: Biden’s plan for free and easy at-home COVID-19 tests may not be as simple as it sounds. ‘Like everything we do in health care in America, we make it complicated’

President Joe Biden wants to make at-home COVID-19 testing kits widely available — and free — this winter as the omicron variant emerges in a re-opening economy.

“The bottom line: This winter, you will be able to test for free in the comfort of your home and have some peace of mind,” Biden said Thursday, unveiling a plan that also includes tighter testing timelines for international travelers entering the country.

Health insurance companies will cover the costs of the at-home tests for people on their plans, the president said. The government will distribute tests to health centers and clinics so people without private insurance can get them too, he added.

But there are still open questions about how this plan will play out, public health experts say. Will customers have to first pay for the testing kits and get their reimbursement later? Or can they exit a pharmacy, testing kit in hand, without opening their wallet?

Prices for home testing kits typically range from $7 per test (or $14 for two) to $38.99 per test, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches national health issues. Paying for these tests on a regular basis could be cost-prohibitive for many people, even if a reimbursement check is coming later. “If a consumer wanted to test regularly, even the least expensive test ($14 for two tests) used twice a week would amount to $728 per year, assuming they could get tests in this quantity,” KFF reported.

The pricey realities will crimp the effectiveness of Biden’s plan, said Eric Schneider, an M.D. and senior vice president for policy and research at The Commonwealth Fund.. “We have a real problem with pricing in this country,” he said, noting that at-home tests are widely available for free or low cost in other countries, like the United Kingdom.

Putting money aside, will there be enough at-home testing kits to go around at a time when the supply chain is being strained so many ways? Even if companies churn out 300 million test kits every month, that’s fewer than one test kit each month for every person in the U.S., KFF noted.

“The devil is in the details. We need to understand how this is going to happen,” said Carlos del Rio, a professor of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. “Like everything we do in health care in America, we make it complicated,” said del Rio, an M.D. who’s also the executive associate dean for the Emory School of Medicine at Grady Health System. 

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Biden administration officials have often mentioned “reimbursement” in reference to the tests, so it sounds like consumers will be carrying the upfront costs, according to Lindsey Dawson, an associate director at KFF. Like del Rio, she’s waiting to hear more.

“To the extent that consumers have to recoup dollars from insurance companies, this would require some legwork from the consumer,” she said. They’ll have to know there’s an opportunity to get paid back, save their receipts, determine their insurer’s reimbursement process “and, of course, be able to front the cost.”

On Friday, White House COVID-⁠19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients confirmed Americans will have to hold onto their receipts when it comes to this part of the plan.

“More than 150 million Americans on private health insurance will be able to submit receipts for at-home tests directly to their health insurance plans, so they can go to their local pharmacy, they can order online, and then get reimbursed,” he said, adding that free tests for people without private insurance would become available starting this month.

More specifics on Biden’s plan are coming, but that may not happen until next month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.

“We expect to have the final rules on this and have this implemented in mid-January, so I expect additional details about how it will work and the functioning of it will be out in that timeline,” she said. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department still need to write rules on the initiative, Psaki noted.

Representatives at both departments did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Does insurance currently cover at-home COVID-19 tests?

“In the past, private insurers were not compelled to cover at-home tests in most cases,” Dawson said. The new initiative is not going to retroactively apply to tests that consumers already paid for, a senior Biden administration official said during a Wednesday press briefing.

Medically necessary COVID-19 testing is completely covered by insurance. So the exception for at-home tests was, at least previously, “when the test is ordered by an attending health care provider who has determined that the test is medically appropriate,” according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This applied for Medicaid recipients too, Dawson noted.

Now it remains to be seen what the new rules will do — and how insurers will handle what comes next.

For example, employees who refuse to get vaccinated even if their workplace requires it are theoretically on the hook for their own testing costs, because businesses don’t have to pay the recurring test costs of employees, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s hotly disputed vaccine mandate rule. The rule was supposed to go into effect in January but is on pause while it’s being challenged by a group of lawsuits consolidated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The plans for expanded at-home testing do not appear to be changing that workplace screening requirement, Dawson said.  

But when is an unvaccinated person getting an at-home test for their regular life, and when is it for workplace compliance — and potentially their cost to pay? That may be for insurance companies to determine, Dawson said.

America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade association, did not respond to a request for comment.

Are there enough at- home COVID-19 testing kits?

The White House says the country now has four times the amount of tests it had by late summer. Supplies have seemed to improve, Schneider said. Still, he added, “I don’t think manufacturers are producing the millions of tests you would need to have widespread use.”

If everyone age 11 and over tested twice a week, the country would need 2.3 billion monthly tests, KFF researchers said. If half the country tested once a week, the country would need 600 million monthly tests, the researchers said.

