Page 6«..5678..2030..»

Archive for the ‘Retirement’ Category

Katie Compton winding down storied career, will retire in 2022 – Cyclingnews.com

Posted: December 22, 2020 at 7:00 pm


without comments

After taking 15 consecutive US National Cyclo-cross Championships and five medals in the UCI World Cyclo-cross Championships, Katie Compton is beginning to wind down her professional career, according to her partner Mark Legg.

Legg posted on social media this weekend that Compton is racing her penultimate season. She will ride cyclo-cross in the winter of 2021/2022, with the World Championships in Arkansas her last race if selected for the USA.

"It's been a lot of years of ups and downs. As much as we love what we do it's time we hang the race bike on the hook next season. We'll miss all the amazing people and everyday is Saturday," Legg wrote.

Compton, who turned 42 earlier this month, first came into the spotlight in the 2004 Paralympic Games when she piloted the tandem for blind athlete Karissa Whitsell to two gold medals - one in the road race/time trial and on on the track in the pursuit. 2004 was also the first year that Compton won the national title in cyclo-cross, which would become her profession and passion.

In 2007, Compton became a pioneer for US women in cyclo-cross, finding success while racing in Belgium. She won her first victories in the UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup, taking out wins in Pijnacker and Koksijde before claiming the silver medal at Worlds behind Maryline Salvetat.

She has been a consistent contender at Worlds, finishing fourth in her last outing last February and landing on the podium five times.

Throughout her career, Compton has won 25 World Cup rounds - her last one in Nommay in 2018 - and four Pan American championships. She won the World Cup overall two times - in 2013 and 2014.

Over the past few years she has turned her focus to the DVV Trophy (now X20 Badkamers Trophy), taking out the overall series win in 2018. She finally conceded the US title to Clara Honsinger in 2019.

Today's best deals on cyclo-cross bikes

Santa Cruz Bicycles Stigmata...

See the article here:
Katie Compton winding down storied career, will retire in 2022 - Cyclingnews.com

Written by admin

December 22nd, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Posted in Retirement

How This Couple Retired At 55 With Just $200,000 In Their Roth IRA Account – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 7:00 pm


without comments

TipRanks

The coronavirus pandemic crisis shows no signs of abating, even with a vaccine coming on to the markets. Were still facing severe social lockdown policies, with a number of states (such as California, Minnesota, and Michigan) forcing even harsher restrictions on this round than previously.Its a heavy blow for the leisure industry that is still reeling from one of the most difficult years in memory. The difficulties faced by restaurants are getting more press, but for the cruise industry, corona has been a perfect storm.Prior to the pandemic, the cruise industry which had been doing $150 billion worth of business annually was expected to carry 32 million passengers in 2020. Thats all gone now. During the summer, the industry reeled when over 3,000 COVID cases were linked to 123 separate cruise ships, and resulted in 34 deaths. After such a difficult year, its useful to step back and take a snapshot of the industrys condition. JPMorgan analyst Brandt Montour has done just that, in a comprehensive review of the cruise industry generally and three cruise line giants in particular."We believe cruise shares can continue to grind higher in the near term, driven overwhelmingly by the broader vaccine backdrop/progress. Looking out further, operators will face plenty of headwinds when restarting/ramping operations in 2Q3Q21, but significant sequential improvement of revenues/cash flows over that period will likely dominate the narrative, and we believe investors will continue to look through short-term setbacks to a 2022 characterized by fully ramped capacity, near-full occupancies, and so far manageable pricing pressure," Montour opined.Against this backdrop, Montour has picked out two stocks that are worth the risk, and one that investors should avoid for now. Using TipRanks Stock Comparison tool, we lined up the three alongside each other to get the lowdown on what the near-term holds for these cruise line players.Royal Caribbean (RCL)The second-largest cruise line, Royal Caribbean, remains a top pick for Montour and his firm. The company has put its resources into facing and meeting the pandemics challenges, shoring up liquidity and both streamlining and modernizing the fleet.Maintaining liquidity has been the most pressing issue. While the company has resumed some cruising, and has even taken delivery of a new ship, the Silver Moon, most operations remain suspended. For Q3, the company reported adjusted earnings of -$5.62, below consensus of -$5.17. Management estimates the cash burn to be between $250 million and $290 million monthly. To combat that, RCL reported having $3.7 billion in liquidity at the end of September. That included $3 billion in cash on hand along with $700 million available through a credit facility. Total liquidity at the end of Q3 was down more than 9% from the end of Q2. Since the third quarter ended, RCL has added over $1 billion to its cash position, through an issue of $500 million senior notes and a sale of stock, putting an additional 8.33 million shares on the market at $60 each.In his note on Royal Caribbean, Montour writes, [We] are most constructive on OW-rated RCL, which we believe has the most compelling set of demand drivers... its extensive investments in premium priced new hardware, as well as consumer data, all set RCL up well to outgrow the industry in revenue metrics, margins, and ROIC over the longer term.Montour backs his Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating with a $91 price target. This figure represents a 30% upside potential for 2021. (To watch Montours track record, click here)Is the rest of the Street in agreement? As it turns out, the analyst consensus is more of a mixed bag. 4 Buy ratings and 6 Holds give RCL a Moderate Buy status. Meanwhile, the stock is selling for $69.58 per share, slightly above the $68.22 average price target. (See RCL stock analysis on TipRanks)Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH)With a market cap of $7.45 billion and a fleet of 28 ships, Norwegian Cruise Line found its relatively smaller size as an advantage in this pandemic time. With a smaller and newer fleet, overhead costs, especially ship maintenance, were lower. These advantages dont mean that the company has avoided the storm. Earlier this month, Norwegian announced a prolongation of its suspension of voyages policy, covering all scheduled voyages from January 1, 2021 through February 28, 2021, plus selected voyages in March 2021. These cancellations come as Norwegians revenues are down in the third quarter, the top line was just $6.5 million, compared to $1.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company also reported a cash burn of $150 million per month.To combat the cash burn and minimal revenues, Norwegian, in November and December, took steps to improve liquidity. The company closed on $850 million in senior notes, at 5.875% and due in 2026, during November, and earlier this month closed an offering of common stock. The stock offering totaled 40 million shares at $20.80 per share. Together, the two offerings raised over $1.6 billion in new capital.On a more positive note, Norwegian is preparing for an eventual resumption of full services. The company announced, on Dec 7, a partnership with AtmosAir Solutions for the installation of air purification systems on all 28 vessels of its current fleet, using filtration technology known to defeat the coronavirus.JPMs Montour points out these advantages in his review of Norwegian, and sums up the bottom line: This coupled with a relatively newer, higher-end, brand/ship footprint would generally lead us to believe it was in a good position to outperform on pricing growth, though its demographics skewing to older age customers probably will remain a drag through 2021. Ultimately, NCLH is a high-quality asset within the broader cruise industry, with a higher beta to a cruise recovery, and it should see outperformance as the industry returns and investors look further out the risk spectrum.Montour gives the stock a $30 price target and an Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating. His target implies an upside of 27% on the one-year time frame.Norwegian is another cruise line with a Moderate Buy from the analyst consensus. This rating is based on 4 Buys, 4 Holds, and 1 Sell set in recent months. Like RCL above, the stock price here, $23.55, is currently higher than the average price target, $23.22. (See NCLH stock analysis on TipRanks)Carnival Corporation (CCL)Last up, Carnival, is the worlds largest cruise line, with a market cap of $23.25 billion, more than 100 ships across its brands, and over 700 destination ports. In normal times, this giant footprint gave the company an advantage; now, however, it has become an expensive liability. This is clear from the companys fiscal Q3 cash burn, which approached $770 million.Like the other big cruise companies, Carnival has extended its voyage cancellations, or, in the companys terms, the pause in operations. The Cunard line, one of Carnivals brands, has cancelled voyages on the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth through early June of next year. Carnival has also cancelled operations in February from the ports of Miami, Galveston, and Port Canaveral, and pushed back the inaugural voyage of the new ship Mardi Gras to the end of April 2021. These measures were taken in compliance with coronavirus restrictions.Carnivals shares and revenues are suffering deep losses this year. The stock is down 60% year-to-date, despite some recent price rallies since the end of October. Revenues fell to just $31 million in the fiscal third quarter, reported in September. Carnival reported a loss of nearly $3 billion in that quarter. The company did end the third quarter with over $8 billion in available cash, an impressive resource to face the difficult situation.This combination of strength and weakness led Montour to put a Neutral (i.e. Hold) rating on CCL shares. However, his $25 price target suggests a possible upside of 23%.In comments on Carnival, Montour wrote, [We] believe that some of the same relative net yield drags it saw in 2018-2019 due to its sheer size will likely become top of mind on the other side of this crisis However, given CCLs relative share discount, less pricing growth ahead of the crisis, and geographical diversification, we see it as the company with the least downside over the next few months and are not surprised by its recent outperformance. We believe this will reverse in the 2H21. Overall, Carnival has a Hold rating from the analyst consensus. This rating is based on 10 reviews, breaking down to 1 Buy, 8 Holds, and 1 Sell. The stock is selling for $20.28 and its $18.86 average price target implies a downside potential of ~7%. (See CCL stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.

