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February 13, 2020 Personal 16 Comments

Trump’s budget could make it harder to stay on Social Security disability insurance

Trump’s budget could make it harder to stay on Social Security disability insurance Though President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to protect Social Security benefits, his budget includes big cuts to parts of the program. One proposal could make it more difficult for individuals … Continue reading at cnbc.com How zero-based budgeting can transform your […]

March 8, 2016 News 9 Comments

Today’s Social Media Challenge for Younger Generations

Today’s Social Media Challenge for Younger Generations One of the biggest challenges for the younger generations today, in business and trying to make their mark by building their personal brands via social platforms, is that all their screw-ups and “young” mistakes are out in public display for everyone to see. Continue reading at huffingtonpost.com Can […]

November 15, 2015 Personal No Comments

Personal Finance Q&A: How do Social Security rule changes affect you?

Personal Finance Q&A: How do Social Security rule changes affect you? Dear readers: The changes Congress made to the “claim now, claim more later” Social Security strategy generated so many questions from readers that I’m devoting a second column to answering some of those queries. Next week, we’ll get back to the usual mix … […]

Buy gold bars or coins, and put them in a safety deposit box. If you chose to purchase coins from a coin shop, make certain you pay the lowest price possible and that they have a buy back policy. If you elect to go with a broker, fees will be inevitable because you are purchasing a tangible commodity.

The most important thing to consider is your financial needs, especially at times when you really need cash to finance something like the birth of a child delivery or an unforeseen accident or illness. However, you must also consider the regulations on withdrawal against the annuity, because it can be a bad scenario if you find yourself being served a penalty just because you withdrew large amounts from your annuity account when it was not permitted on the plan you purchased.

Performance will vary. Fund performance often falls off and risk levels rise during the subsequent three years after a fund is given an initial five-star Morningstar rating, suggests another recent study by Matthew Morey, a professor at Pace University. One reason for this is that after receiving a five-star rating the size of the fund grows dramatically, which then makes the fund unwieldy to manage, he suggests. Since Morey's study was completed, Morningstar also has changed the way it doles out top rankings to make them more precise. One of the biggest problems with all rating systems is that they are not necessarily predictive in nature. This means they're not really set up to tell you whether certain funds will necessarily do better in the future. For the most part, the ratings indicate how much you might have made and how much aggravation you faced in the process.