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Today’s retirees are finding that retirement requires at least as much psychological and emotional preparation as it does financial preparation. So, retirement planning needs to include a thorough assessment of human assets and liabilities along with an assessment of financial assets and liabilities.

Let’s state up front that you don’t need a credit monitoring service to stay on top of your credit status. For people who are diligent and deliberate in monitoring their own credit, they can do so by accessing a free credit report from each of the credit bureaus once per year.

Along with fund performance and risk ratios, expense ratios are a critical factor in determining the potential of funds to outperform the indexes and their peers, but they are easily overshadowed by robust returns in strong markets.  Now that the market is settling in, and fund returns are reaching relative parity with the market, expense ratios become even more important.

The need for retirement planning didn’t really exist until well into the 1970s. Up to that point, people worked until age 65, spent a few years in leisure through their life expectancy which was about 69. Many retirees of that era were able to coast into retirement with a cushy pension plan.

A recent survey by HelloWallet has reignited concerns over the future state of retirement in the U.S. The survey reveals that 25 percent of people holding funds in a 401k or an IRA have dipped into them, and not just in a small way.  Even more alarming is that the funds are being accessed through straight cash withdrawals rather than loans.

Warren Buffet has made no secret of his successful investing strategy. “Buy into fear” he says, “Buy when everyone else is selling”. For most, average investors that may be much easier said than done. Perhaps if we all had a few billion dollars in the bank, we might be able to muster up more courage and take some more risks.

At a time when many Baby Boomers are approaching their retirement years with grave concerns over their income sources, the late night pitches for reverse mortgages may look quite appealing to some. As with any financial strategy, especially those that involve the equity in your home, they should be carefully weighed against your needs, concerns, and priorities.

If you listen to any of the world’s leading investors they will tell you that nothing is more important to long-term investment success than a clear investment philosophy. More important than a sound investment strategy? Yes, they will tell you, because strategy, while important, is nothing more than a manifestation of an investment philosophy.

One of the advantages of running your own business from your home is that you get to be yourself all of the time. But, it is important that you don’t lose sight of the fact that you are also a business. That fact is not lost on the IRS who takes a special interest in home-based businesses and their profits and losses.

With more than 10,000 Baby Boomers crossing the retirement threshold every day, the Social Security check writing machine has kicked into overdrive.