Retirement

This little piggy wants to retire…

Once upon a time, in the charming little town of Pigglesworth, there lived five little piggies – Patricia, Priscilla, Pippin, Pookie and Pinky. They all had a great desire to retire and enjoy the  relaxed life around Pigglesworth.  Here are their stories: This little piggy went to market The oldest piggy Patricia wanted to become [...]

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Are we saving too much for retirement?

A child thinks 20 shillings and 20 years can scarce ever be spent. — Ben Franklin. There are plenty of us that have this view point about how much we need for something we have no clue about. We try to find a rule of thumb and follow that. Personal finance is replete with rules of [...]

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Why you should not use your 401k

Max out your 401k… It is one of the most commonly given pieces of advice by many financial experts. With the 2011 401k contribution limit of $16,500, it IS one of the best ways to save a good chunk of money for your golden days. But not everyone should use their 401k to save for [...]

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Worst IRA mistakes that will cost you money

With the recent financial crisis highlighting various situations where people had their retirement savings wiped out, there has been intense focus on what people can do to protect themselves and their investments in the long term.  For many people starting out, this can be a cause of confusion and fear.  “Why can’t someone just show [...]

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Are passive investors smarter than active investors?

Active investors are dumber than passive investors. A new study says so. Passive investing is boring, active investing is much more interesting… Active investing is the only way to beat the market… Passive investing is for those who don’t know/care about investing… I have heard all of these in any debate about active vs passive [...]

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ROTH IRA for an emergency fund

I opened a ROTH IRA for an emergency fund! Go ahead, tell me I have broken the first rule (or one of the first rules ) of retirement – money in an IRA is only for retirement, I should not touch it. I should not be allowed to write a personal finance blog, right? Well… [...]

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Do you know your target retirement fund’s glide path?

Do you know how your Target date fund’s glide path compare with other target date funds? Do you even know what “glide path” is? I didn’t. Not until I started looking seriously about investing into the target date funds. I was looking to open a ROTH IRA, so I could choose any brokerage. Initially I [...]

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Spousal IRA : Retirement savings for stay at home parent

Last week, I was helping my friend with her taxes. They are an immigrant family as well, the husband is working, the wife is not, due to the visa restrictions. I was discussing saving for retirement with her and how to use the retirement savings in her home country if they decided to return. I [...]

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Vanguard vs Fidelity – Which is better?

Thumbnail image for Vanguard vs Fidelity – Which is better?

I am trying to open a ROTH IRA for my emergency funds (will write a separate post to defend myself on this ). Right now, I have my employer sponsored accounts – 401k, employee stock purchase plan in Fidelity and personal investment account in Vanguard. When I initially opened the Vanguard account 5 years ago, [...]

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