Lighthouse Financial LLC

Are Your Federal Income Taxes Due in May? Maybe, Maybe Not In March, the IRS announced that it was pushing the deadline for 2020 federal tax returns ahead to Monday, May 17. This extended due date does not apply to all individual taxpayers, though. For example, if you live in Texas, Oklahoma, or Louisiana, you […]

Need Cash? Avoid Tapping into Your Retirement Account Imagine if your 35-year-old self magically appeared in front of you one day and asked for a percentage of your retirement savings or a bit of your retirement income. While this would never happen, something financially analogous happens in the lives of too many people. They withdraw […]

Evaluating an Opportunity for an Early Retirement The pandemic has hastened the retirement of some baby boomers, and the linked furloughs and layoffs in many industries have led others to wonder if a retirement transition might come sooner than they think. Buyouts became common last year as businesses cut costs. What if you receive one […]

To Retire, or Not to Retire? For some of us, the coronavirus pandemic has complicated the question of when to retire. As Yahoo! Finance reports, a Harris Poll study conducted this past summer found that 25% of Gen Xers and 14% of baby boomers think they will retire later than they planned because of the […]

This Year, There Is More Incentive to Givet When the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act became law in March, it broadened charitable tax deduction opportunities. These special 2020 tax provisions are worth reviewing before they expire on December 31, 2020. First and foremost, the CARES Act allows individuals and couples taking the […]

Most Americans Think They Will Work in Retirement A life of leisure? That may not be what retirement looks like for baby boomers and Gen Xers—and in fact, it may not be what they want their retirements to look like. Market research firm Ipsos surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. adults earlier this year and found […]

Are Vehicle Costs Blocking the Road to Retirement? Logically, investing tens of thousands of dollars toward retirement may make more sense than adding an equivalent amount of consumer debt here and now. Practically, though, we need a good car or truck, and emotionally, we get a kick out of driving something new. So, we buy […]

Could You Retire at 55? Suppose you suddenly had to, or the opportunity presented itself. This prospect would not call for disregarding your carefully considered retirement strategy, but it would create some challenges. Social Security, Medicare, and popular retirement accounts were all created with the assumption that Americans would need retirement benefits and sources of […]

Figuring Out When to Start Your Second Act Many Gen Xers and baby boomers look forward to retiring on their terms. In such a circumstance, a key question becomes when to walk away from work. According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, the average retirement age is now 65 for men and […]

Has the Pandemic Affected the Retirement Mind-set? Each year, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies surveys baby boomers, Gen Xers, and millennials to gauge their perceptions about retiring. The 2020 survey, conducted in April, studied the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it may have affected their outlooks. Overall, 53% of respondents said that […]