retirement

Dream Job or Day Job?

Posted November 13, 2009 - 08:29 by Philip Brewer

Career Building

This section of the trail is closed

Most people I know have a frustrated passion. There's something they'd rather do a lot more of, but making a living gets in the way. Some people simply accept that their passion will get short shrift, while other people make great efforts to arrange their life so they can follow their passion. For the latter folks, I'm familiar with three general strategies: dream job, day job, and early retirement.

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Saving for Retirement on a Variable Income

Posted October 12, 2009 - 08:41 by Nora Dunn

Small Business Resource Center, Extra Commentary

retirement jar

How do you save for retirement when you have a variable income? One month, your income may not be enough to float your business expenses, much less the mortgage and personal living expenses. Other months, you might make enough to cover off six months of expenses. So not only is basic budgeting a different story when you have a variable income, but so is saving for retirement.

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Don't Despair Over Small Retirement Savings

Posted September 23, 2009 - 05:00 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Early-morning sun on beach chairs under palm trees

If you quit checking your 401(k) balance last year, because the market crash made it too depressing, now might be a good time to take a fresh look. It'll still be well down from the peak, but it's probably recovered quite a bit from the low. However small it may be compared to some imagined goal, don't underestimate the value of any amount of retirement savings.

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How to Tell if You're on Track for Retirement

Posted September 4, 2009 - 10:00 by Silicon Valley Blogger

Investment

retirement savings

It may be a little bit early to think about retirement all too seriously if you still have several decades left before you face it. But don't look now -- time flies and before you know it, there won't be much time to prepare for retirement. On this subject, the big question I have in mind is this: how do we know if we've saved enough for our retirement years?

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Retirement accounts and money to spend

Posted April 8, 2009 - 09:54 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Statue of Athena with an Owl in Chicago's Union Station

Everybody knows that retirement accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs offer great tax advantages (and once upon a time--and maybe again someday--a corporate match). But people who have plans to spend the money before they reach retirement age worry about the restrictions on early withdrawals that come with the various retirement plans. Here's a cheat-sheet for working the angles.

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Rewriting the Definition of Retirement

Posted September 21, 2008 - 21:07 by Nora Dunn

Personal Finance, Frugal Living

retirement sunset

Your life map is so clearly laid out in front of you; yet the last piece of the puzzle – retirement – is a fuzzy and often incomprehensible anomaly. With people living longer and striving for earlier retirements, the very definition of retirement is evolving. Let's rewrite the dictionary together.

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Should You Choose a Roth 401k or a Regular 401k?

Posted May 22, 2008 - 23:46 by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Investment, Taxes

Yesterday I was talking to a friend and he mentioned that his company just started offering the option of investing in Roth 401ks. He was wondering if he should stick with his regular 401k or switch to the new option and we talked about the pros and cons of each for a little bit. Here are my conclusions.

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Book review: Cash-Rich Retirement

Posted April 28, 2008 - 05:08 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Cover of Cash-Rich Retirement

Do you need a kick in the pants to get you saving for retirement?  Do you need someone to wave their arms and run around screaming that your whole future is at risk, in order to motivate you to put some serious money aside and take the time to learn how your 401(k) works?  If so, this is the book for you.

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Book review: Work Less, Live More

Posted April 22, 2008 - 05:12 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Career and Income

Cover of Work Less, Live More

Early retirement is a topic I've always been interested in.  The particular version of it that this book deals with--living well on less money, as a means to getting by without having to work at a regular job--is not only interesting, it's the life I'm living.  Allowing for the fact that it's aimed right at my own personal sweet spot, I liked it even better than I expected.  It reads like the author started following me around a year ago, figured out exactly what questions I needed answered, then carefully and thoughtfully wrote a book to answer them.  

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Left a job? Do a rollover.

Posted March 23, 2008 - 03:02 by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance

Your previous job is no place to leave your retirement savings

I saw this poster on the window of a store-front brokerage firm office near the grocery store.  Although the firm in question has an obvious self-interest in getting you to consolidate your investments with them, the underlying message is a good one.

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