality is an important topic, I want to talk about “the other one percent.” This is not an article about Thomas Piketty or tax policy.[Learn more…]
When Does Prepaying Your Mortgage Make Good Financial Sense?
Prepaying your mortgage can be a sensible thing to do, especially when you have idle savings (think cash or money market accounts not earmarked for specific financial goals or your emergency fund) earning less than the rate on your mortgage. In my previous article, I analyzed the mechanics of prepaying your mortgage. In effect, prepaying[Learn more…]
How Does Prepaying your Mortgage Actually Work?
When you make an extra payment on your mortgage, that money goes directly toward reducing the balance on your loan. Because of how the loan is structured, the extra payment triggers a cascade effect that speeds up the repayment of the loan. In what follows, I discuss the mechanics of your mortgage and illustrate exactly[Learn more…]
How Social Security’s Coming Insolvency Will Affect You
It is no secret that the Social Security program is financially unsustainable. Based on current projections, too little cash is coming in to cover future benefit payments. The first page of your Social Security Statement (the document reporting your lifetime earnings history and estimating your future Social Security benefit) states that “by 2034, the payroll[Learn more…]