See original here:
How This Couple Retired At 55 With Just $200,000 In Their Roth IRA Account - Yahoo Finance

Written by admin

December 22nd, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Posted in Retirement

Retired UW computer science professor embroiled in Twitter spat over AI ethics and cancel culture – GeekWire

Posted: at 7:00 pm


without comments

University of Washington computer science professor emeritus Pedro Domingos. (UW Photo)

The University of Washington computer science department denounced comments made online by a retired professor over a debate about AI ethics, Timnit Gebrus controversial exit at Google, so-called cancel culture, and more.

A heated back-and-forth involving longtime AI researcher Pedro Domingos and the response from the UW demonstrates the complexity of public discourse on controversial topics. It also highlights unanswered questions related to the societal implications of artificial intelligence, and is the latest example of the backlash that can occur when politics collides with academia and the tech industry.

Domingos, who joined the UW faculty in 1999 and is the author of The Master Algorithm,sparked the initial discussion on Twitter after hequestioned why the Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) conference was using ethics reviews for submitted papers.

Its alarming that NeurIPS papers are being rejected based on ethics reviews,' he tweeted last week. How do we guard against ideological biases in such reviews? Since when are scientific conferences in the business of policing the perceived ethics of technical papers?

His opinion drew a number of responses from other top data scientists and those involved with NeurIPS.

The problem here is that folks like him lack the humility to admit that they do not have skills in qualitative work and dismiss it all as a slippery slope,' tweeted Rumman Chowdhury, founder of Parity and former global lead for Responsible AI at Accenture Applied Intelligence. Qualitative methods have rigor. Ethical assessment can be generalizable and sustainable.

The discourse on Twitter then shifted to last years decision to rename NeurIPS. There were concerns over the previous name NIPS due to racial slurs and sexism.

That set off the beginning of a long exchange between Domingos and Anima Anandkumar, a professor at Caltech and director of machine learning research at NVIDIA who led a petition to change the name of the conference. Pornography came up in a discussion about web search results for the term nips, sparking a response from Katherine Heller, chair of diversity and inclusion for NeurIPS 2020, and Ken Anderson, chair at the University of Colorados computer science department.

As of Tuesday, Anandkumars Twitter was no longer active. She declined to comment for this story.Update:Anandkumar posted a public apology on her blog Wednesday. She also said she deactivated her Twitter account in the interest of my safety and to reduce anxiety for my loved ones.

NeurIPS posted a statement on ethics, fairness, inclusivity and code of conduct on its homepage. Weve reached out to the conference for comment.

Having observed recent discussions taking place across social media, we feel the need to reiterate that, as a community, we must be mindful of the impact that statements and actions have on our peers, and future generations of AI / ML students and researchers, it reads. It is incumbent upon NeurIPS and the AI / ML community as a whole to foster a collaborative, welcoming environment for all. Therefore, statements and actions contrary to the NeurIPS mission and its Code of Conduct cannot and will not be tolerated.

