Retirement

Retirement isn’t what it used to be — especially in Minnesota and Iowa In communities like St. Charles, Rochester, La Crescent, Owatonna, and Decorah, retirees are facing a new set of challenges. From rising living costs and market volatility to evolving tax laws and longer life expectancies, today’s retirement looks very different than it did a generation […]

We often think that emotions only impact inter-personal decisions, however making consequential financial decisions in a heightened emotional state also generally isn’t a good idea.  Behavioral psychologists have identified a few common biases that can undermine our decision-making skills. While some are rooted in emotion, others are what we think of as mental shortcuts our

Planning for the challenges of aging is one of those situations we are probably inclined not to want to think about, either for ourselves or our extended family. The term “diminished financial capacity” is often bandied about as we age and describes a decline in a person’s ability to manage money and financial assets to

We wanted to bring to your attention the recent increase in social media scams designed to entice you into fraudulent financial activities.  We have probably all received the very real-looking – but fraudulent – emails that seem to come from PayPal, Amazon, Best Buy, and McAfee, which ask for us to contact them or to

Nearing retirement can be a stressful time as we shift from working to provide an income, to needing our money to work at providing that dependable income. Many people underestimate the financial stress of this major shift and seek ways to lessen it. We may have some suggestions to do that. In addition to products

The 2025 Annual Retirement Study from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement revealed that nearly two-thirds of Americans worry more about running out of money than about death. Many factors and economic pressures contribute to this fear of running out of money. Most cited either high inflation, social security not providing as much

According to a new Gallup survey, which interviewed 1,018 adults across America, the average reported retirement age has increased from age 57, where it was in 1991, to age 66. This trend of working longer and retiring later was attributed to an increased full retirement age for Social Security, a longer average life expectancy, and

While there is no way of predicting how things will play out in the financial markets in the coming months, allowing yourself to become distracted and unsettled by volatility will likely lead to rash decisions that can disrupt your well thought out long-term plans. Instead, stay focused on what you can control. This means sticking

We all want to eventually retire, and a dream for many would be to retire rich. Choosing when is the best time to retire is one of life’s big decisions, and one that requires thought before taking the plunge. While financial markets should never be the main driver behind this decision, they inevitably can have

After years of diligent saving, many retirees become unsettled by the volatility in the markets, along with the risk of the unknown. The free-floating anxiety that exists when questions like when should you start withdrawing funds, how much is too much, will you have enough money to cover unexpected expenses, what if you outlive your