Retirement

Déjà vu 101: Learning From Past Mistakes

Wouldn’t it be great to have a time machine and change all the mistakes you made? Unfortunately, technology hasn’t come that far yet, but we are fortunate enough to have the hindsight of people who have experienced the same things before us. People who have already retired know what they would have done differently. The most common and costly financial mistakes that many retirees, and would-be retirees, are guilty of are all too obvious. Pay attention to the following mistakes and see how you can improve your own retirement prospects by applying lessons from today’s retirees.

Why You Need a Roth IRA

I met with a new client last week; a woman in her early thirties eager to get started on her nest egg. A discussion of her financial goals and priorities revealed that she hoped the not-so-distant future would bring her not only a home of her own, but a few children as well. When I recommended a Roth IRA, she was all frowns. What's the point? She wondered.  This is such a common question; it deserves an article of its own. After all, why would you make your contributions on an after-tax basis, when you could just as easily open a traditional IRA and cash in on your tax breaks right away? In this day and age, what could possibly beat the magic of instant gratification? Well . . .