Dan Gallagher

Dan Gallagher, MBA, CFP, has been a financial planner for over thirty years, and has provided retirement building seminars and written extensively on the topic for the trade and the general public.

The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.7)

Most people know that as they approach age 65, they need to learn about Medicare. Enrollment is the ...

Future Planning August 7, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.6)

A Shameful Secret Some carriers make software available to calculate the correct estimated equivalency of the policy face ...

Future Planning August 3, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.5)

Strategy of Claim Lower Now, Higher Benefit Later The higher-benefit spouse defers but takes a spousal benefit from ...

Future Planning August 2, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.4)

At age 62, anyone with forty quarters of full-time work paying Social Security taxes may draw a permanently ...

Future Planning August 1, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.3)

Next, let’s look at guaranteed income in more detail. Immediate Annuities These contracts exchange principal permanently for income—only ...

Future Planning July 31, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.2)

Pension Settlement Decisions Think twice before accepting a commutation offer (getting a lump settlement instead of lifelong income) ...

Future Planning July 29, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 6.1)

Retirement Planning is the most complex chapter in this book, incorporating all of the prior topics, several very ...

Future Planning July 28, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 5.4)

REIT These Unit Investment Trusts have a tax advantage that corporations do not. They are not taxed at ...

Future Planning July 27, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 5.3)

The 'Disaster Fund' Imagine you have a mutual fund, rental property, or other asset that you have grown ...

Future Planning July 26, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 5.2)

Municipal Bonds and Muni Bond Funds Municipal bonds are commonly mistaken for low-risk investments, especially if diversified across ...

Future Planning July 25, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 5.1)

For the sake of liquidity (tax-favored accounts tend to be subject to tax penalties), you will want at ...

Future Planning July 24, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 4.4)

A similar folly can be seen with the way some people view real estate, which has many investment ...

Future Planning July 22, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 4.3)

The 'Secret' to Deciding on a Successful Crediting Method Actuaries design the crediting methods available to you to ...

Future Planning July 21, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 4.2)

Options as Investments The owner of a call option has paid a dollar or so for the right ...

Future Planning July 20, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 4.1)

Make New Savings Very Aggressive, and Existing Assets Well Diversified The first secret to be shared here is ...

Future Planning July 19, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 3.2)

The two ways to buy LTCi are as stand-alone (ongoing premium) policies or as riders to life or ...

Future Planning July 18, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 3.1)

Why buy insurance at all? Why not be self-insured and save the profit margin that carriers earn? After ...

Future Planning July 17, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 2)

Three-Tiered Cash Reserves You don’t need a financial advisor to know you need a cash reserve. But how ...

Future Planning July 15, 2023
The Secrets of Successful Financial Planning: Inside Tips From an Expert (Part 1)

This is the first of a series in which The Epoch Times will publish excerpts from chapter 1 ...

Future Planning July 14, 2023