Being married isn't always easy. You have to cater to someone else's needs and make compromises on a frequent basis. You may also have to adjust some of your financial decisions to accommodate a spouse.When it comes to Social Security, choosing a filing age can sometimes be trickier for married folks than singles. Here's why. Why married couples need to claim Social Security carefullyThe earliest age you can sign up for Social Security is 62. But if you want to collect your monthly benefits without a reduct ...

Retirement might now be merely an aspiration for some baby boomers. According to a recent Transamerica Center study, 57% of boomers expect to retire at 70 or older, or don’t plan to retire at all. Traditional retirement might also look different than it does now, as 48% of US workers believe they’ll have a “phased retirement,” where they just wind down their responsibilities and job duties to have more leisure time. The overwhelming reason for putting off full retirement is financial, as 80% of people pla ...

Your full retirement age is arguably the most important number in Social Security, because so many things revolve around it. This includes how your claiming age affects your benefits, how much you can earn if you claim benefits before then, and how much your spouse is possibly eligible for. For a long time, the full retirement age was 65, but after Congress passed the Social Security Amendments of 1983, this age increased for those born in 1938 or later. The full retirement age for people born in 1960 or ...

Ideally, by the time you get to retirement, you'll have a nice amount of savings to live on. But even if you manage to retire with a respectable balance in your IRA or 401(k), you might still need Social Security to pull off the lifestyle you're hoping for.Plus, you can't discount the possibility of a prolonged market downturn during retirement. During a period like that, Social Security could become a crucial source of income as you attempt to leave your investments as untouched as possible. If you're marr ...

When most Americans retire, they often miss a gap of several years during which they could maximize their tax savings by converting their retirement savings into a Roth account. Let's see why that happens -- and how retirees could still jump in as long as they're under the age of 73. What is the "Roth Conversion Window"? The average American retires at 62, according to a 2024 MassMutual study. However, most retirees don't need to withdraw required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their tax-deferred reti ...

Quick Read The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in March. The Fed’s decisions don’t impact Social Security benefits or COLAs directly. Paused rates mean consumer borrowing costs may not drop in the near term, and that could have an effect on seniors. If you're focused on picking the right stocks and ETFs you may be missing the bigger picture: retirement income. That is exactly what The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income was created to solve, and it's free today. Read mo ...

During his Feb. 24 State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump said the typical 401(k) balance has risen at least $30,000 since he took office. While Fidelity puts actual growth at just over $14,000, from an average of $131,700 in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $146,400 in the fourth quarter of 2025, comparing your savings to the average account balance actually tells you very little about whether or not your retirement savings are on track. Find Out: How the Average Retirement Account Compares to t ...

As the founding CEO and chair of BlackRock, a global leader in asset management, Larry Fink understands the financial aspects of retirement. According to Forbes, he oversees more than $11 trillion in assets under management, of which more than half is in retirement accounts, per BlackRock. In his 2024 letter to shareholders, Fink raised the issue of retirement for an aging population and introduces the idea of working longer. So is working longer feasible? Fink thinks so. Here’s why Fink believes working ...

He then suggested the script B should deliver to her parents: "Mom and Dad, I'm worried about looking down the road here that somehow you guys are going to be broke and you're going to be coming to me to take care of you, and I need to go ahead and tell you upfront how that's going to go. If I end up having to put money into, or needing to put money in so that you have food, it's going to involve us selling everything you own and you will be on a budget that I create and you won't like it."Have You read The ...

Social Security is often the foundation of retirement income for retirees, even though it is designed to supplement working income rather than fully replace it. Many Americans approaching or already in retirement ask a practical question: Could they replace their Social Security check with personal savings if benefits are cut, delayed or simply not enough to cover rising costs? That concern has grown as the Social Security trust fund is projected to run low in the early 2030s. For retirees worried about ...