The American Retirement Advisor

She started over from zero and built a seven-figure retirement on her own. Most survivors never need to do that, because most of what goes wrong in the year after a loss is preventable with a calm list and the right order.

Seven rental properties, one grieving widow, and no structure holding any of it. Part four of The Widow's Penalty is about the handoff: the inherited IRA rules that changed for your children, the tax break Arizona and Nevada families get that most of the country does not, an

Two years after a loss, a letter from Social Security can raise a widow's Medicare premium based on income from a life that no longer exists. There is a one-page form built for exactly this moment, and most people have never heard its name.

The sixties are when the widow's penalty does most of its quiet work. A tax filing status with a two-year clock. A first April filing alone.

Losing a spouse in your fifties comes with a rulebook most people never open until they need it. Survivor benefits that cannot start until 60. A remarriage rule with a hard birthday attached. A ten-year wait for Medicare.

Give the kids the house now, or leave it to them later? The tax code treats those two acts completely differently, and the difference can be worth six figures.

Many sellers still believe there is a special capital gains break once you turn 65. There is not, and the rule that replaced it has not grown in almost thirty years while home values have.

Green, yellow, red. For years those three colors of money covered nearly everything. But for more retirees than ever, the biggest asset on the balance sheet is a house or a rental, and it plays by its own rules. Part one of a new three-part series.

The window, the conversions, IRMAA, the Social Security surprise: they all run on one number, your taxable income. Here is how to pull them into a single plan, and the one reason couples should not wait. The finale of The Gap Years.

Most retirees are surprised to learn their own Social Security can be taxed, and that up to 85 percent of the benefit can land in their taxable income. Here is how it works, and the new-law confusion to clear up. Part four of The Gap Years.

IRMAA is the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, a surcharge that raises your Medicare premium based on income from two years ago. Here is how it works, and how a smart year can quietly trigger it. Part three of The Gap Years.

During the gap years your tax bracket has room in it. A Roth conversion lets you fill that room on purpose, paying tax at today's low rate instead of tomorrow's forced one. Part two of The Gap Years.

The years between your last paycheck and age 73 are often the lowest-tax stretch you will ever see. Most retirees coast through and pay for it later. Part one of The Gap Years.

A policy on a young child or grandchild can lock in lifelong insurability and quietly build a pool the next generation can borrow against. Here is how the family bank works, and the honest catch. The finale of More Than a Death Benefit.

A life insurance policy you own is counted in your taxable estate, which can quietly add to the very tax bill you hoped to cover. A special kind of trust is the fix. Part six of More Than a Death Benefit.

When a large estate owes federal tax, the bill is due in cash within nine months, and the extension to file is not an extension to pay. Here is how life insurance keeps families from a fire sale. Part five of More Than a Death Benefit.

Most people retire with nearly all their savings in accounts the government still gets to tax. Life insurance can quietly build a third bucket that it does not. Part four of More Than a Death Benefit.

Almost 70 percent of people turning 65 will need long-term care, and Medicare will not cover most of it. Some life insurance can step in while you are still living. Part three of More Than a Death Benefit.

Some life insurance quietly builds a pool of money you can borrow against, tax-advantaged, for anything you want. Here is how cash value actually works, and the honest truth about whether it is worth it. Part two of More Than a Death Benefit.

A Father's Day reflection on the most valuable thing my dad ever gave me, which was never going to show up on any account statement.

The honest answer is: it depends on the job you need it to do, and for some people it is no. Here is how to tell which side you are on. The first in our series, More Than a Death Benefit.

The worst time to assemble a coordinated team is in the middle of a crisis. The best time is now, while everything is calm. The finale of Both Ends of the Table.

Most wealth passes at death, when heirs are in their sixties and need it least. There is a strong case, and some surprisingly generous tax rules, for giving while you are here to see what it does. Part six of Both Ends of the Table.

When you already have enough, an inheritance is not really about security anymore. It is about purpose. Here is how to think about deploying a windfall when your plan is already full. Part five of Both Ends of the Table.