The Twitter chatter also delved into the recent departure of Gebru, a top AI ethics researcher at Google, and whether she was fired by the company or resigned following a controversy related to an AI ethics paper. Domingos tweeted that Gebru was creating a toxic environment within Google AI and said that she was not fired, despite Gebru stating otherwise.

Heller then tweeted at Domingos and said he was violating the NeurIPS code of conduct.

Later that evening, the UWs Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering issued a lengthy statement via Twitter. The schools leadership took issue with Domingos engaging in a Twitter flame war belittling individuals and downplaying valid concerns over ethics in AI, and for his use of the word deranged. Heres the statement in full:

#UWAllen leadership is aware of recent discussions involving Pedro Domingos, a professor emeritus (retired) in our school. We do not condone a member of our community engaging in a Twitter flame war belittling individuals and downplaying valid concerns over ethics in AI. We object to his dismissal of concerns over the use of technology to further marginalize groups ill-served by tech. While potential for harm does not necessarily negate the value of a given line of research, none of us should be absolved from considering that impact. And while we may disagree about approaches to countering such potential harm, we should be supportive of trying different methods to do so.

We also object in the strongest possible terms to the use of labels like deranged. Such language is unacceptable. We urge all members of our community to always express their points of views in the most respectful and collegial manner.

We do encourage our scholars to engage vigorously on matters of AI ethics, diversity in tech and industry-research relations. All are crucial to our field and our world. But we are all too familiar with counterproductive, inflammatory, and escalating social-media arguments.

We have asked Pedro to make clear he tweets as an individual, not representing the Allen School or the University of Washington. We would further argue that this whole mode of discourse is damaging and unbecoming.

The Allen School is committed to addressing AI ethics and equity in concrete ways. That work is ongoing, and many of our activities are listed on our website.

One key component is to expand the inclusion of ethics in our curriculum and prepare students to consider the very real impact that technology can have, especially on marginalized communities.

In recent years, we have added multiple classes on this topic at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and we plan to continue to work toward expanding that aspect of our curriculum.

As a school, we have stated our commitment to be more inclusive and to consider the impact of our work on people and communities. We will not be deterred, by naysayers inside or outside of our community, from putting in the hard work required to achieve those aims.

Signed, Members of the Allen School Leadership Magdalena Balazinska, Prof. and Director Dan Grossman, Prof. and Vice Director Tadayoshi Kohno, Prof. and Associate Director for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Ed Lazowska, Prof. and Associate Director for Development & Outreach

Domingos described the schools response as cowering before the Twitter mob.

We followed up with Magdalena Balazinska, a well-regarded researcher and educator who took over as the Allen School director last year. Heres what she had to say about the matter:

As leader of the Allen School, one of my highest priorities is to promote a culture and an environment that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive. I also deeply care about an environment in which people discuss issues, even potentially controversial ones, openly, with empathy, and without bullying. Witnessing what happened on Twitter this past week was disheartening. We need to find ways to come together. The entire tech industry should work toward all these goals, and we have much work to do.

Ed Lazowska, a longtime leader at the Allen School, said the department is committed to academic freedom and freedom of speech.

We encourage good-faith dialogue, including on controversial issues, he said. But we expect members of our community to engage in that dialogue in a respectful, collegial, and constructive manner that is free from personal attacks and is not dismissive of peoples lived experiences. Pedro failed to live up to those standards and we felt compelled to make clear where we stand.

Lazowska added: Pedro is within his rights to tweet. We felt it was important to distance the school from his views.

In an email exchange with GeekWire, Domingos said the Allen School should have stood by my right to voice my opinions, and back me up in my efforts to free the machine learning community from the miasma descending on it.

Instead, they chose to pay their obeisance to the ultra-left crowd, as they have before, Domingos said, referencing Stuart Reges, another UW computer science professor who was criticized for his 2018 essay that claimed women are underrepresented in software engineering because of personal preference, not because institutional barriers deter them from pursuing careers in tech.

Reges told GeekWire he was disappointed that the Allen School has thrown Pedro under the bus.

He has raised significant questions about the activism surrounding Timnit Gebrus termination from Google and new efforts to inject ethics reviews into all aspects of AI research, said Reges. The greatest sin he has committed has been to refer to deranged activists. The unified mob reaction to try to cancel him proves that his opponents and the Allen School leadership are not willing to engage in meaningful dialog to explore the issues.

Domingos said the Twitter spat highlights how the machine learning community is being progressively strangled by political correctness and extreme left-wing politics.

The larger problem is that academia and the tech industry, not just machine learning, are being strangled by a crowd that refuses to allow the free exchange of ideas on which research depends, and is successfully imposing an increasingly far-left orthodoxy, he told GeekWire. People live in fear of their attacks.

Daniel Lowd, an associate professor at the University of Oregon who earned his PhD from the UW in 2010, tweeted that he would like to publicly disavow and distance myself from these comments by my PhD advisor and collaborator.

The reaction to Domingos original tweet about ethics reviews of AI papers also reflects the pressing dilemma of AI ethics as the technology increasingly infiltrates everyday life.

Considering the ethical impact of AI research is absolutely essential, said Oren Etzioni, a UW computer science professor emeritus (retired) who is now CEO of Seattles Allen Institute of Artificial Intelligence.

That said, its hard to argue with Pedros observations about online attacks and the refusal to allow the free exchange of ideas, said Etzioni, who noted that he was speaking to GeekWire as an individual and not a representative of any institution.

Etzioni called out a platform his father launched called Civil Dialogues that encourages deliberation on pressing issues. He also noted his Hippocratic oath created in 2018 as a way to encourage AI software developers to remember their ethical burden.

Asked about Domingos comments on Twitter, Seattle University senior instructor and AI ethics expert Nathan Colaner said it seems that his underlying attitude is that ethical concerns in AI are overblown, and that ethicists are making too much of their concerns, specifically when it comes to algorithmic bias.

I think thats the wrong attitude to have, Colaner said. First of all, there is no legitimate debate to be had about whether algorithms are neutral. It is also now clear that AI is not going to remove human bias, as we sometimes used to hear. But what is still unclear is whether human bias is a worse or less bad problem than algorithmic bias.

