For decades, Social Security benefits have stood as a linchpin of any properly designed retirement plan. Originally conceived during the Great Depression as a national pension “safety net”, the system remains important for the vast majority of retired workers. More than 50 million Americans currently receive Social Security retirement benefits,…
SECURE Act 2.0 becomes law
In what is beginning to seem like an annual tradition, a bill with wide-ranging implications for taxes and retirement account strategies was hurriedly passed into law in the waning hours of 2022. Buried inside the massive 4,100-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill was a smaller retirement plan reform bill widely…
Understanding your retiree health benefits
NOTE: The following piece is intended for current and former employees of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Our founder, Jeff Jones, is a former Lockheed Martin engineer, and we at Cypress are privileged to work with a number of Lockheed employees and alumni. If you are interested in learning more about our…
An Accidental Core Component Of Your Retirement Strategy
NOTE: The following piece is intended for current and former employees of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Our founder, Jeff Jones, is a former Lockheed Martin engineer, and we at Cypress are privileged to work with a number of Lockheed employees and alumni. If you are interested in learning more about our…
When bear markets can be good
According to a popular quotation that has been apocryphally attributed to a wide cast of characters including Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and even Steve Bannon, “there are decades in which nothing happens, and weeks in which decades happen”. While the origin of the statement is uncertain (it may, in fact,…
The SECURE Act Becomes Law
For the second time in three years, our friends in Washington have chosen to celebrate the holiday season by passing a significant tax-related bill. Two years ago, a Republican-controlled Congress enacted a substantial tax reform package, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Then, in 2019, a divided government…
Making Money and Marriage Mix
Maintaining a happy marriage is always a bit of a balancing act: two individuals come into a relationship from distinct backgrounds, each having developed his or her own attitudes toward work, family, money, and how to prioritize their goals. Perhaps not surprisingly, financial matters are among the most contentious issues…
Know Your IRA Penalty Exceptions
Tax-deferred retirement accounts are an integral part of any well-designed financial plan, but they do come with certain drawbacks. Some individuals who have been particularly aggressive deferring income into 401(k) plans or IRAs might eventually find that a significant portion of their net worth—if not essentially all of it—is tied…
What's Your (Retirement) Number?
For a while, the TV commercials were seemingly ubiquitous: a variety of working professionals and business owners, walking around their offices or homes with giant 6-figure or 7-figure numbers trailing behind them like overly dependent puppies. The numbers, of course, were meant to represent the workers’ “retirement numbers”, the amount…
Are HSAs the New IRA?
While the Republicans’ “repeal and replace” American Health Care Act has been withdrawn for now, apparently left to wither on the vine as Congress attends to other matters, it’s likely that it will be revived in some form or fashion in the near future. If and when the bill does…
