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Passing on the Values Behind Your Success: Ethical Wills By Amanda N. Ross, Director, Personal Retirement Strategy and Solutions at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management The dynamics of wealth planning and decision-making for parents may seem a bit complicated and challenging. Once you start thinking about your legacy and how you envision it taking shape, you…
Why Make Your Heirs Wait? By Michael Liersch, Director of Behavioral Finance at Merrill Lynch As people live longer a new trend in inheritance is evolving: fast-tracking inheritances. In fact, 60 percent of people age 50 and older in a recent Merrill Lynch study said they would prefer to give sooner rather than later –…
Should Entrepreneurs Invest Differently? An entrepreneur’s personal wealth is typically concentrated in a single asset: his company. Business owners devote themselves to assessing and taking risks in order to grow their enterprises, but too often they don’t apply that same focus to their personal assets. In fact, some of the attributes that make for a…
The Upside of Downsizing Four questions to consider when moving to a smaller home, which can free up money to help you meet other financial goals. As people grow older, they often discover that less is more when it comes to housing. Either they find that they no longer need as much space—or doubt whether…
Turning a Hobby into a Business As you approach retirement, you might think that a favorite hobby — cake decorating, landscaping, woodworking — could provide you with income after you’ve left your full-time position. After all, retirement provides you the time to pursue that dream. However, time is not the only thing you’ll require. Keep…
Back to the Future – When Interest Rates Rise The long bull market in bonds will eventually come to an end. Interest rates have been falling from their peak in 1981 to lows set in 2012.[1] That is over 30 years. Ultimately, rates will rise as the economy continues to strengthen. Coming off the lowest…
Market Update The market dropped to an all-time low seven years ago thanks to a fiasco with interest rates, leaving it nowhere to go but up. And up it has gone, gaining highs over the past five and a half years that rival the formidable Bull Market of the 1990s. But the strong upswing has…
The Energy Boom The world runs on energy; the cheaper the better. Abundant, inexpensive energy can transform economies and change the geopolitical landscape in ways few can easily predict. All you need do is look at history and how low cost, abundant oil changed the Middle East. Oil transformed our lives from its earliest use,…
Divorce and its True Cost Whether you’re getting divorced, recovering from one, or watching it unfold for a friend or family member, consider several steps for minimizing the financial consequences. The first financial shock to face is the cost of the divorce itself. You’re already splitting assets; when you add a messy divorce with high…
How Annuities Can Help Secure Retirement Goals A major concern of retirees is ensuring they don’t outlive their wealth. One way to accomplish that is to consider making immediate annuities or variable annuities with a lifetime living benefit rider a part of a well-diversified retirement portfolio. Annuities are the only financial instruments available today that,…
Claiming Social Security Benefits When to claim Social Security is one of the most important financial decisions that retirees make, yet few seem to give it much thought. The longer one waits to claim, the higher the monthly benefit. For a retiree with a short life expectancy or pressing financial needs, it may be best…
Using Donor Advised Funds If you regularly make charitable donations, or even just occasionally do, you may find a Donor Advised Fund of interest. You might think of a Donor Advised Fund like a charitable savings account. If the fund is properly formed, you can donate to the account whenever you want and take the…
Early investors, employees, or executives of very successful businesses may eventually find a substantial amount of their wealth concentrated in the stock of one company. The common strategy to reduce that risk is to diversify, but that can trigger substantial taxes. There is, however, a way to diversify a large stock holding without triggering a…
