Retirement planning

Having both a pension and Social Security benefits can complicate tax and retirement planning. Here's how advisors are meeting the new challenges.

How policy makers should address the growing state-run pension shortfall; plus, why the last check your client writes should bounce before they die and tips for clients to retire early without giving up what they love.

How planners can best advise clients wanting – or having – to work longer.

Head of industry group lobbying against the Labor Department's proposal is hopeful that the final regulation will address compliance objections and expand permissible transactions.

Lower-earning spouses could take their benefit at full retirement age, while the higher-earner could get a spousal benefit until they claim their own at 70

Ways for clients to aid living costs by earning from their 401(k); Plus, why investing is so complicated and how to make it easier for clients

The IRS recently supported two tactics to build up such individual retirement accounts.

Income funds that invest in a wide range of asset classes may appeal to clients who are looking for cash flow.

How clients who retire early can increase their payout by claiming a spousal benefit; Plus, 12 steps to a stronger 401(k).

Hybrid annuities can be a good choice for investors who still need growth but don't have 30 years to invest in the public markets.

A startup named FeeX says it has an automated service that calculates the fees in an old 401(k)s and recommends whether a rollover (and which kind) makes sense.

FIAs typically are deferred annuities, falling into the fixed rather than the variable category. However, investors' returns aren't fixed.

Tips for clients on selecting the proper coverage when enrolling in Medicare, behaviors that can sink your client's retirement and seven questions to for clients to consider before deciding to retire.

Various calculations typically put the break-even point in the late 70s or early 80s. Given the math, when should people wait until age 70?

As the baby boomer client base enters retirement, financial planners need new ways to handle Social Security claiming strategies.

Comprehensive retirement planning needs to help aging clients prepare for the non-financial risks that they face, from broken hips to dementia.

Under Social Security's current rules, any amount of earnings after age 66 won't reduce lifetime payouts.

If clients are still working, starting Social Security before age 66 may cause even further reductions in their current benefits. But there are instances when it make sense to claim early.

Social Security personnel don't always give full information when clients inquire about benefits

Advisors should include Social Security benefits not just in income calculations, but as an integral part of the bond/annuity portion of clients' portfolios.