Mature American Planning Company

05/24/2026

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/social-security/changes-coming-to-social-security-in-2026

Big changes come to Social Security every year, impacting everything from the size of your benefit check to your full retirement age.

05/18/2026

One of the biggest financial threats you face is not Wall Street. It is the cost of getting old. A new AARP study shows nearly half of the 63 million Americans who are unpaid caregivers have taken on debt, stopped saving for retirement, or can’t afford food because of the cost of care-giving.

Rising costs of home care and nursing homes are pricing out middle-income families, forcing them to take on caregiving responsibilities or tap their savings

05/08/2026

Nearly 30% of adults over age 65 have experienced a drop in cognitive capacity — and financial management is among the first skills to go. The average household wealth loss from cognitive decline is nearly $124,000. And unlike market losses, those losses are often permanent.

Guaranteed lifetime income from annuities reduces the need for ongoing investment decisions, portfolio management, and withdrawal choices throughout retirement, substituting a stable contractual income stream for a sequence of potentially risky financial decisions. When the paycheck arrives automatically every month, you do not have to make complex decisions that you may no longer be able to make.

Cognitive Decline Retirement Risk can erode savings. Learn how decision risk impacts retirees and ways to protect financial security.

05/06/2026

A portfolio is not a pension. A withdrawal strategy is not a paycheck. But an annuity is. Whether we like it or not, some of the growth in annuities is absolutely because of the uncertainty that a lot of people are feeling right now. Fear is driving some of this. But math should be driving all of it. Guaranteed lifetime income belongs in every retirement plan. Does your retirement plan have a paycheck you cannot outlive?

People who buy annuities for lifetime income often think of them as an investment, when they're more like insurance, experts said.

05/05/2026

The “millionaire next door” type. Great saver. Great work ethic. Great values. Terrible spender. The hardest part of retirement is not building the nest egg. It is giving yourself permission to crack it open. Many retirees live frugally throughout retirement because they worry about running out of money. But it is possible to splurge and still have enough. It all comes down to having a plan. When your basic living expenses are covered by guaranteed lifetime income that you cannot outlive, the fear of running out of money goes away. The goal of retirement is not to die with the most money. The goal is to actually LIVE.

Good job on all that great saving. Now you need to start spending some of that hard-earned retirement savings on the things you love.

04/21/2026

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/happy-retirement/habits-for-a-happy-retirement

Staying healthy, getting social and training your brain are just as important as financial security to retire happy.

04/20/2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yC-oNgfg4U

https://www.tomhegna.com | In this video, Tom Hegna shares the story of "Annie's Six Grandchildren." Life Insurance can be purchased for pennies on the dol...

04/20/2026

Nobody brags about their team’s defense. But defense wins championships.

Football can teach retirement investors a lot about managing risk. And if predictions of a markets slump are accurate, one strategy will be particularly useful.

04/12/2026

Net worth had retreated to pre-inheritance levels, or lower, at the 365-day mark.

04/12/2026

New research has just dropped that every parent needs to see.

A study from Texas Tech University and the University of Alabama looked at heirs age 50 and older. They found that 42% of heirs had their net worth fall back to or below their pre-inheritance level within about 12 months.

Heirs spent it all fast. "This propensity to immediately spend the entire inheritance is higher than with ANY OTHER type of financial windfall”, the lead researcher wrote. Why? An inheritance is death money. It’s an emotional reminder of losing someone you love. And psychologically, people want that reminder to go away. So the money goes away with it.

The average inheritance in the study? $133,000. Gone in a year.
As Michael Finke at The American College of Financial Services put it: “Do you have a grasshopper kid? If you want the inheritance to last, don’t just dump a bunch of cash in their lap.” The researcher’s own recommendation? “Give heirs more than one shot at their inheritance.”

Perhaps a joint lifetime income annuity between a widow and each of the children is in order? Mom gets guaranteed checks for the rest of her life. When mom passes, each child continues getting checks for the rest of their life. No lump sum. No death money. No emotional spending spiral. It’s a guaranteed paycheck they can never outlive.

Net worth had retreated to pre-inheritance levels, or lower, at the 365-day mark.