With rising demand, “capacity has become one of the biggest issues for manufacturers,” said John Pecaric, president of RRD
RRD,
-0.94%

 Business Services and Marketing Solutions.

Pecaric’s portfolio includes RRD Supply Chain Solutions, which helps COVID-19 test kit makers with assembly and distribution. The business unit has seen more test kit companies coming to them in need of help.

“The supply chain has become even more complex than normal for companies managing the in-house kit assembly themselves,” he said. “Freight delays and labor shortages are exacerbating the complexity of the normal supply chain and fixed costs can be high, which makes working with a supplier who can easily scale up and down highly appealing.”

A spokesman for Abbott Laboratories
ABT,
+1.11%
,
the maker of BinaxNOW, an over-the-counter COVID-19 test that sells for $23.99 at CVS
CVS,
+0.77%
,
says the company is up for the challenge.

Demand for the testing kit “is strong as it is the most widely used and studied rapid antigen test in the U.S., which is why Abbott scaled up manufacturing over the summer and are now making more than 50 million tests per month.” The company is working with retailers, schools, universities, employers and public health officials “to ensure tests get to where they’re needed most,” he said.

Quidel Corporation
QDEL,
+0.74%
,
maker of the QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Test ($23.99 at CVS), said its staff is “working tirelessly to increase our manufacturing capacity to a run-rate of 70 million tests per month by the end of the year to provide our communities with access to affordable COVID-19 testing.” Those production efforts also include fulfilling a 12-month federal government contract for 100 million QuickVue tests, the company noted.

Like other aspects of Biden’s plan, Dawson had questions about whether home test manufacturers will have enough supply to meet consumer demand. “We’ll have to wait and see,” she said.

The Ratings Game: Nvidia stock slides into correction territory after FTC sues to halt Arm deal

Nvidia Corp. shares slid into correction territory Friday, a day after the chip maker’s chances for closing its acquisition of chip designer Arm Ltd. dwindled even further.

Nvidia
NVDA,
-5.60%

shares fell 6% Friday, or more than 12% below their all-time high of $346.47 set on Nov. 22.

Late Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the $40 billion acquisition of Arm from SoftBank Group Corp. 
9984,
-0.71%

 that has met with several headwinds since it was first announced back in late 2020.

In a note, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon, who has an outperform rating and a $360 price target on Nvidia, said of the deal “no one think it will close anyway,” arguing the FTC’s action likely supports thinking at other regulatory agencies, and that Nvidia “will be fine either way.”

The FTC’s release “indicates that the agency has cooperated closely with the competition agencies in the EU, UK, Japan, and South Korea (i.e. virtually every critical geography except for China), suggesting that where the FTC is going, the rest of the world is likely to follow.”

“Owning Arm would be very nice, and enable Nvidia to help create, and invest in, a broader Arm datacenter ecosystem, and we would love to see it happen,” Rasgon said. “But if they can’t pull it off, they will save the purchase price in cash & stock (originally ~$40B, now closer to ~$75B given the share price appreciation since the deal announcement), and will undoubtedly continue to push forward on their Arm server and DPU efforts standalone.”

Citi Research analyst Atif Malik, who has a buy rating and a $350 price target on Nvidia, said with the FTC action he know expects a 5% likelihood the deal closes, down from a previous 30% chance.

“We view a potential path forward if Nvidia can present remedies that, among other options, might include creating a ‘Chinese Wall’ between the R&D engine and Arm business contracts in order to ease the regulatory antitrust concerns,” Malik said.

Not only did Nvidia shares fall into correction territory, but they were also joined by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD,
-6.19%

The stock was down 6% at last check, or 14% below their all-time high of $164.46 set on Nov. 30.

Both Nvidia and AMD recently posted strong, record earnings amid the continuing global chip shortage.

Similarly, the PHLX Semiconductor Index
SOX,
-1.02%

is more than 5% off its recent high of 2,675.37 touched on Nov. 22.

: Nio, Alibaba lead losses for U.S.-listed stocks of Chinese companies after Didi delisting news

U.S.-listed shares of major Chinese companies, including electric-car maker Nio Inc. and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Inc., tanked on Friday following news that ride-sharing company Didi Global Inc. plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange.

American depositary receipts of Nio Inc.
NIO,
-12.26%
,
which earlier this week reported rising November sales, were off 12% in late trading Friday, poised to end the week off more than 20%. Li Auto Inc.
LI,
-16.78%
,
another Chinese EV maker that reported November sales this week, fell 16%, putting it on track for weekly losses of around 13%.

: Adobe stock stumbles toward worst day in 20 months as DocuSign fears spark ‘knee-jerk reaction’

Shares of Adobe Inc. are sinking Friday, and on track for their worst performance in more than 20 months, after DocuSign Inc. delivered what some saw as a the latest sign of a demand cooldown for work-from-home software.

