by Alan Hopkins | Oct 21, 2019 | Community, Retirement
You hear a lot in the press about “elder abuse,” and the image that comes to mind is physical abuse or violence. But the most likely scenario, according to the AARP, is the 20-year-old son gently accompanying his elderly grandmother to the bank, where she querulously...
by Alan Hopkins | Sep 6, 2019 | Economy & Markets, Investing
Bonds are boring, right? Stocks jump up and down and all over the place, and over several years they might even jump 100% in value. Meanwhile, the bonds in your portfolio crank out predictable coupon yields quarter after quarter after quarter. If you’re bored by the...
by Alan Hopkins | Jul 21, 2019 | Economy & Markets, Social Security
Chances are that you know that the Social Security trust fund is due to run out of money—or “deplete its reserves” as economists put it—by the year 2035. The actual time frame depends on some forecasts, including economic growth, number of workers who remain in the...
by Alan Hopkins | Jul 10, 2019 | Economy & Markets, Financial Planning
Most investment managers and financial planners avoid bitcoins as an investment or as a currency, for a few reasons. First, the coins are not backed by any government or asset; they were made up by computers that solve complex algorithms, and therefore have no...
by Alan Hopkins | Jun 21, 2019 | Financial Planning, Retirement
When you model the sustainability of a person’s retirement assets, the Big Unknown is long-term care expenses. The median annual cost of a private room is now over $100,000 a year, according to Genworth’s 2018 Cost of Care Survey, and the median annual cost of a home...
