#retirement

One word covers two things that share almost nothing. A single premium immediate annuity is longevity insurance with no annual fee, and its payout includes a return source you cannot replicate on your own. Variable and indexed annuities are investment products that can run 1.5% to 3.5% all-in. The deserved criticism of the second gets used to dismiss the first.

Contribute to a traditional IRA, convert to Roth, done. That works cleanly only if your other traditional IRA balances are empty, and the balance that decides it is measured on December 31, not on the day you convert. Which means a rollover in November can retroactively tax a conversion you made in March.

Same question, two credible answers, 0.8 percentage points apart. On a $1 million portfolio that is $8,000 a year of spending. The gap is not a disagreement about facts, it is a disagreement about whether to forecast the future or replay the past, and knowing which you are relying on matters more than the number.

Left alone, your portfolio quietly drifts toward whatever has run up the most, right before it usually runs down. Rebalancing drags it back to your target and forces you to sell high and buy low without thinking about it.

Everyone treats the HSA as a medical checking account. It is quietly the best tax shelter in the country: deductible going in, tax-free growth, tax-free out for medical, plus a payroll-tax escape no 401(k) or IRA offers. Here is how to actually use it.

Compound interest is earning returns on your returns. It feels like magic because humans think in straight lines and compounding curves upward. The one variable that decides everything is time, and it's the one you can't buy back.

An employer 401(k) match is the only guaranteed 50% to 100% return you will ever be offered, and skipping it is the most expensive money mistake most workers make. Here is how the formulas and vesting actually work.

The whole Roth vs Traditional debate reduces to one question: is your tax rate higher now or in retirement? The math is symmetric. The decision is a bet on future tax rates. For most people under 40 who aren't high earners, Roth is the default that ages well.

A traditional 401(k) skips tax now and pays it in retirement. A Roth 401(k) pays tax now and skips it later. The whole decision is a bet on your future tax rate, and for a lot of people the answer is clearer than it looks.