DocuSign
DOCU,
-42.07%

Chief Executive Dan Springer acknowledged Thursday that while his electronic-signature company saw “accelerated growth” for six quarters amid the pandemic, customers have gone back to “more normalized buying patterns.” As a result, DocuSign delivered a downbeat bookings outlook, sending its shares cratering 40%.

Some of that investor fear seems to be transferring over to Adobe
ADBE,
-9.30%
,
which also offers contract-management software and allows for the collection of e-signatures. Adobe’s stock is off 9.4% in Friday afternoon trading and on pace to log its steepest single-day percentage drop since March 16, 2020, when it lost 14.8%. Adobe is pacing S&P 500
SPX,
-1.41%

laggards Friday.

The decline in Adobe shares struck Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives as a “DOCU-related selloff” as DocuSign’s report served as a “a barometer that the WFH tailwinds are now abating and could be a headwind for Adobe,” he told MarketWatch. “The DOCU print was a shocker and this is a knee-jerk reaction.”

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Adobe is due to post its own quarterly results Dec. 16. The company highlighted its e-signature technology in its prior earnings report, as Chief Financial Officer John Murphy noted that “third-quarter Document Cloud growth drivers included adoption of Sign in Acrobat driven by the increased need to collaborate in a hybrid work environment.”

While other at-home stocks took a hit on disappointing outlooks earlier in the course of the pandemic, DocuSign initially appeared more resilient. Its stock hit an all-time high in September and was up 165% since March 2020 as of Thursday’s close. Now the company will need to “show that it can generate, not just fulfill, demand on a regular basis,” according to an Evercore analyst.


FactSet, MarketWatch

Adobe has a more diversified business than DocuSign. While the company sells contract-related software, it has a variety of other offerings including subscriptions to creative programs like Photoshop. Adobe’s Document Cloud accounted for about 13% of the company’s overall revenue in its last-reported quarter.

Shares of Adobe were up 86% since March 2020 as of Thursday’s close.

Market Extra: As DocuSign suffers its worst stock decline on record, these ETFs have the biggest exposures

A precipitous decline in shares of DocuSign was rewriting the record books for the electronic-signature company, pushing it toward its worst daily drop on record.

But the drop for the company also was denting the performance of a handful of exchange-traded funds where DocuSign has its largest exposure.

The Ecofin Digital Payments Infrastructure Fund
TPAY,
-4.64%
,
where DocuSign was a top 10 holding, was down 4.1%; the American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF
FDG,
-4.88%
,
where the company is a top 5 holding, was off 4.7%. Meanwhile, the iShares Cybersecurity & Tech ETF
IHAK,
-4.51%
,
trading 4.7% lower, and the ProShares Nasdaq-100 Dorsey Wright Momentum ETF
QQQA,
-4.00%
,
off 4%, all had exposure to DocuSign.

DocuSign’s tumble comes after its latest earnings report, in which it delivered a disappointing billings outlook as Chief Executive Dan Springer called out a “return to more normalized buying patterns” following a stretch of “accelerated growth.”

The company had been viewed as a hot pandemic stock play but now was being viewed as a sign of a company that might have grown too quickly as investors crowded into trades that worked.

Friday’s downturn was also a part of a broader selloff in the tech and tech-related sector, with the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-2.51%

down more than 6% from its Nov. 19 peak and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-1.46%

and the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.76%

facing a volatile period of trade, marked by fears about the spread of novel variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, designated as omicron the World Health Organization last Friday, and comments from the Federal Reserve that point to tighter financial conditions, problematic for tech stocks that tend to be sensitive to moves in borrowing costs.

Market Extra: ARK Innovation fund falls to lowest level in over a year as Nasdaq Composite sinks toward correction

Cathie Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF on Friday carved out lows not seen in more than a year, as the technology sector suffered through an omicron-inspired repricing that brought the Nasdaq Composite Index more than halfway to correction territory.

At last check, the ARK Innovation
ARKK,
-5.79%

exchange-traded fund was down 6.4% and off more than 13% so far this week, with Friday’s decline bringing the index to around $92.43, representing the lowest point for the index since Nov. 2, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Wood formed ARK Investment Management about seven years ago, and is listed as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance by Barron’s, but her flagship fund has been pounded in recent months and now stands over 40% beneath its Feb. 15 peak, FactSet data show.

The downturn for the Ark Innovation and the broader suite of ETF offerings from Wood comes after a stellar 2020 when last year, five of ARK’s seven ETFs returned an average of 141%, on the back of gains from companies such as Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-6.01%
,
and Teladoc Health Inc.
TDOC,
-4.14%
,
cementing the investors’ clout on Wall Street.

However, gains for those companies have come off the boil, with Tesla down 15% in the past 30 days and Teladoc, representing the largest holdings with ARK Innovation, off 40% over the same period.

