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Dan CaplingerOne move that most people don't consider making is converting traditional IRA or 401(k) balances to a Roth IRA. The reason they ignore this option is simple: It involves paying taxes on the converted amount right now, and few people deliberately choose to pay extra tax before they absolutely have to. |
But many people don't realize that Roth accounts also have a lot of advantages that can keep you from falling short in retirement. First, when you take distributions from a Roth after you retire, they're usually free of tax, which stands in stark contrast to the taxable distributions of regular retirement acc... |
And finally, because Roth IRAs don't affect your taxable income, distributions won't make you ineligible for certain tax breaks, push you into higher tax brackets, or cause your Social Security benefits to become taxable. Add all those advantages together, and it can sometimes be worthwhile to pay a little ex... |
Another way to avoid falling short in retirement is to wait until you're 70 to claim Social Security benefits. |
Surprisingly, only 8% of men and 7% of women claim Social Security benefits past their full retirement age, which is 66 for those born before 1960 and 67 for those born in 1960 or later. In fact, nearly 43% of men and 49% of women start taking benefits at 62, setting themselves up for monthly payments 25% lower than wh... |
After your full retirement age, for every year you defer taking Social Security benefits up until age 70, your payments increase by 8%. If you wait until age 70, the increase maxes out at 32% above your primary insurance amount (the amount you're entitled to receive when you claim benefits at your full retirement ... |
By claiming early, retirees get more checks, but those checks are substantially smaller, which means that past a certain age, they will begin to fall behind in lifetime benefits. |
If you're worried about falling short in retirement, it pays to wait to claim. By waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security, you'll earn more than the other two cohorts starting at age 81. If you can't wait that long, collecting at age 66 will earn you more money by the time you turn 78 than collecti... |
The article 3 Surprising Ways to Avoid Going Broke in Retirement originally appeared on Fool.com. |
Stock markets have been stumbling and volatile since late January. But to hear The Washington Post tell it, that means the tax cuts failed to do what President Donald Trump said they’d do. |
“The tax cuts were supposed to be ‘rocket fuel’ for the economy. Since they passed, the markets are down,” declared the April 3, headline. The analysis that followed was from Philip Bump, the Post’s national correspondent. |
But the connection the headline tried to make was misleading, since stock markets are “not the economy” — a point Bump buried until the next to last paragraph of his article. |
That didn’t stop him from trying to link the two to make the tax cuts and Trump look bad. |
Bump wrote that three major stock market indexes are all down since Dec. 22 (S&P down 2.9 percent, DJIA down 2.6 percent and Nasdaq down 0.3 percent). |
“Why does that date matter? Because it’s the day that President Trump signed the tax cut bill into law — a bill that, according to him would supercharge the U.S. economy,” he continued. |
Then Bump cited a November Trump speech where he praised the market increases and claimed the tax cuts “will be rocket fuel” for the U.S. economy. |
“Trump’s favorite measure for the health of the economy over the course of 2017 was those same markets, which seemed as though they were never again going to go down. Until they did — about 40 days after that rocket-fuel bill was signed into law. In early February, the markets sank, kicking off what has been a prolonge... |
He acknowledged that stocks rose between Trump’s inauguration and the tax cut’s passage (providing simple percentages of 19.9 percent, 15.4 percent and 20.2 percent) — but Bump didn’t acknowledge those gains were huge or that they were partly driven by anticipation of tax cuts (additional factors included better global... |
Even the broadcasts networks referred to the market rally as a “Trump rally,” in late 2016 and early 2017. ABC World News Tonight with David Muir admitted on Nov. 30, 2017, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit another record high and had been driven by “optimism” about a tax cut package. |
The story also omitted information about other economic measures, even though Trump’s “rocket fuel” comment referenced the broad economy, not just the stock market. |
The OECD increased its estimates for global and U.S. economic growth in March, partially crediting the tax cuts with the higher forecast. In January, the International Monetary Fund also expected stronger economic growth, in part, because of those tax cuts. |
Thousands of Milwaukee County children live in temporary homes. Removed from their families because of abuse or neglect, they attend temporary schools with temporary friends, rely on temporary adults for temporary care. One mission of child welfare is to keep these children safe. Another is to find them permanent homes... |
Part 1: A drug-addicted mother, Brandy, vows to reunite with two sons who have spent most of their lives in foster care. Another troubled mother, Danettea, gives birth to a daughter who is immediately placed with foster parents. |
Part 2: If Brandy is to get another chance with her sons, she must demonstrate she can provide for their safety and well-being. Foster parents Ann and C.J., who hope to adopt the girl they are caring for, are left wondering whether the system really has the child's best interests in mind. |
Part 3: Brandy must put her demons behind her. Danettea must trust a system she believes is against her. Their children wait. |
Crocker Stephenson and Kristyna Wentz-Graff participated in an ongoing chat with readers over a three-day period, answering questions and addressing comments about this series. |
