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• Government, Taxes & Other Disasters
• Home Ownership & Mortgages
• Income Investing
• Q&A (from print)

• John and Jane Bighouse Downsize

  By Scott Burns Downsizing may be the best retirement decision millions of boomers can make. It’s relatively easy to do. And, as you’ll soon see, the lifetime benefits can be enormous. But first, meet John and Jane Bighouse. They’re about to downsize.... Posted Jun 20 2008, 03:00 PM by admin with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Retirement

• There Is More To Retirement Planning Than Investments

  Q. I am 51 years old. I have some money in my 401K and IRAs (about $300,000) plus another $100,000 in savings. My question is where do I start? What should I be doing now to prepare for retirement? ---J. T., by email from Houston, TX A . Retirement isn... Posted Sep 19 2007, 04:00 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Retirement

• Your retirement may be better than you think

  The conventional wisdom says we need to replace 70 percent to 85 percent of our pre-retirement income to have an adequate retirement income. Virtually everyone "knows" this to be a fact. The authority behind this benchmark is impressive. The Social Security... Posted Aug 27 2006, 10:29 PM by scottb with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Retirement

• Yes, You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing

  Q. My wife and I have about $320,000 of investments. About a third of that amount is invested in two royalty investment trusts. One is oil-based, and the other is in natural gas. Even after the recent dunking the energy market has taken, we are still... Posted Jan 19 2006, 02:40 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Government, Taxes & Other Disasters, Home Ownership & Mortgages, Income Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• Consumption: It‘s Just So 1950

  Some people can't bear good news. Many readers responded with disbelief to my recent column about financial planner Ty Bernicke and "reality retirement planning." The basic idea, which Mr. Bernicke discussed in a Journal of Financial Planning article... Posted Aug 14 2005, 02:00 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Consumption Smoothing, Retirement