Colaner said there are plenty of unanswered questions that need answers as AI innovation continues at a rapid pace. The AI ethics community is basically scrambling, he said, adding that he supports the Allen Schools statement. Colaner is managing director of the Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, an institute at Seattle U made possible through a donation from Microsoft.

Healthy debate sharpens everyones minds, Colaner said, but since we in the AI ethics community have serious, time-sensitive work to do, distraction is not useful, which is why Twitter made the unfollow button.

The rest is here:
Retired UW computer science professor embroiled in Twitter spat over AI ethics and cancel culture - GeekWire

Written by admin

December 22nd, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Posted in Retirement

There Are 5 Types of Retirement Savers, New Research Says. Which One Are You? – Barron’s

Posted: December 16, 2020 at 12:56 am


without comments

Text size

Almost half of all Americans who have yet to retire are anxious that they wont have enough savings to live comfortably in retirement, and that fear is most common among uncertain strugglers, one of five types of retirement savers identified in a new research paper.

Uncertain strugglers, with a median household income of $43,000 and median household assets of $13,000, by necessity are focused on making ends meet in the present, not the future, according to research from the Alliance for Lifetime Income, a group that promotes annuities as a tool for retirement income.

The alliance and research partner Artemis Strategy Group segmented Americans into five groups after conducting online interviews in August with 3,036 people ages 25 to 74. Participants answered questions about their expectations for retirement, the factors that shape their financial decisions, and their knowledge and interest in retirement planning, giving researchers a snapshot of their retirement readiness.

Barrons brings retirement planning and advice to you in a weekly wrap-up of our articles about preparing for life after work.

Uncertain strugglers make up about 29% of the U.S. population, according to the research, with the other types of retirement savers being ambitious risk-takers (28%), cautious preparers (17%), optimistic dreamers (13%), and purposeful planners (12%).

Heres a breakdown of the five types of retirement savers they found:

Ambitious risk-takers: This group generally is educated, optimistic, and young, with 49% under the age of 45 and 28% under 35. Full-time workers account for 72% of this group, the highest percentage among the five types of savers, and 52% have at least a bachelors degree.

This group has a median household income of $125,000 and the same amount in median household assets. Men make up 54% of this group, and 43% have a financial advisor. They are more likely to be open to new and different opportunities, and 75% expect their sources of income to last throughout retirement. They trust their financial advisors but do their own research and are more likely to consider themselves experts in retirement planning.

Cautious preparers: Men make up 56% of this group, which is fairly well educated, with 40% holding at least a bachelors degree. They skew older, with 68% being 45 or above and 20% being between the ages of 65 and 75. Their median household income is $88,000, with median household assets of $125,000.

Many cautious preparers have prepared for the worst and stuck with tried-and-true investment strategies. Though they have knowledge about retirement planning, they still have questions, so they do their own research and rely upon experts. Some have calculated their income needs in retirement, and 27% are retired, the highest percentage among the five types of savers.

Optimistic dreamers: Women account for 57% of this group, which skews young, with 49% under the age of 45 and 26% under 35. They have a median household income of $62,000 and median household assets of $38,000. They tend to be less educated, with 46% having a high-school diploma or less.

For optimistic dreamers, retirement seems far away, but they expect to lead active, rewarding lives as seniors. They generally have a basic understanding of retirement planning and contribute to their employers 401(k) or similar plans but arent fully comfortable with retirement planning and dont spend much time on it.

Few have calculated their income needs in retirement, and many make financial decisions based on instinct or through recommendations from family or friends.

Purposeful planners: It pays to be a member of this most exclusive group, which has a median household income of $125,000 and median household assets of $325,000. Men make up 58% of this group, which tends to be highly educated, with 52% having at least a bachelors degree. Many are nearing retirement or have already retired, with 42% ages 55 and older.

Purposeful planners are well positioned to enjoy retirement. Most have a financial plan, devote time to retirement planning, and have extensive knowledge about retirement planning. Purposeful planners are likely to enjoy managing their finances in retirement, with 78% expecting their sources of income to last throughout retirement, the highest percentage among the five saver profiles.

Uncertain strugglers: This group generally is pessimistic about living comfortably in retirement, with many expecting to rely on Social Security and help from family to get by.

Women make up 61% of this group, which is less educated than the others, with 56% having a high-school diploma or less. Uncertain strugglers rely on instinct and recommendations from family and friends to make financial decisions. Just 39% of this group works full time, the lowest figure among the five types of savers.

Though 57% of them are 45 or older, they dont know much about retirement planning, dont have a financial plan, and havent calculated their income needs in retirement. Only 24% expect their savings and sources of income to last throughout retirement, the lowest percentage among the five groups.

For optimistic dreamers, our recommendation is to really engage in financial-planning education. Youre really excited about retirement, but lets think about how youre going to get there, says Anne Aldrich, a partner at Artemis Strategy Group and a co-author of the report. Uncertain strugglers aspire to have some control over the direction of their financial lives, and many of them dont have a financial plan, so our recommendation is to gain a sense of control, take hold of the resources that they do have, and start taking the next steps toward developing a plan.

Write to us at retirement@barrons.com

Link:
There Are 5 Types of Retirement Savers, New Research Says. Which One Are You? - Barron's

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

IRA Guru Ed Slott On Taxes, Retirement & Roth IRAs – Forbes

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

IRA guru Ed Slott doesnt trust politicians with his taxesand doesnt think you should, either.

A well-known retirement expert (and a recovering certified public accountant), Slott leads seminars for financial planners, advises regular folks on how to retire securely and recently updated his 2003 classic, The New Retirement Savings Time Bomb, to address Congress latest indiscretions.

He recently spoke with Forbes Advisors Taylor Tepper about how savers should do whatever they can to avoid taxes in their golden years, even if it means paying taxes upfront. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What is the retirement savings time bomb?

The time bomb is the tax liability building up in your individual retirement account (IRA). Most people dont think about it, but some of your IRA already belongs to the government. The question is how much.

Most retirement accounts are tax-deferred, not tax-free. You can have someone with a million dollars in their IRA, but its not all theirs.

When they take out the money, theyll have to pay taxes. You dont know exactly how much youll be able to keep unless you take action to lock it down now.

How can people defuse the tax bomb in their IRAs?

