Latest articles by Michael Aloi, CFP®
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Should You Take Pension Payments or a Lump Sum? A How-To Guide
retirement planning With buyout offers, when deciding whether to take it or leave it, a couple of calculations can be enlightening. This how-to guide walks you through the steps to help make the right choice for you.
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The Case Against Owning All Dividend-Paying Stocks in Retirement
investing Income investors are often all about dividends, but that may not be a smart strategy for retirees. Here’s why, and what investment model they should consider instead.
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10 Ways to Increase Your After-Tax Investment Returns
investing Your investments could be doing great, but if you’re not minimizing your taxes on them, you’re throwing money out the window. Here are 10 tax-smart ways to optimize your investments.
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3 Smart Places to Save Now
Tax Breaks Boomers planning on retiring in the next several years should consider these three tax-smart moves now. They can help you cut the taxes you’ll pay on your income – especially on your Social Security benefits – down the road.
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Social Security ... What I Like About It (and What I Don’t)
social security A financial adviser shares some pros and cons about Social Security, the linchpin for most people’s retirement plans. Do you agree, and what does it mean for your retirement?
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IRA Tax Planning: Minimizing the RMD Ticking Time Bomb
required minimum distributions (RMDs) Couples with a bit of an age difference have an interesting strategy available to them to reduce taxes on their retirement savings due to required minimum distributions.
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A Woman’s Guide to Long-Term Care
Long-Term Care Insurance Who needs long-term care insurance … and who might be able to do without it?
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How to Pre-Fund a Legacy So You Can Enjoy Your Retirement Guilt-Free
inheritance If you want to ensure your kids will get the inheritance you had in mind for them — and you want to be able to spend the rest of your money on yourselves in retirement without worry — here’s one way to do that.
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Taxes, Taxes and More Taxes
tax planning In light of the recent proposals by President Biden and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen, here’s what could be coming and some ideas on how to plan for it.
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How to Take a Pension: A Math Formula Drives 1 Retiree’s Choice
retirement planning Ever hear of the pension income ratio? This mathematical formula can help you decide whether it makes more sense to take a lump sum or a series of pension payments.
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Want More Tax-Free Retirement Income? One Man’s Whole Life Decision
life insurance Whole life insurance might not be something that’s on your retirement planning radar, but for this client, here’s how it served his need to control taxes, allow for income and provide a death benefit to his daughters.
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4 Ways to Dilute a Concentrated Stock Risk
investing For investors, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing, and it can be disastrous to have too much of a bad thing. Is your portfolio overweighted in a single stock? Here’s how to tell and some strategies to help regain your balance.
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3 Bargain Stocks for 2021
investing Finding bargains in the stock market is never easy. But here are three stocks that got beaten up last year and I like for 2021.
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3 Investment Tips for 2021: Trends to Watch and Moves to Make
investing Opportunistic investors should keep an eye out for movement in these key sectors, and everyone will want to make a couple tried-and-true moves to shore up their portfolios in the new year.
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Debt After Death: What You Should Know
debt Some types of debts are forgiven when you die, and others could haunt your family until they’re paid off.
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Caught in the Middle: How Young Parents Can Plan for Long-term Care
Long-Term Care Insurance One family’s story shows how important long-term care plans are … and how whole life insurance with a long-term care rider can help.
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Boost Your Retirement Income in 3 Steps
personal finance Low interest rates are a big challenge for retirees today. To help cope, try these three strategies.
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Checklist: Steps to Take after Your Spouse Dies
retirement Feeling overwhelmed? A checklist can help you figure out where to start and tasks you may be able to put off.
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Whole Life Insurance … Love It or Leave It?
life insurance Low interest rates can be bad news for these types of policies. Here are 3 reasons why now is a good time to review your policy with an in-force illustration from the carrier.
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Do-It-Yourself Index Funds: A Smarter Way to Own the Index?
investing Index funds are easy, but when you buy them you are giving up your chance to take an important tax break. So, if you're willing to roll up your sleeves and do some work, you could build a better fund yourself using sector ETFs.
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5 Bear Market Lessons Learned from 20 Years as a Financial Adviser
retirement When stock markets are tanking, jumping, shaking and diving, here's what works for investors and retirement savers, and what doesn't.
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Stay the Course, Stay the Course, Stay the Course
investing Investors are being tested by the stock markets: Can they stay the course? Should they? Take a look at a few charts of market performance over the long term to see the case for sticking with a diversified portfolio.
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3 Ways to Claim a Life Insurance Benefit: Which Is Right for You?
insurance When you are due a life insurance death benefit, a lump sum payment isn't your only option. There are typically three main ways to take your benefit, and each has its own pros and cons.
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How to Make Investing More Meaningful
investing Saving and investing may seem mundane to some, but there are ways to make it more fulfilling. Here are three strategies to do good things with your money, now and long after you're gone.
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