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In times of crisis, you don’t want to be shaking pennies out of a piggy bank. Having a financial safety net in place can ensure that you’re protected when a financial emergency arises. One way to accomplish this is by setting up a cash reserve, a pool of readily available funds that can help you meet emergency or highly urgent short-term needs.

In Hollywood movies, when a patriarch or matriarch dies, the relatives gather to find out what money or valuables they’ve inherited. Then, someone gets greedy and causes an all-out family squabble. In real life, however, the dramas that erupt around inheritance are surprisingly often not about the money.

During his working years, Fritz Gilbert was a super saver: He socked away an average of 20 percent of his earnings and invested carefully. But when he retired from a 33-year career in the aluminum industry in 2018, he and his wife, Jackie, switched their mindset. Within the confines of their carefully constructed financial plan, they became unabashed spenders.

In late 2021, after months of growing anticipation about inflation pressures, the closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure surged to 6.8 percent on a year-over-year basis. The November reading represented a nearly 40-year high and triggered a tsunami of alarming headlines across financial media outlets.

In this installment of Client Conversations, we explore the unique benefits of nonqualified defined contribution plans, look at options for covering healthcare costs in early retirement, and provide some insights on surging home prices and the drivers behind them.

We’ve been hearing a lot about inflation lately, but what’s all the hype about? Some of it is practical. Restarting the global economy after the COVID-19 shutdown has not come without a few hiccups that have dramatically affected the prices of some goods and services—food, energy, automobiles, and transportation services to name just a few.

If you have a 401(k) plan at work and need some cash, you might be tempted to borrow or withdraw money from it. But keep in mind that the purpose of a 401(k) is to save for retirement. Take money out of it now, and you’ll risk running out of money during retirement. You may also face stiff tax consequences and penalties for withdrawing money before age 59½. Still, if you’re facing a financial emergency—for instance, your child’s college tuition is almost due and your 401(k) is your only source of available funds—borrowing or withdrawing money from your 401(k) may be your only option.

In this installment of Client Conversations, the team at VESTED gets into old-world and modern-day tactics crooks use to steal from 401(k), 403(b), and other retirement accounts. From contacting financial institutions pretending to be the account holder to convincing the account holder to transfer funds out of the account—we’re exposing what you need to know to safeguard your accounts. Also included are insights on the potential age delay in RMDs. With change expected to become law by the end of the year or sometime in 2022, VESTED dives into the ways that the extra years could provide more time to strategize.