Retirement planning

Mass affluent investors are beginning to regain confidence following the economic downturn, according to the Spring 2013 Merrill Edge Report.

Most IRA owners limit withdrawals to required minimum distributions, according to a new report from the Employee Research Benefit Institute. Nevertheless, a substantial number of higher-income retirees take withdrawals before age 70-1/2 and those non-required distributions may be relatively large, in relation to their IRA balances.

The economic recession may have sparked a retirement crisis in America, but other significant derailers have also played a role.

How will you scale your practice? What's the secret to retaining Gen Y employees? What's the best way to network? For three days, advisors and industry experts descended on Las Vegas for the semi-annual National Association of Personal Financial Advisors conference to discuss these topics and many others. Check out some of the best things we heard.

Reports that aging clients may not be able to make sound financial decisions because of declining cognitive skills may be overstated, said Laura Carstensen, professor of psychology and head of Stanford University’s Center on Longevity.

A new study attempts to quantify the very real effect that low interest rates and muted yields in certain asset classes could have on investors' retirement planning.

Your IRA Expert answers questions about a potential new cap on IRAs and how to reduce the tax bill of a self-employed person taking distributions from a 401(K).

Advisors are not doing a good enough job planning for health care costs. To better serve clients, advisors must understand the realities of health care, despite many unknowns.

Among pre-retirees who worked with advisors, 73% said that did not expect to carry debt into retirement.

Fidelity reported a 53% increase in health savings accounts opened in 2012, raising the number of individual accounts administered by the company to 182,000.

MidAtlantic Trust Company said it had resolved record-keeping problems that have kept exchange-traded funds from being part of holdings in 401(k) and other retirement plans.

Only 12% of employers sponsoring 401(k) plans feel that their employees will be financially prepared for retirement, down from 15% a year ago.

A difference of 1% in fees could reduce an investor’s balance at retirement by as much as 28%, according to the Department of Labor.

Morningstar has rolled out the next generation of Morningstar® Retirement ManagerSM, an advice and managed account service for defined contribution participants in the United States.

When it comes to retirement, baby boomers are favoring lifestyle choices over wealth preservation, bucking the traditions of the generations that came before them.

Women and men are equally likely to save for retirement and almost as likely to calculate how much they’ll need.

Balances in small business retirement plans have increased an average of 20 percent between 2007 and 2012 in the aftermath of the recession.

"You must ask everyone who comes into your office: Do you have a health problem?" estate planner and Financial Planning contributor Martin Shenkman cautioned. "If you don't ask, they are not going to tell."

Wealth managers need to upgrade their strategies for working with clients coping with grief or risk losing them to other advisors.

From the ball field to Sunday service, BNA's Mike Alef is an Everyman figure in the world of financial planning.