Retirement scan

Retirees may want to look for other income sources, such as renting out a room in their home, taking a reverse mortgage or going back to work.

Creating an irrevocable trust is an option for elders to protect themselves from people who want to take advantage of their declining health and benefit from their wealth.

The tax benefits of an HSA make those plans a better option to max out first, although contributing just enough to a company plan to get any matching funds should be first.

Trump has proposed making it easier to pass on HSAs to heirs, while some House Republicans want to nearly double contribution limits.

High front-end fees, complex payouts and a lack of dividend income are among the reasons.

The proceeds can be used to pay the tax bill from converting a 401(k) and traditional IRA into a Roth account.

Instead, focus on things as they are today, and the most likely scenario for tomorrow, while remaining flexible enough to accommodate changing circumstances.

Now may be the best time for retirees to make charitable donations, do a Roth conversion, and incur more qualified medical expenses to meet the threshold and qualify for a tax deduction.

Investors should take market volatility as an opportunity to engage in year-end tax planning that includes strategies such as tax-loss harvesting.

Changing a Medigap plan during open enrollment could be costly, especially when the switch happens after the initial six-month window.

A Yale Law School professor proposes raising the full retirement age to 76 and imposing a steep 80% penalty for the highest earners who opt to claim their benefits early.

Target-date funds can be a strong option for most retirement savers, but there are pitfalls. Some of them are relatively costly, with an average expense of about 1%. They can also get too conservative too quickly.

Tell clients in this situation to make sure they know key dates and review their statements to confirm the amounts are accurate.

Investments in certain closed-end funds or preferred shares are strategies clients should consider to make their savings last, an industry expert says.

Near retirees can mitigate the impact of inflation by shortening the duration of bond portfolios so that re-investment at higher rates can be done in the future.

Those with the option of taking loans from their plans should consider tax implications and the possibility of missing out on the growth of the money that was borrowed.

An analysis shows low-income clients get more back from the benefit program than the payroll taxes they paid, while high-earning workers get less.

Retirement investors should learn how to balance the different risks to their portfolio instead of avoiding them altogether.

Such a portfolio outperformed the S&P 500 in an analysis covering 1928 to 2015.

The new rule will lead to lower built-in commissions, enhanced agent/advisor education, and increased regulation of indexed annuities.