Annuities come in various forms – fixed, variable, income, index-linked and more – and each has its place and time in an investment portfolio. Generally, annuities are purchased as long-term investments to cover future needs like retirement or lifetime income; however, in recent times, annuities have emerged as a safe-haven for “just-in-case” money that heretofore was held in banks or government bonds. Annuities are issued by insurance companies and generally presented by financial professionals and planners to conservative, long-term savers seeking reasonable returns, safety and some access to their money in case of unexpected needs. All annuities offer triple compounding through tax deferral of earnings.

Mutual funds are owned by 50 million Americans – making them a common investment for all ages. Mutual funds come in a dazzling array of choices and involve fees and expenses from very low to very high. Since the vast majority of mutual fund investment managers fail to equal the performance of the market indexes, are you getting what you’re paying for? Are “no load” and “index” funds better than the other choices? Since the underlying assets of mutual funds are generally stocks and bonds, are they suitable for you and can you afford the risk of loss? Should you alter your investment mix as you go through your life cycle? If you’re in the red zone near retirement or already in retirement, what mutual funds are appropriate? These are other topics are addressed and commonsense answers given.

When you leave an employer you pass along all the important files, turn in your office key, parking pass, ID badge and leave your e-mail address behind. The one thing that you need to think about long and hard before you leave it with your former employer is your Retirement money: 401(k), profit sharing, 403(b), TSP, etc. Yet almost forty percent of departing employees, ages 60 to 65 (and an even higher percentage of the younger ages), leave their retirement money in their former employers' plans.

You stay put because you may feel a sense of loyalty, are unsure of how to transfer these moneys to another plan, are fearful of assuming direct responsibility for the investments, or simply are not aware that you can move all or some of the money. You should know that not taking your retirement money when you leave could jeopardize your future in retirement. Our professional advisors will discuss the pros and cons of taking your money with you and what you should do if you decide to move, or roll over, your pension money.

Our professional advisors can help you keep up to 20% more of your money for retirement. Since you have a choice of when to start Social Security and also your individual or employer-plan qualified retirement money, you can time the use of these two differently taxed sources to lower taxes drastically. You need make no new investments or even change the ones you have, just use your money smarter. Two uninvited guests that will come to your retirement are inflation and taxes - you can do little about the former but by taking advantage of the timing options you have, taxes can be slashed dramatically.

Whether you're already in retirement and taking Social Security or that still lies ahead, you can benefit from our advisor's insights. You'll want to pass along this information to others that will be using Social Security as part of their retirement income. Almost three-fourths of those now taking Social Security got bad advice and made the same mistake. The result: more taxes and less living.