Variable Annuities Insure Beneficiaries Against Loss Due to Market Risk

This is the second in a series of articles that I am writing on variable annuities. Readers are urged to read the first installment before tackling the one that follows. My initial article about variable annuities stressed: Financial advisers have strong incentives to sell variable annuities as they pay more in commissions than most other…

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Anticipating Mitigates Against Being in the Moment

I haven’t exactly ignored what my son, Greg Hohn, has been doing in his theatrical and academic work over the past several years. I have been to several performances of Transactors, and I accepted an invitation to sit in on two of his classes, but I never expected that the work he was doing would…

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Greg Hohn: Satisfaction with Effort Eliminates Regret

Earlier this month, I posted on my facebook page something that had occurred to me as I was wading through some of my own regrets about things that I had done or failed to do during my lifetime. My post read, “We deepen regret by imagining what we missed or failed to do turned out…

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Variable Annuities — Great, But Be Careful

If you have researched variable annuities on your own, you know that I couldn’t cover everything in one blog on the subject. Variable annuities have their drawbacks. It is important to be aware of them. A variable annuity is a long-term investment, one that you will want to hold your entire lifetime. It’s the place…

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Vairable Annuities — A Great Way to Protect a Retirement Portfolio

Thanks for all the questions about annuities. Yes, annuities are a valuable way to protect your retirement portfolio and secure an income for your survivors. But there are several things to be considered before buying one. There are two kinds of annuities; fixed and variable. Fixed annuities guarantee income to the owner and often the…

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401k or 403b, Rollover to an IRA or IRRA. Good Idea?

#401(k)  #403(b)  #rollover  #ira One of the first questions that you will face as a new retiree or after changing jobs is what to do with your 401k or 403b* retirement account that has been building up over the years. Leaving it with your former employer is usually one option, and it may appear attractive…

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Stressed Out Over the Market? Get a Measure of Your Tolerance for Risk.

NOTE: Risk tolerance is key to the design of any retirement plan. In earlier postings, readers were asked to complete the Flexible Retirement Planner (FRP) to find out how well their funds would hold up over their life expectancy, especially in supplementing their retirement incomes. Reading previous postings is important to understanding this article. Putting…

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