Retirement Planning

A new report finds that almost no retirees are making financially optimal decisions about when to take Social Security and are losing out on an average of more than $100,000 per household in the process.

Older Americans with a life insurance policy that they no longer need have the option to sell the policy to investors. These transactions, called "life settlements," can bring in needed cash, but are they a good idea? ...

Federal law requires that after you reach age 73, you must begin withdrawing a minimum amount from your retirement accounts. But what if you die after you begin or before all the account funds have been distributed?...

Donor-advised funds are a growing trend in giving that may get more popular due to the new tax law.

The number of older Americans with student loan debt – either theirs or someone else’s -- is growing. Sadly, learning how to deal with this debt is now a fact of life for many seniors heading into retirement.

A U.S. court has struck down a rule intended to prevent financial advisers from steering their clients to bad retirement investments, but there is a new proposal to address the same problem.

There are two main types of employee retirement savings plans: the traditional 401(k) and the Roth 401(k). Distributions from a Roth 401(k) are usually tax-free, but there is a little-known situation where distributions can be taxed.

Figuring out how much to save for retirement and when you can safely stop working can be difficult. A growing number of online retirement calculators, many of them free, are available to help.

New rules have been put in place to protect seniors with brokerage accounts from financial scams that could drain the accounts before anyone notices.