RETIREMENTGUY

If you have millions saved in your 401(k) and IRA, that feels like a win, and it is. But there's one way a large balance quietly works against you: The more money sitting in tax-deferred accounts, the more likely the IRS is to tax the maximum allowable portion of your Social Security check. That happens by default, unless you plan around it. Most people who reach this point spent decades doing everything right: Saving consistently, maxing out their 401(k), following the advic

For many families, the Great Wealth Transfer starts long before an inheritance. Many adult children are becoming their aging parents' go-to financial decision-makers. The shift from adult child to the family's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) can happen suddenly after discovering unpaid bills, a suspicious bank wire request or an aging parent falling prey to a scammer. Or the job can be created out of necessity after realizing mom and dad's financial life has grown too complex t

Key Takeaways Withholding taxes from retirement withdrawals can simplify tax payments and help avoid penalties. Retirees should take advantage of lower tax rates in early retirement. The years before required minimum distributions are an ideal time for Roth conversions. Tax-smart withdrawal strategies can improve retirement portfolio efficiency. Managing IRA balances early may help limit future IRMAA costs. Christine Benz: Hi, I’m Christine Benz from Morningstar, and welcome

Most retired couples rely heavily on Social Security benefits. When one spouse dies, there's often a major loss of their benefits. The surviving spouse will get either their own benefit or the survivor benefit (the deceased spouse's benefit), whichever is higher. If one spouse's benefits are low, the impact on income will be small. But when both spouses are collecting substantial benefits, as is often the case, there will be a significant reduction that could last for many ye

Retirement planning has often been presented as a math problem: accumulate a certain nest egg, apply a withdrawal rate, and hope the numbers hold up for 25 or 30 years. In my latest book, The Retire Sooner Method, I take a much broader view: Financial preparation remains essential, but our research suggests that a more fulfilling retirement may also depend on how people plan for purpose, relationships, health, and the daily structure of life after work. https://www.forbes.com

Caring for a loved one with a disability often means thinking about retirement alongside long-term caregiving and financial support. Today, Christine Benz will talk about some of the key planning decisions that can help you prepare for both. Christine is Morningstar’s director of personal finance and retirement planning. She’s also the co-host of The Long View podcast and author of How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful and Wealthy Retirement. https://www.morningst

The right budgeting app can help you track your spending and make better financial decisions. With so many budgeting apps to choose from, we analyzed 38 popular apps to determine which ones are actually worth using. We considered app features and usability, cost, security and customer ratings. See which budgeting products performed the best and learn about the pros and cons of using an app to help you budget. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/best-budgeting-apps/

People are already using ChatGPT to help with retirement planning, but is it good enough yet to deliver the kind of smart, personalized financial guidance human advisers have traditionally provided? Does it engage in ethical financial behavior and act in the best interests of clients, as human and organizational fiduciaries must? https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/want-to-use-ai-to-plan-your-retirement-heres-how-to-proceed

You’ve probably heard the classic retirement advice: if your savings fall short, just work a few more years. A longer career means more time to contribute to your 401(k), more employer matches, and a bigger Social Security check down the road. The problem is that this plan assumes you get to choose when you stop working. For roughly half the people who retired last year, that choice was never theirs to make. New data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute reveals just h

If you’ve invested in an S&P 500 index fund, you probably feel like you’ve bought a little bit of everything in the American economy. You’ve got tech, banks, soda companies, and oil rigs all in one neat package. It feels like the ultimate "diversified" move. But here is the reality: the S&P 500 isn't a "one-of-each" buffet. It is a market-cap weighted index. This means the bigger the company, the more of your dollar goes into it. As of early 2026, the S&P 500 is more "top-he

For decades, Americans have been taught to build their financial lives around one event: retirement. Save early, save often, and one day you can stop working altogether. Retirement has been marketed as the pinnacle of a successful life, the moment that finally belongs to you. But what if this premise is flawed? What if retirement, as we imagine it today, is not only outdated but potentially harmful? And what if the real goal of saving isn’t retirement, but something more mean

When it comes to preparing for retirement, many people fear running out of money, yet most don't actually know how much they’ll need. While figuring out the magic number can be difficult, it’s essential. Without a clear target, you risk a shortfall that could force a major lifestyle overhaul or an unexpected return to work. Fortunately, there’s a way to see if you’re on track. JPMorgan developed a guide that illustrates how much you should have saved based on your age and inc

After ranking property tax bills from highest to lowest per county in Colorado, it's definitely clear: Rural areas win out. You can generally find cheaper living in the countryside than in the hustle and bustle of Denver or Colorado Springs. Though if you're ready to enjoy historic sites, national forests, and backcountry skiing (and maybe want to commute to ski lodges and resorts), check out these cheap places to live in Colorado. https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/cheapest-pl

We look at a variety of different asset allocations to see which supports the highest safe withdrawal rate. When we ran the research in 2025, it was a fairly light equity allocation, just between 20% and 50% of equities in that portfolio, for that 3.9% safe withdrawal rate. Retirees shouldn’t adjust their spending each year to align with safe withdrawal rates; this is meant to be guidance for people who are just embarking on retirement. https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/

Retirement is full of decisions, and the state you choose to retire in could be the most important one. A recent WalletHub study pitted the 50 states against one another across three main categories — affordability, quality of life, and healthcare — to determine the best places for retirement. The three factors were assessed using 46 different metrics. To determine a state's affordability, metrics such as adjusted cost of living and retired taxpayer-friendliness were consider

A pet medical emergency, such as getting hit by a car, swallowing a foreign object or cancer treatment, can cost thousands of dollars in vet bills. Pet insurance can be a good way to offset those costs. To help you find the best pet insurance, we analyzed 34 key coverage categories such as the ability to pay your vet directly, availability of a 24/7 pet telehealth line and the option to buy a wellness plan. We also crunched more than 900,000 pet insurance costs for six of the

Open enrollment for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans runs from October 15 to December 7 every year, and it's a good time to review all of your options. If you've been prescribed new medications or your drugs have gone generic over the past year, a different plan may now be a better deal for you. The cost and coverage can vary a lot from year to year — some plans boost premiums more than others, increase your share of the cost of your drugs, add new hurdles before

For his new book, Healthy to 100, longevity researcher Ken Stern wanted to answer a question that nagged him: Why do so many people in some European and Asian countries live long, healthy lives? How can Americans be like them? For six months in 2024, he traveled to five of the most successful aging nations — Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Spain — to find out why their average life expectancies were often six years longer than ours and to interview residents in thei