Duringyour working years, you contributed to your 401(k)—or, if you worked at a public school or charity, your 403(b)—to help fund your retirement. But what happens when you get to the finish line and retire? Surveys show nearly half of older participants in 401(k) or 403(b) plans have no idea how they will get cash Read more
Crosscurrents: Economic Uncertainty
In the first quarter of 2023, the U.S. economy grew by 1.3% on an annualized basis and expanded by less than 0.3% on a quarterly basis. That growth was down from a 2.6% rate in the last three months of 2022, but nonetheless represented a third straight quarter of growth after output contracted in the Read more
Aftershocks: Impact of the Banking Crisis
The current banking crisis rolled on with two key developments in late April. The first was the release of several reports from the Federal Reserve detailing the errors that led up to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, blaming poor regulatory oversight combined with an absence of risk management for the failure. Read more
Healthy Choice: How an HSA Can Save You
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a type of savings account that enables you to set aside pre-taxed funds to pay for qualified medical expenses. Using untaxed dollars in an HSA to pay expenses such as deductibles, drug prescriptions, copays, some dental work, glasses and vision-related care, and some other expenses can lower your overall Read more
The Debt and the Deficit Are Not the Same
The perennial political drama over raising the United States’ debt ceiling continues, with consequences of failure just being default and global financial catastrophe. So … same old, same old. Still, though politics has seemingly decided to regard fact-checking (and, maybe, facts) as outdated, this fact is important to remember: despite the bloviating, the debt and Read more
It’s Spring! A Good Time to Tidy Up Your House … and Finances
As spring arrives and the flowers bloom, this is a good time to review your finances. Actually, any time is a good time to do this. You don’t need to obsess over your budget, but it’s smart to make money check-ins a regular part of your routine, by conducting a self-audit at least once a Read more