You cant rely on Congress to keep their word, so you must be proactive and take steps to keep more of your money. To pay as little tax as possible along the way you need to turn taxable accounts into tax-free accountsmove your money from accounts that I call forever tax to ones that are never tax.

So youre talking about converting to Roth IRAs, right? Youre a big fan Roths.

Not a big fan, a huge fan.

But many people have already built up their savings in an traditional IRA, or other tax-advantaged accounts, which means theyd have to use a backdoor Roth IRA conversion. Who would benefit from this?

Just about anybody who doesnt want to worry about the uncertainty of what higher future tax rates can do to their standard of living in retirement.

Lets say the top tax rates go up to 50%, just as an example. Youd have half the money you thought you had. So as rates go up, the value of your retirement savings effectively goes down.

The thing I like about the conversion is that it gives people certainty. People dont like the uncertainty of What is Congress going to do? We already know from their broken promises that we cant trust them.

But you dont think a Roth IRA conversion is the best move for everyone, right?

No, and I have a section in the book that describes who shouldnt do a Roth IRA conversion.

(Editors note: In his book, Slott advises against doing a Roth conversion if

OK, lets say I go ahead and do a backdoor Roth IRA conversion. What if youre wrong? What if Congress doesnt end up hiking tax rates substantially, a thing they have not done in years?

I do a lot of speaking engagements. I was doing a virtual program recently and someone told me, Ed, I went to your big two-day IRA training program 10 years ago and you said the same thing then. You said taxes were going to go up, and you know what? They didnt. In fact, they went down. You were wrong. What do you have to say about that?

I said, Well, if you had listened to me and converted to a Roth IRA 10 years ago, all of those gains from a booming stock market would have grown tax-free in your Roth IRA. Thats what I have to say about that.

So a Roth IRA conversion is a way to cover yourself, just in case?

I call Roth IRA conversions tax insurance. Thats why you get insurance: In case something bad happens. It doesnt matter how much they raise tax rates; your tax rate will be zero.

Any financial decision has benefits and drawbacks. You have to look at both sides to see whats best for you. With the Roth IRA, I look at the worst case scenario. Whats the worst thing that can happen? Lets say I was wrong and tax rates didnt go up. Youve still locked in a 0% tax rate on your gains for life.

Why dont more people do Roth IRA conversions?

The downside is that you pay taxes up front. But those are taxes youd have to pay anyway. Not if, but when. The only way to get money out of a traditional IRA, even if you just want to spend it, is to pay taxes.

Maybe some people really dont believe that Congress will raise their taxes?

You cant believe these guys. With the SECURE Act, they showed their hand again. The minute they need money the first thing they turn to is retirement savings. Why? Because that money is a big juicy steak to Congress because they know that money hasnt been taxed yet. Its low-hanging fruit.

As part of the SECURE Act, Congress made many IRA beneficiaries take withdrawals over 10 years instead of stretching them over a much longer time period. Why is that so bad?

The whole fact that Congress pulled the rug out from everybody when most people were relying on promises made by politiciansI know thats almost ridiculous to say. But they promised!? A congressman, a politician, can you believe that?

Many people made plans to stretch IRA savings a long way after they died.

This is why I begin my book with a chapter titled The Broken Promise. The theme is you cant rely on these guys, youll need to make your own plan, as best as you can.

But were mainly talking about adult child beneficiaries, right? Minor child beneficiaries, spouses and others are exempt. Basically Congress is scaling back the estate planning benefits of an IRA. Is that really so bad?

When youre planning for retirement, whats important is not what youre going to do tomorrow. Its a long-term plan, a 20- to 30-year plan. So you need to be able to rely on the rules. And the rules were the same for over 20 years, and then all of a sudden they changed them.

A lot of people I hear from are not super wealthy people. They simply arranged their life a certain way because thats what they wanted. Maybe they lived more frugally because they wanted to leave their kids and grandkids a legacy for years to come. So they adjusted their lives based on these rules.

What can someone do if they dont want to do a Roth conversion or if they still want to leave their adult children a financial legacy?

I have to tell you as a tax advisor, who doesnt sell life insurance or any financial product, the tax exemption for life insurance benefits is one of the single biggest pluses in the tax code and most people dont take advantage of it.

When I talk about life insurance Im talking about permanent cash value policies, and its very similar to Roth IRAs in the sense that you can leave someone tax free money.

But why should someone pay the premiums for a policy just to use it as an estate planning tool?

People want to know, Whats in it for me?

What most people dont know is that many policies, like my owneverything Im telling you Ive done myselfhave long-term care riders. You can tap into that life insurance money, in effect taking an advance, if you need it to pay these huge health bills later in retirement.

Thats one way to turn the tables on Congress. You just cant trust themyou have to trust yourself and do what you can to control your own tax rate.

View post:
IRA Guru Ed Slott On Taxes, Retirement & Roth IRAs - Forbes

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

Soothing the Retirement Fears of Middle-Class Millionaires – ThinkAdvisor

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

Carol Petrov

The way Certified Financial Planner Carol Petrov sees it, women in the advisory business are given only two options: a financial advisor who hunts and kills for their meat, or somebodys assistant with a steady paycheck.

Petrov, the vice president of Kendall Capital, started out as an advisor, switched after seven years to be a brokerage assistant (which she did for six years) and then returned to her FA career when she joined Kendall Capital in Rockville, Maryland, six years ago. With $310 million in assets under management, the RIAs client focus is Middle-Class Millionaires, and theyve trademarked the moniker.

Petrov, 48, specializes in retirement planning for seniors, which is often challenging because most of the firms older clients became millionaires by dint of saving all their lives and now worry that if they stop working, they wont be able to pay their bills.

In the interview, Petrov, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs and earned a B.S. from George Washington Universitys business school, talks about what drove her to give up advising and work instead as a client service associate at Morgan Stanley. The 2008-2014 stint was not fulfilling, as she explains.

To help both her and other women to an improved experience, she urged the firm to offer, as an alternative to evolving into an FA, financial planning jobs with flexible hours and steady pay that would allow for a better work-family balance. That appeal proved to be in vain.

