By Guy Bentley; The Daily Caller ~ Nov 23, 2015
Pfizer and Allergan are preparing to merge in a $160 billion deal that will create the world’s largest drug company. But instead of being based in the U.S., the heart of medical innovation, the new company will headquarter in Ireland.
By Chris Conover; Forbes ~ Nov 23, 2015
Ø The annual rate of healthcare inflation is at a 6 decade low
Ø Five-and-a-half years into Obamacare we still face the same excess growth in health spending as we did before Obamacare
There’s good news on the healthcare inflation front. The annual rate of healthcare inflation is at a 6 decade low .
From Eric Hutchinson, AdviceIQ ; USA TODAY ~ Nov 22, 2015
The rules about when you must take out money from your individual retirement account and other such vehicles are vexing. Mess this up, and you owe a penalty. Here’s what anyone nearing age 70 must know.
If you are age 70½ or older or turn 70½ by this year’s end and have tax-deferred retirement accounts, the Internal Revenue Service has your number. That number: your required minimum distribution (RMD), or what you must begin distributing from your various individual retirement accounts.
From Eve Kaplan; USA TODAY ~ Nov 21, 2015
The state of Americans’ retirement preparation is shocking. Why is this, and what can people do about it?
PBS ran its Frontline documentary The Retirement Gamble a few years ago, and it’s still pertinent. It’s hard to watch this program without a sense of horror at the way our retirement plan system is rigged to rip off Americans struggling to save for their later years after working.
By Jonnelle Marte; The Washington Post ~ Nov 09, 2015
Last week President Obama signed into law a budget deal that eliminated a lucrative Social Security strategy for married couples.
The strategy, known as file-and-suspend, is when one spouse applies to receive Social Security retirement benefits and then suspends the payments.
By Vipal Monga; The Wall Street Journal ~ Nov 09, 2015
Congress is coming under fire for big pension premium increases it passed last week as part of a sweeping budget and debt deal.
President Barack Obama last week signed a budget that included a stiff 25% increase in the fees companies with defined benefit plans must pay to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Companies with pensions will pay $80 per person in the plan to the nation’s pension insurer by 2019, up from $64 in 2016.
From Richard Eisenberg; Forbes ~ Nov 06, 2015
Some people protect themselves from the exorbitant out-of-pocket cost of long-term care (median annual price of a private room in a nursing home: $91,250, according to Genworth Financial), by buying long-term care insurance policies. But here’s some stunning news during what the long-term care industry calls Long Term Care Awareness Month:
By Liz Weston; Reuters ~ Nov 02, 2015
(The author is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
Nov 2 (Reuters) – Even people decades away from retirement should pay close attention to how Congress just ended two lucrative ways of taking Social Security benefits, known jointly as the “claim now, claim more later” strategy.
By Dan Moisand; MarketWatch ~ Nov 02, 2015
Things change over time. How you want your estate plans arranged is likely to change too. Periodic review and updating is often a good idea.
Government should protect investors by setting a limit on fees
If the government and regulators can’t simply do what’s right when it comes to the financial-advice industry, they should simply define what’s wrong.
We got proof this past week, again, that legislators are more concerned with satisfying their favorite lobbyists than protecting consumers/voters when the House passed a measure that prohibits the U.S. Department of Labor from advancing and enhancing rules about actions and standards that financial advisers must live by.