Nevin's Data "Points"

I was recently asked by a reporter if the new fiduciary regulation was “needed.” The question caught me a bit off guard, because having been in “figure out how to deal with this” mode for most of the past year, I had long since moved past “why” and “if” to “when” and “how.” I was reminded of our last home purchase – which we bought in a bit of a rush. Oh, it wasn’t like we didn’t know we were moving – but our ability to actually hone in on a new home was hindered by the fact that our current home had to sell first. And, as is often the case in such things (or has been for us), we had gone a long time with nary an offer, much less a viable one. Once that offer came, of course, we had to move quickly (literally). And so, the planning that we had done mentally in anticipation of that day was thrust into overdrive. Ultimately we settled on a house that wasn’t the best we had seen, but it was the best available at the time (within the price and commuting distance restraints we placed up...

As April is National Financial Literacy month, and this is National Retirement Planning Week, those who work with retirement plan participants know it’s important to do the right thing(s) when it comes to retirement planning and savings. But for those you are trying to help encourage, here are five reasons to plan and save for retirement now, and as an integral part of that financial plan. Because you don’t want to work forever. Seriously, no matter how much you love your job, if you want to stop working one day – and trust me, you will – you are going to have to think about how much income you will need to live after you are no longer working for a paycheck. Because living in retirement isn’t “free.” Many people assume that expenses will go down in retirement – and, for many, perhaps most, they do. On the other hand, there are changes in how we spend in retirement as well – and they aren’t always less. A recent report by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institut...

It was 10 years ago today – a Saturday morning as I recall.   I had just wrapped up my weekly column when I got a call from my sister. My father, who had been battling cancer for several years now, had suffered a series of heart attacks. By the end of the day, he had passed. As the family converged, my siblings and I tried as best as we could, together with Mom, to deal with the tasks that required our attention, and divvied up the ones that seemed to call out for individual attention. Having spent my entire professional career in financial services, and having picked up a law degree along the way, my “job” was to organize the will and assets. The estate wasn’t complicated.   My parents each chose careers of service to others; Dad as a minister, and then a director of missions where he helped other ministers until his “official” retirement several years ago (far as I could tell, Dad’s only retirement was from the receipt of a regular paycheck), while Mom was a school tea...