The wirehouse firm still does not offer such opportunity, she says, but has two salaried programs for those who do aspire to become FAs: Wealth Advisor Associate, a diversity initiative leading to the Financial Advisor Associate Program, which trains people with no financial or sales background.

Morgan Stanley offers several career paths to employees within the Field Service Organization, a Morgan Stanley spokesperson said. The [two noted above] are designed to guide employees through extensive training and development to help them succeed as financial advisors.

ThinkAdvisor recently interviewed Petrov, who was speaking by phone from Rockville. She discussed her detoured career trajectory and her key goal as an advisor: To help clients have a good experience. I want [them] to be happy and come back for more and, she says, refer their friends.

Here are highlights from our conversation:

THINKADVISOR: Your firm specializes in serving Middle-Class Millionaires, a term that Clark Kendall, president and CEO, trademarked. Do such clients feel rich and have no worries about money?

CAROL PETROV: Quite the contrary. The majority have worked and saved by living within or below their means. They feel they have to continue to work and save, and that their retirement is the security of knowing they can keep living the way theyve been living. So they feel just as insecure as before [they became millionaires] and worry that if they stop working, they wont be able to pay their bills.

Did President Trumps Tax Cuts and Jobs Act help Middle-Class Millionaires?

No. That tax package had a huge [negative] impact on them. It really wreaks havoc on the higher middle class, whose tax rates tend to be around 20%-22%.

Just what was the change?

The state and local tax SALT deduction was capped at $10,000 [$5,000 for married filing separately]. Most of our clients have property taxes alone that are well over that. So between [losing] the state income tax deduction and the property tax deduction, some lost a good two or three times what they used to be able to deduct.

Will President-elect Joe Bidens tax proposal benefit Middle-Class Millionaire clients?

Thus far, hes proposed raising taxes on income above $400,000. Thats far ahead of most of our clients. Most have $400,000, but theyre not earning that amount [or more]. So theyll stay in the bracket theyre in now and remain hopeful that the SALT [change] will be reversed.

How did you get interested in working in financial services?

In 2000, I was in customer service as the manager of a restaurant in Bethesda and figuring out what I should do next. At the restaurant, I met three middle-aged [male] UBS financial planners who said I had the right personality to be an advisor. I wasnt interested in stocks. They said, No, no not stocks. Financial planning. I said, Whats that? And thats how I got into financial services.

Whats your key strength thats helped you in your work?

My ability to relate to people, to listen. As a financial planner, youre working to help clients have a good experience. To this day, I feel like Im still working for tips, [as in customer service]: I want my clients to be happy and come back for more, and refer their friends.

Your first job in the industry was financial advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services. From there, after a brief stint as an FA at First Financial Group, you joined Morgan Stanley as a registered service associate. Wasnt that a step down on your career ladder?

It was. As a woman in this business, youre given two options: financial advisor who hunts and kills for their meat you get clients and make commissions or else, youre somebodys assistant with a steady paycheck and regular hours.

Was steady pay and set hours necessary for your lifestyle?

At Ameriprise, I was compensated on commission. But [after becoming a mother with a young son and single], I needed [income] stability and good health benefits. Thats why I switched to being an assistant. At Morgan Stanley, I was able to have that.

As a woman in the male-dominated world of financial services, have you encountered discrimination or bias thats stymied your career?

I got my CFP while I was at Morgan Stanley; they paid for it. But they wouldnt put CFP on my business card. That was discriminatory.

Did you experience any slights there just because youre female?

Youre definitely not part of a club. Youre not invited to golf outings or happy hours. Theres definitely a clique of men that you will not be part of. I personally dont have any me-too stories, but Morgan Stanley is, kind of, notorious for the way they treated women. They had so many lawsuits when I was there.

Anything else that dampened your spirit?

Youre not taken very seriously by people in the industry. At Morgan Stanley, even the nicest of brokers would still see you as just staff. Thats when I realized there was nowhere to go unless I became an [MS] advisor. Youre either an advisor there or somebodys assistant. But I didnt want to become a broker [on commission] because Id lose my steady paycheck. I wanted to find a better way. Thats when I started looking around and researching fee-only RIA advisors.

Did you try for a promotion out of your support role?

Yes. I spoke to Morgan Stanley folks in New York, telling them, We have a lot of smart women [support staff] working here for years and years. They know your clients better than your brokers do. Would you make it so they could do financial planning, have client interaction and help bring in more business? But also, if youre a mom, give us the flexibility to take time off if, for example, you have to take your kid to the doctor.

What was the response?

Good point we should reach out more [sounding offhand]. Were designing another role for the women. And they would come up with names for various roles.

Why did you leave the firm?

I was assisting three brokers. It was very much like being on a hamster wheel. Youre helping these people succeed, but youre not going anywhere. So many women in this business are stuck in the wheel and cant seem to see a way out.

Youre the vice president of Kendall. Is it possible for you to advance there?

Clark picks my brain and runs things by me. In that way, he sees me as a partner. Were hiring people under me so I can be in more of a supervisory role some day and work only with clients that have the most intricate needs. The skys the limit here because were a growing [RIA] and dont have as many restrictions as a broker-dealer.

How can the industry attract more women to become financial advisors?

By saying, We offer you a career path that balances work and family life. The firms have to acknowledge that most women still have the primary responsibility of taking care of their kids.

How, specifically, could they provide that balance?

They have to be more flexible with their scheduling. One of the reasons they lose [female] talent is by not being flexible. They need to say, We know you work your tail off when youre here. Youre not goofing off like those guys [FAs] in the kitchen talking about football for three hours on Monday morning. So if [a mom] needs to leave a little early or come in late [because of parenting responsibilities], they have to understand.

Any advice for women who are thinking of becoming a financial advisor or for FA assistants who want to move up but feel frustrated?

The most important thing is to invest in yourself. Once you have the experience and knowledge, you need to decide whether to move up. Its helpful to join a financial planning association, attend webinars, learn more about different aspects of being an advisor and get your CFP.

Whats the biggest hurdle?

Getting that knowledge and acknowledgment of being a CFP. Once youre a CFP, youre like, Hey, I know my stuff and you have your ticket out.

