Poor planning for retirement income can be costly

Without proper planning, retirees who are drawing down assets to meet living expenses may end up paying unnecessary taxes, lowering their spendable income and choking their standard of living. They do this when they fail to consider the impact their withdrawals will have on their tax bills. Due to the nature of the income-tax laws, […]

The pros and cons of rolling your retirement-plan money into an IRA

When you leave a job where you have money invested in a defined contribution plan such as a 401k, or 403b you have the option of rolling that money into a personal IRA account. Should you do so? At Mentor, we frequently address this issue with new clients. Often such investments from old jobs have […]

Let’s pretend: Worst-case scenario for your retirement

OK, so you’ve retired, left the grind behind. You’re looking forward to golf, volunteering, spending time with the grandkids. Oops… You’ve forgotten one thing: What if your money runs out before you do? The question is simple, but arriving at an answer that won’t keep you up at night is not. It involves a thorough […]

Medicare drug benefit revisited

If you enrolled in Medicare Part D, the Drug Benefit plan, for 2006 and thought you were all set, think again. Open enrollment for 2007 runs from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31, 2006. Although you can stay in your current plan without going through the enrollment process again, you are strongly advised to review your coverage. Most plans will be changing their costs, coverages, deductibles […]

How managing risk can improve financial health

You may know about the food pyramid. It tells you to eat more healthy foods, fewer “unhealthy” ones. There is another pyramid you should know about: the risk pyramid. Its message is that over time, the higher the risk of an investment, the higher the potential return; the lower the risk, the lower the potential […]

Do you need nursing-home insurance?

The question is being asked more frequently these days as nursing-home insurance is aggressively marketed by agents seeking the high commissions and high rate of retention typical of policyholders. Some agents insist that everyone needs nursing-home (long-term-care) insurance. These are the same agents that sell life insurance to toddlers. Fact is, not everyone needs it. […]

Don’t be an ostrich – confront your risks!

An important element of financial planning is protecting the things you can’t afford to lose: your income, for instance, or your house or car. The proper approach is one of managing risks – not necessarily buying insurance, but doing a thorough and thoughtful assessment of the risks you face, then deciding to take one or […]

How much, what kind of life insurance should you have?

Most people with dependents understand the importance of life insurance in their financial plans. Few, however, are methodical or objective in determining the right amount or the right type of life insurance to buy. Life insurance can provide a much-needed safety net for people who haven’t accumulated lots of assets and whose families depend on […]

DFA funds offer low-cost, passive investment option

Most people have never heard of Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) and their mutual funds. One reason is that DFA funds are not available to the general public. Rather, they’re available only to clients of a select group of independent financial advisors – including Mentor Capital Management – and to certain institutions. Advisors are given access […]

Investing in real estate — the REIT advantage

Real estate offers an attractive supplement to traditional stock, bond and mutual fund investments. It’s tangible and usually more stable than stock and bond prices and often has a low correlation with them. You can invest directly in real estate via your personal residence or by buying rental property. Both offer the opportunity for capital […]

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