Brandy's vow in the spring of 2009 to regain custody of her two sons would require not only that she quit using drugs but that she also display an ability to keep the boys safe and provide for their well-being. |
Her most recent attempt at reunification had been a crashing failure. |
After nearly a year of sobriety, Brandy had been reunited with Tae and Shakiem in November 2006. |
At the time, Brandy was 39 years old and pregnant with her third son, who would be born in January 2007. In April 2007, Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare caseworker Kelly Smith, believing the boys, after years of moving from foster home to foster home, had successfully found permanency with their mother, filed a reques... |
"Brandy recently gave birth to a healthy baby boy and the new addition and transition has been successful," Smith noted in the boys' court files. |
In truth, Brandy was barely holding on. |
About a month later, Brandy left the baby with her 19-year-old daughter and asked her to watch him for a few minutes, according to court documents. Brandy vanished. After a couple of days, the daughter took the baby to police, telling them she was out of formula. |
Meanwhile, Tae, who was then 9, and Shakiem, then 7, had been left more or less to themselves and the supervision of their new brother's father. When Brandy failed to return the first night, the boys called an aunt. She brought them to her apartment, where they shared a futon. |
Days passed before Brandy returned home. She admitted to bureau workers she was using drugs again. |
The boys, for the third time in their short lives, suffered the trauma of being taken away from their mother and placed in foster homes. |
Protecting children from abuse and neglect is one mission of the child welfare system. Another is to find these children permanent homes. |
The system has three options: to reunify children with their families, to terminate parental rights - called TPR - and place the children in an adoptive home, or to place them in the care of a guardian. Reunification is the preferred and most common outcome. |
Long-term foster care is not considered an option, though it often happens by default. |
When the state takes children from a home, the children's caseworker, assisted by supervisors and other support staff, must develop a permanency plan. |
The permanency plan, which is reviewed by a judge, sets out such things as a permanency goal, how that goal is to be accomplished, what services are needed and a suggested timeline. These plans are periodically reviewed and revised. |
In Milwaukee County, as well in the rest of the nation, it is becoming common to set two permanency goals. The second is a backup, in case the first goal doesn't work out. Given the volatility of some homes, these two goals can swap with each other and alter considerably over time. |
Brandy "has not been participating in court ordered services, has not maintained sobriety, and has not increased her protective capacity. The children have been in out-of-home care off and on since 1998," it said. |
"Due to the lack of progress made by (Brandy), the number of months the children have spent in out-of-home care, and the need to establish permanency for the children, a recommendation of TPR/Adoption" is being requested. |
A backup goal of reunification was set, but Brandy, deep in her addiction, was doing nothing to make that possible. |
Ann and C.J., married since 2004, live on Milwaukee's far north side with a waggy dog named Millie and an elusive cat named Soco. |
Ann, who is 41, and C.J., who is 45, had a daughter who was 20 months old in August 2008 when child protective services summoned the couple to a Milwaukee-area hospital and asked them to be foster parents for a day-old child. |
Eager to enlarge their family and aware of a dire need for adoptive foster parents, Ann and C.J. had signed up for the necessary training and had received their license that very day. They arrived at the hospital not knowing what to expect. |
The baby, Denice, had been born with traces of marijuana in her system. |
Her 24-year-old mother, Danettea, was refusing to provide hospital staff with a urine sample. She would not identify the child's father. Two sons had already been removed from Danettea's home because of allegations of physical abuse, and she was facing a new abuse investigation, opened that day, alleging she had pushed... |
Danettea denies abusing her children. |
According to court records, Danettea's relatives began fighting among themselves when a bureau social worker told Danettea she was taking the newborn into protective custody. |
Because of security concerns, the infant was released from the hospital a day early. |
"We left under armed guard," C.J. says. |
Ann and C.J. say that when they brought Denice home, a bureau caseworker told them Denice would move straight to adoption. |
They were overjoyed. They had struggled to conceive their daughter. They immediately embraced Denice as their own. |
But the first permanency plan, filed at the end of the month, set reunification as its primary goal, with adoption as a concurrent but backup plan. |
While the purpose of concurrent planning is to streamline the path to a stable home for the child, it often results in confusion and in some cases mistrust. |
Parents hoping to reunify with their children wonder how an agency that is supposed to help them accomplish that goal can also be setting the groundwork to have their parental rights terminated. In turn, foster parents hoping to adopt wonder how the same agency can simultaneously work toward reunifying the child with a... |
Ann and C.J. say Denice's caseworker, aware that the couple had their hearts set on adoption, asked them if they still wanted to remain Denice's foster parents when the first goal became reunification. |
Of course, they said. What were they to do, Ann asked. Toss this child aside? |
The court ordered Danettea to meet a set of conditions before reunification could occur. |