View post:
Soothing the Retirement Fears of Middle-Class Millionaires - ThinkAdvisor

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

Center for Retirement Research: Public pension plans should avoid investing based on social and environmental movements – Yankee Institute

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College published a brief saying public pension plans should avoid tailoring their investment strategies to satisfy calls for political, social and environmental justice, known as ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing.

The movement toward more socially and environmentally activist investing has gained traction in recent years and some investors are using it as a strategy to increase returns based on political, social and environmental movements.

According to CRR, The mechanism apparently must work through a decline in the value of stocks at bad companies and an increase in the value of stocks at good companies thereby encouraging more companies to adopt good behaviors.

However, CRR found that states adopting an ESG mandate for public pension plan investments earned lower returns than traditional investment strategies, often by a considerable margin, the authors wrote.

Even assuming that divestment and ESG inclusion were effective mechanisms to stop terrorism and slow the rise in the earths temperature and that state legislatures and pension fund boards are the right bodies to make foreign and climate policy, pension funds are not an appropriate vehicle for social investing, the CRR report states.

To put this finding in context, plans with state mandates have had them for an average of 10 years, the authors wrote. So the average annualized return for those with a state mandate would be 20 basis points lower than for those without a mandate.

Part of the problem is that ESG investing involves a number of different issues, ranging from guns and carbon emissions to the more nebulous social justice, which can all be distinct from each other.

Secondly, the researchers found that ESG investing is unlikely to affect the price of either the good or the bad companies. The report also noted that fees related to ESG investing tend to be significantly higher than traditional counterparts.

Connecticut manages over $37 billion through its Connecticut Retirement Plan Trust Fund investments, and in 2006 Connecticut was a signatory to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, which gives guidelines to selecting investment partners based on ESG issues.

In a press release issued by the UN, former State Treasurer Denise Nappier said Financial markets tend to focus too heavily on short-term results at the expense of long-term and non-traditional financial fitness factors that could affect a companys bottom line. For many institutional investors it is the long-term that matters and in this context environmental, social and governance issues take on new meaning.

According to the 2019 Investment Policy Statement for Connecticuts retirement fund, which was authored by State Treasurer Shawn Wooden and approved by the Investment Advisory Council, the state is also taking a more active role in ESG investments.

Article VIII of the Investment Policy Statement says Connecticut will Integrate the potential risk and value impact that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors may have on CRPTFs investment program.

A main driver behind the integration of ESG into the investment process is the desire to identify and select investment partners and money managers that carefully review the effect of ESG on companies and to use appropriate criteria to invest in better managed companies to improve on invested capital, the policy statement says.

The statement continues to indicate that part of that ESG criteria will be to afford more opportunities to emerging, minority and women-owned and Connecticut-based investment partners.

In 2020 Wooden announced the Connecticut would divest roughly $30 million from civilian gun and ammunition manufacturers, part of Woodens Responsible Gun Policy.

According to the CRR, ESG has its roots in the 1970s when states moved to divest from tobacco, alcohol and gambling stocks, as well as divesting from companies who did business with South Africa which, at the time, had a policy of apartheid.

The investment movement has since moved on to encompass terrorist states, Iran, gun manufacturers and fossil fuel companies.

According to CRR, public pension plans applied ESG to at least $3 trillion in assets, which represents more than half of all assets in public pension funds.

See the original post:
Center for Retirement Research: Public pension plans should avoid investing based on social and environmental movements - Yankee Institute

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

Tesla Fever: Understanding Index Funds And How They May Hurt Your Retirement – Forbes

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

If youve been following the stock market news lately, youve probably heard about TeslaTSLA being ... [+] added to the S&P 500 Index a few times a day. But having a newsworthy change to an index may not mean its a good investmentit may just mean the opposite.

If youve been following the stock market news lately, youve probably heard about Tesla TSLA being added to the S&P 500 Index a few times a day. But having a newsworthy change to an index may not mean its a good investmentit may just mean the opposite.

Lets talk about what index funds are and whether theyre a good choice for your retirement portfolio.

Index funds are a type of mutual funda portfolio of stocks or bonds designed to match or track the performance of a particular market index. Unlike some mutual funds which allow managers to have some discretion to select underlying holdings and to determine when to buy or sell them, index funds are designed to track the performance of a market index such as the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 2000 Index, and the Willshire 5000 Total Market Index.

There are some attractive features to these funds.

Since index funds are passive management, managers are not actively picking securities, which means low costs for investors. Also, low portfolio turnover means modest tax impacts. Theyre the cheapest means to buy equity exposure, but that may not mean theyre the best option.

The S&P 500 includes 500 market-cap-weighted stocks. While this sounds like built-in diversification, theres actually a huge amount of concentration in favor of the biggest names because securities with a higher market capitalization value account for a greater share of the overall value of the index.

Currently, the top five stocks in the S&P 500 index make up over 20% of the holdings. These are Apple AAPL (AAPL), Microsoft MSFT (MSFT), Amazon AMZN (AMZN), Facebook FB (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL). The top 50 stocks account for over 54% of the fund balance (Source). That means that more than half of the indexs return is linked to just ten percent of the stocks in the portfolio.

In terms of your portfolio, while you will own small pieces of 500 different stocks, your portfolio will be weighted in just those big names. That may not be the diversity you expected.

The manager of an index fund has less flexibility in terms of what to buy, what to sell or when to make the transactions.

Lets look at Tesla (TSLA). This year, there was tremendous talk about the possibility of Tesla joining the S&P 500 Index. That drove up the stock price. Since the beginning of 2020, the value of Tesla stock has grown more than 600%.

Tesla will be joining the index later in December. Managers will be forced to establish positions in Tesla stock, and theyre buying the shares at a grossly inflated price.

If you own the S&P 500 Index, youre about to own a lot of Tesla stockbut only after its price has been escalated to all-time highs.

When a stock is announced to be joining an index, the managers of the funds mirroring that index have no choice but to buy shares. But a lot of institutional and individual investors buy up the shares before those managers can, so index funds often buy at an elevated price on the way in.

The same thing is true in reverse. An index fund may have less flexibility to react to price declines in the securities within the index. If a stock gets kicked out of an index, the managers have to sell the shares whether they want to or not. That will drive the price down.

