Families should know about these new tax-advantaged savings vehicles. Families with special needs children have a new tax-advantaged savings option. The ABLE account, also called a 529A savings account, is patterned after the popular 529 savings plan created to help parents save for a child’s higher education. Like 529 plans, they are run by the states rather than the federal government.1,2 ABLE accounts address an underpublicized financial need. While some families open coll

What steps might help you sustain and grow your retirement savings? “What is your greatest retirement fear?” If you ask retirees that question, “outliving my money” may likely be one of the top answers. Retirees and pre-retirees alike share this anxiety. In a 2014 Wells Fargo/Gallup survey of more than 1,000 investors, 46% of respondents cited that very fear; 42% of the respondents to that poll were making $90,000 a year or more.1 Retirees face greater “longevity risk” today

Examining a long-held retirement planning assumption. A classic retirement planning rule states that you should retire on 80% of the income you earned in your last year of work. Is this old axiom still true, or does it need reconsidering? Some new research suggests that retirees may not need that much annual income to keep up their standard of living. The 80% rule is really just a guideline. It refers to 80% of a retiree’s final yearly gross income, rather than his or her net