Older Americans are hit by a double healthcare whammy: more chronic and acute ailments and less insurance coverage through Medicare than they had when they were working. On average, a couple retiring today will spend $225,000 for healthcare that isn't covered by Medicare, not including long-term care. And those costs keep growing: between 2000 and 2006, the average family's health care expenses rose 80%. With healthcare as such a pressing issue, planners are fielding a lot more calls from retirees and pre-retirees who need help to make this new math of retirement add up. There are so many nuances to the healthcare mosaic that it sometimes takes a staff of professionals to untangle it. Our podcast will give financial advisers some tools and strategies to work through what is likely to become a bigger and bigger part of their practices.

FINRA lists the top reason for bringing an arbitration case against a rep as breach of fiduciary duty. While many actions that can get a broker in hot water are obviously avoided, others are not so clear. This podcast brings together an expert panel to discuss how brokers and reps can keep a clean record.

It used to be that mutual funds were the only game in town for small investors wanting instant diversification. These days, mutual funds are consistently being challenged by exchange-traded funds, the upstart investment vehicles that have roared to prominence since the start of the decade. ETFs are still a very long way from unseating the mighty mutual fund, but assets in these offerings are growing at more than twice the rate as those in mutual funds according to the Investment Company Institute, a trade group.

Being green has gone from fringe to fashionable, and investors want a piece of this revolution too. Many are looking for a targeted way to reward companies doing right by the environment while sending a strong message to those companies that aren't. Today, one out of every nine dollars under professional management is in some type of socially responsible investment, of which environmental vehicles are a large part, according to the Social Investment Forum.

Regulatory issues for brokers and registered investment advisers are again in the public view with a new report by the RAND Corporation commissioned by the SEC about how the public perceives the difference between financial advisors and brokers.

As hard as it is to believe, the United States' share of global gross domestic product is just 29%. With so much economic activity outside our own borders, is it any wonder that investors have been turning their sights overseas in recent years? In 2007, investors plowed $123 billion into global mutual funds, while yanking $60 billion out of domestic offerings.
In this podcast, international investors fill you in on what they're doing, and where in the world they're seeking growth.

If work is its own unique time and retirement is too, then what do you call the period in between, those couple of years when one moves from all-consuming industry to a focus on what's next? Those transitory years between work and retirement, and how to navigate them, are the topic of this series of audio podcasts. Over the course of three discussions, we'll plumb the issues and challenges posed by this transition.

The fallout of the unraveling subprime mortgage markets has been felt throughout the financial markets, from banks to hedge funds to the global equity and bond markets. No one, it seems, is immune.

We've assembled leading experts to explained how this happened and where to go from here -- to protect your clients, help them get through these volatile markets and perhaps even capitalize on emerging opportunities.

The greatest financial threat facing today’s retirees is outliving their resources. With most of today’s retirees expecting to live 20 to 30 years past the traditional retirement age, plans today have to balance the need for current income with the need for growth.

We will discuss how to project future income needs and strategies for implementing a cash flow plan based on known income sources. We will also explore options for those who want to continue to work.

Financial Planning Magazine is pleased to present a special three-part Podcast Series exploring the best strategies for the changing retirement landscape. Each podcast will include a different panel of industry experts who will provide insights on the challenges of retirement planning.

This series includes ‘The Challenges of Financing a Modern Retirement’, ‘Creating a Retirement Income Portfolio’ and ‘Client Communications and the New Retirement Reality’.