To have a successful outcome for an investment, an investor should choose what to buy, when to buy it and when to sell it. Getting any of those three components wrong can hurt returns, and index fund managers dont get to select any of the variables on their own merits.

In my opinion, the newsworthiness of a stock joining or leaving an index almost always leads to a public buying or selling frenzy and then a lousy deal for the index fund holders.

When constructing a portfolio, asset managers look at various measures, including those known as alpha, beta and standard deviation.

Alpha is a measure of the fund managers selection skill. A positive alpha can add value to the fund. A negative alpha can detract value.

Index funds have no alpha because there is no control over selectionits all predetermined by the index, so it sets its own benchmark. You can never get excess performance on the upside or downside, so you can never do better than the benchmark.

Beta is the measure of risk. A beta of 1.00 means youre taking the exact amount of risk as the benchmark, in this case the S&P 500. If a beta is higher than 1.00 youre taking more risk than the benchmark and if its less than 1.00 youre taking less risk than the benchmark.

An index fund always has a beta of 1.00.Youre not creating any additional defense against risk.

With no alpha or beta, the standard deviation will be higher for an equity index fund than you may want for your portfolio because it cannot play any defense.

If the S&P index is up 40%, so is your portfolio. If its down 40%, so is your portfolio.

The best way to manage a portfolio is to reduce that downside. The force of the downside is double the force of the upside.

Lets say you make a hypothetical investment of $10,000 into an index and hold it for two years. In the first year, the fund gains 50%. In the second year, the fund loses 50%. The average annual rate of return is zero, but you still lost money. After year one, you had $15,000. After year two you had $7,500.

The same is true in reversethe sequence doesnt matter. If you lost 50% in the first year and gained 50% in the second year, youre still coming up with less than you put in.

Cheaper or inexpensive is not always the better choice when investing.

Passive asset management for widely traded asset classes may make a ton of sense, but you dont have to buy an index to be passive. All you need is fund thats primarily buy-and-hold and has low turnover. This wont be as cheap as an index fund, but it can still be inexpensive. It also has a chance to increase alpha and to reduce beta by avoiding some of the higher standard deviation positions in the index.

Read the original post:
Tesla Fever: Understanding Index Funds And How They May Hurt Your Retirement - Forbes

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

Grand Forks School Board weighs budget reduction, early retirement concerns – Grand Forks Herald

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

Grand Forks school administrators are studying ways to reduce the districts budget by $3.2 million next year, as directed by the boards Finance Committee.

Brenner outlined the process and the timeline for making budget reduction decisions at the boards regular meeting Monday, Dec. 14.

Taking into account inflation and other factors, we are really faced with an 8 to 12% gap between revenue and expenses for the next two years, Brenner said. With a current expense budget of about $112 million, realizing a $10 million reduction in expenses is going to be a heavy lift, because about 85% of the districts expenses are tied to salaries, he said.

District administrators are using a tiered approach to identifying budget savings, with Tier 1 being attrition; Tier 2, low-enrollment courses; and Tier 3, positions.

We want to stay as far away from Tier 3 as possible, Brenner told the board.

Recent discussions with local state lawmakers have indicated that no increase in per-pupil aid in year 1 and a 1% increase in year 2 are possible, said Scott Berge, business manager for the district.

Per-pupil funding (accounts for) about two-thirds of our total revenue, so its a significant portion, Berge said.

District administrators plan to gather input from Grand Forks Education Association members, teacher-leaders and classified staff members Jan. 12-20 and present budget reduction concepts to the School Board for feedback at its Jan. 25 meeting, Brenner said.

During a discussion about possibly rescinding the districts early retirement policy, several teachers urged the board to retain the policy, maintaining that to do so would, over time, save the district money.

The long-standing policy allows teachers who have been employed for a certain number of years and who are qualified, to apply for early retirement benefits, which are paid out in equal portion annually over four years.

Fifty-six teachers qualify to apply for the benefit this year; among them, 13 have become eligible to apply this school year, according to Melissa Buchhop, GFEA president.

The application deadline is Jan. 15.

Three teachers have already submitted paperwork for the benefit, Buchhop said. It is not fair to long-term teachers to rescind the policy at this time.

Penny Tandeski, who has worked for the district for 31 years and has submitted her retirement notice, said It seems loyalty means nothing and urged the board to find other ways to solve budget woes.

To rescind the policy now is like ripping the rug right out from under me, she said, and doing so with basically no warning, to say is crushing is an understatement.

Said Berge: We have a lot of difficult decisions ahead of us (including possibly cutting) individual classes, entire programs, staffing facilities, along with other adjustments we may have to make.

(During a time when) we have a shortage of teachers, it doesnt make sense to encourage teachers to retire, said Doug Carpenter, member of the boards Finance Committee.

We may have to look at each persons application and ask, Is that a hard-to-fill position? Thats another way of doing this.

Originally posted here:
Grand Forks School Board weighs budget reduction, early retirement concerns - Grand Forks Herald

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement

Andy King to Retire From Arrow Electronics, Inc. – Business Wire

Posted: at 12:56 am


without comments

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) today announced that Andy King is retiring from the company as president of the global components business, effective December 31, 2020.

Andy has been an instrumental part of driving the growth and success of Arrow during his 34 years at the company, said Michael J. Long, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Arrow. He has been a valuable member of our leadership team, and we wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.

Following Mr. Kings retirement, David West, senior vice president of worldwide supplier marketing and engineering for Arrow, will be named president of the global components business, reporting to Mr. Long. David has held wide-ranging leadership positions during his 22 years at Arrow, overseeing all critical aspects of our components segment, said Mr. Long. I look forward to seeing the business continuing to thrive and innovate under Davids direction.

Arrow Electronics guides innovation forward for over 175,000 leading technology manufacturers and service providers. With 2019 sales of $29 billion, Arrow develops technology solutions that improve business and daily life. Learn more at fiveyearsout.com.

Continued here:
Andy King to Retire From Arrow Electronics, Inc. - Business Wire

Written by admin

December 16th, 2020 at 12:56 am

Posted in Retirement


Page 6«..5678..2030..»



matomo tracker