Kevin Kroskey's Money & Mind

Will you live to be 100? If you’re a woman, your odds of becoming a centenarian are seemingly better than those of men. In the 2010 U.S. Census, over 80% of Americans aged 100 or older were women. 1   Will you eventually live alone? According to the Administration on Aging (a division of the federal government’s Department of Health & Human Services), about 47% of women aged 75 or older lived alone in 2010. If that prospect seems troubling, there is another statistic that also may: while 6.7% of men age 65 and older lived in poverty in 2010, 10.7% of women in that age demographic did. 2,3   Statistics like these carry a message: women need to pay themselves first. A phrase has emerged to describe all this: longevity risk. As so many women outlive their spouses by several years or more, a woman may need several years more worth of retirement income. So there is a need to consider income sources – and investment strategies – for the years after a spouse passes aw...

You may have heard about the 60 Minutes interview with author Michael Lewis, a former Wall Street broker, author of "Liar's Poker" and "The Big Short," who has just come out with a new book entitled "Flash Boys." Lewis is an eloquent and astute critic of Wall Street's creative and predatory practices, and in his new book (and in the 60 Minutes interview) he offers evidence that the stock market is "rigged" by a cabal of high-frequency traders, abetted by stock exchanges and Wall Street firms. The charge is entirely true. And it is also completely irrelevant to you and anyone else who practices patient investing. Lewis is exposing a secret advantage that a surprisingly large number of professional traders, employed by large brokerage firms, are able to get when they build high-speed fiber optic cable feeds directly into the computers that match buyers and sellers of securities. Some of those traders actually have their trading computer...

Financially, many of us associate April with taxes – but we should also associate April with important IRA deadlines.   * April 1 is the absolute deadline to take an initial IRA Required Mandatory Distribution (RMD). * April 15 is the deadline for making annual contributions to a traditional or Roth IRA. 1,2,7   Let’s discuss the contribution deadline first, and then the deadline for that first RMD (which affects only those IRA owners who turned 70½ last year).   The earlier you make your annual IRA contribution, the better. You can make a yearly Roth or traditional IRA contribution anytime between January 1 of the current year and April 15 of the next year. For example, you can make your IRA contribution for 2014 anytime from January 1, 2014-April 15, 2015.   The IRA contribution window for 2013 is January 1, 2013- April 15, 2014. 1   So you have more than 15 months to make your IRA contribution for a given year. But why wait? Savvy ...

How prepared are you to prepare your 1040? The earlier you compile and organize the relevant paperwork, the easier things may be for you (or the tax preparer working for you). Here are some tips to help you get ready: As a first step, look at your 2012 return. Unless your job, living situation or financial situation has changed notably since you last filed your taxes, chances are you will need the same set of forms, schedules and receipts this year as you did last year. So open that manila folder (or online vault) and make or print a list of the items that accompanied your 2012 return. You should receive the TY 2013 versions of everything you need by early February at the latest. How much documentation is needed? If you don’t freelance or own a business, your list may be short: W-2(s), 1099-INT(s), perhaps 1099-DIVs or 1099-Bs, a Form 1098 if you pay a mortgage, and maybe not much more. Independent contractors need their 1099-MISCs, and the self-employed need to compil...

Much has been written about research evaluating reverse mortgages in the context of a retirement income strategy and sustainability thereof.  Reverse mortgage strategies are likely to continue to gain steam in light of continually increasing life expectancy, arguably challenging expected investment returns, and because home equity represents a substantial asset for the vast majority of retirees.  In the video linked below professor John Salter outlines how retirees can put short-term cash to work in an HECM Saver reverse-mortgage product, though there are several risks to keep in mind.

The College Board recently released new college cost figures for the 2013/2014 academic year in its annual Trends in College Pricing report. The College Board noted that even though this year's increase in tuition and fees was the smallest in many years, the growth in student grant aid from previous years has not continued. As a result, many students are facing higher costs, even in the face of smaller price increases. To read the full Trends in College Pricing 2013 report, go to  trends.collegeboard.org.  Here are cost highlights: Public colleges (in-state students): Tuition and fees increased an average of 2.9% to $8,893 Room and board increased an average of 3.6% to $9,498 Total cost of attendance for 2013/2014 is $22,826 Public colleges (outstate students): Tuition and fees increased an average of 3.1% to $22,203 Room and board increased an average of 3.6% to $9,498 Total cost of attendance for 2013/2014 is $36,136 Private colleges: T...

Time to organize and centralize your documents. Before retirement begins, gather what you need. Put as much documentation as you can in one place, for you and those you love. It could be a password-protected online vault; it could be a fire-proof cabinet; it could be a file folder. Regardless of what it is, by centralizing the location of important papers you are saving yourself from disorganization and headaches in the future. So what should go in the vault, cabinet or folders? You will want to include:   Those quarterly/annual statements. Recent performance paperwork for IRAs, 401(k)s, funds, brokerage accounts and so forth. Include the statements from the latest quarter and the statements from the end of the previous calendar year (that is, the last Q4 statement you received). The custodian for your assets (think Pershing, Schwab, TD Ameritrade) generally make available up to ten years worth of statements and tax documents. Just make sure the website, username, and pas...