Danettea had to submit to random drug screens, complete an alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, seek individual therapy, participate in a nurturing program and in a domestic violence program. |
Danettea was also warned that her parental rights could be terminated if, among other things, she failed to meet these conditions or failed to assume parental responsibility. |
The first permanency plan listed baby Denice's caseworker as Rebecca Ehrick. |
A permanency plan filed in April 2009, when Denice was 8 months old, lists a new caseworker, Vera Montgomery. |
The April plan set out a new permanency goal. It listed adoption as the primary goal, with reunification as the concurrent backup plan. |
"Due to the amount of time that the children have been in out-of-home care, coupled with (Danettea's) continuing diminished capacities - (Danettea) does not understand her protective role, (Danettea) does not set aside her own needs in favor of the children - adoption may be in the children's best interest," according ... |
Two months later, in June 2009, Denice's permanency plan changed yet again. |
Reunification was taken off the table. |
Denice's sole permanency goal became adoption, which would require termination of Danettea's parental rights. |
Ann and C.J. were confused, but they allowed themselves to once again be delighted. |
"We've had her every day of her life," C.J. says. |
They had rocked Denice through nights she could not sleep, comforted her through ear infections and asthma attacks, took her to all her doctors' appointments. They were there when she spoke her first word - "Da!" - when she took her first tentative steps, when she saw her first Christmas tree. |
"She's our daughter," C.J. says. |
Alison Ho replaced Montgomery as Denice's caseworker, though it's unclear from records why the change was made, who made it or exactly when it occurred. |
In September, just weeks after the bureau referred Denice's case to the district attorney's office for termination of Danettea's parental rights, Ho met with Danettea and with Danettea's therapist, Roger Asija, who according to Ho's notes demanded to know why the case had been referred for a TPR. |
"Roger himself has seen great improvement in Danettea's self-esteem, her confidence, and overall understanding of how she lives her life on a day to day basis," Ho wrote in a new permanency plan, which placed reunification back on the table and put the TPR on hold. |
Ho, her supervisor, Johanna Barkei, Assistant District Attorney Maria Dorsey and guardian ad litem Isa Gonzalez-Zayas met on Oct. 1 to discuss Denice's case. |
"It was felt at the time that (Danettea) was starting to make progress that may allow her to be reunified with her children. The BMCW will be working on increasing visitation and referring for a new psychological evaluation. If this is not successful, the TPR referral will be reactivated," according to a permanency pla... |
Ho, who had been involved in Denice's case for about four months, left the bureau the next day. Nearly a week went by before she sent Ann and C.J. an e-mail to tell them she was being replaced by yet another caseworker, Laura Reitz. |
Denice was 14 months old. Ann and C.J. were the only parents she knew. Reitz was her fourth caseworker. |
Caseworker turnover in child welfare agencies is a nationwide problem, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Child Welfare Information Gateway, which estimates the national turnover rate is between 30% and 40% a year. |
In 2008, the year Denice came into the system, 123 out of 179 caseworkers in the Milwaukee bureau - or 69% - left, according to the state Department of Children and Families. Last year, it was 86 out of 196 caseworkers, or 44% - still above the national average. |
Caseworker turnover undermines permanency, confuses families and injects even more instability in the lives of displaced children. |
Ann and C.J. say they did not even realize the TPR had been put on hold when Reitz became the caseworker. They could not figure out what was going on. Why, if Danettea's parental rights were being terminated, was the bureau talking about increasing Danettea's visits with Denice? |
Danettea's alleged abuse of her oldest son occurred during a supervised visit. They worried about whether Denice would be safe, even if the visits were supervised. |
The bureau appeared unaware, until Ann and C.J. told them, that the man Danettea was living with - Vergil - was a convicted drug felon. Ann and C.J. found out by simply Googling his name. |
Deepening Ann and C.J.'s confusion, and raising their hopes, was a court order filed in November that listed adoption as the sole permanency plan. |
"IS THE TPR FILED . . . YES OR NO???" |
Reitz e-mailed back that the district attorney's office had decided not to file the TPR. |
C.J. and Ann were heartsick. |
They could understand that Danettea had parental rights. |
But what about Denice's best interests? |
They were the only parents Denice had ever known. |
She loved them. They loved her. |
They could not see how it could possibly be in Denice's best interest to be ripped from their home. |
Within a few weeks of her spring 2009 vow to reunify with her two sons in foster care, Brandy enrolled at Meta House, a highly regarded drug and alcohol residential treatment program for women. |
By midsummer 2009, she graduated from the residential program and was participating in Meta House's intensive outpatient program. She had been clean for three months and continued to submit to regular urine tests. She attended parenting classes, therapy sessions and additional drug and alcohol support groups, and she m... |
As the bureau searched for a permanent home for her sons - placement with an aunt was weighed and rejected, transfer of guardianship to an uncle living in Atlanta was being explored - Brandy resumed regular, but supervised, visits with her sons, who remained in foster care. |
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