On Friday, one of the fund’s other holdings, DocuSign
DOCU,
-42.21%
,
was trading more than 40% lower, heading toward its worst day on record after the electronic-signature company’s billings and revenue forecast missed expectations and its chief executive admitted a pandemic boom wore off in the quarter.

Meanwhile, another ARK fund was also struggling. The ARK Genomic Revolution ETF
ARKG,
-4.71%

is down 25% over the past month and is off 37% in the year to date, after surging 178% last year.

The decline for ARK funds comes as, the Invesco QQQ Trust
QQQ,
-2.43%
,
which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index
NDX,
-2.40%
,
by comparison was off 2.8% on the month and up 21% in the year to date. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-2.52%

was off 4.94% in the past 30 days but up 17% so far in 2021. The index also was 6.6% from its Nov. 19 record high.

The S&P 500 index
SPX,
-1.47%

was down 3% on the month but up over 20%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.76%

was 4.64% lower over the past 30 days but up nearly 13% thus far in the year.

Wood has been committed to her investment approach, indicating that she didn’t plan to change course for her ETFs.

Retirement Weekly: The best reason of all to postpone retirement

Everyone knows the financial arguments for why we should wait as long as possible to Social Security benefits: Your benefits increase by 8% for every year from age 62 to age 70 that you postpone claiming.

For those who have other sources of income during these years, increases this large are hard to beat.

But this financial argument, compelling as it is, misses an even more important reason to wait as long as possible before retiring: Those who work longer experience less cognitive decline. I don’t know about you, but that alone would convince me to postpone retirement even if there were no financial reason to do so.

This cognitive benefit of postponing retirement was documented by a study that was published in the September 2021 issue of SSM –Population Health, a peer-reviewed journal. Entitled “Does postponing retirement affect cognitive function?,” its authors, from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, are Joe Mhairi Hale, Maarte Bijlsma, and Angelo Lorenti.

Many have suspected for years that retirement hastens cognitive decline. But actually proving it has remained elusive, since doing so requires teasing apart the interactions between myriad different factors and trying to determine cause and effect.

It might be, for example, that those who have more cognitive abilities in the first place will be employed in more cognitively-engaging jobs and want to work as long as possible. Though their cognitive functioning during their late 60s and early 70s will likely be greater than others of the same age who have retired, we don’t know whether that is because of their decision to continue working, or because their jobs are more cognitively engaging, or because they had more cognitive abilities in the first, or some other factor(s) altogether.

The authors of this new study employed a novel statistical technique, beyond the scope of this column, that is able to separate causes and effects. They applied the technique to data collected by the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) from the University of Michigan. The HRS data is based on a biennial survey of around 20,000 Americans over the age of 50.

The researchers found evidence of a strong cause-and-effect relationship between postponing retirement and improved cognitive function. Furthermore, they found that “postponed retirement is beneficial to cognitive function for all genders, races/ethnicities, educational levels, and regardless of professional or non-professional occupational status.”

Note carefully that the study isn’t saying that, if you or I postpone retirement, our cognitive functioning will actually increase. Their conclusion instead is that postponing retirement slows down the process of cognitive decline that occurs as we age. So the improved cognitive function that the study finds associated with working longer is in relative terms—relative to those who retire.

This study’s conclusions dovetail with other research about which I’ve written before. That other research found a marked increase in mortality among men who choose to begin receiving their Social Security benefits at the earliest possible age of 62.

Also relevant are the findings of another study I’ve written about before that focused on what happened in the Netherlands when the tax code was changed to incentivize working beyond age 62. The authors found that this change led to an increase in life expectancy by as much as two years, on average.

Frankly, I am surprised that this recent study hasn’t received more attention in the retirement financial planning community. The only mention I’ve seen of it in the investment arena was in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Association of Individual Investors.

Regardless, though, the implication is clear: When thinking about whether and when to retire, we need to focus on more than financial health alone.

Mark Hulbert is a regular contributor to MarketWatch. His Hulbert Ratings tracks investment newsletters that pay a flat fee to be audited. He can be reached at mark@hulbertratings.com.

Retirement Weekly: Spread the love — and 3 other things new investors need to know

An extraordinary number of people began investing for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s exciting to see how engaged they are about entering the market. At Schwab we call this cohort of new investors “Generation Investor” (or Gen I), and our research shows that they make up 15% of all current U.S. stock market investors. With so many beginners starting their investing journey at once I thought I’d offer them four pieces of practical advice.

But first, it’s worth sharing a few things we’ve learned about Gen I this past year. Schwab conducted two different studies exploring what drives new investors’ decision making, investing priorities, goals, expectations, and more.

The research shows that Gen I investors are confident in themselves and bullish on the markets. They’re not afraid to consider a range of investments from blue-chip companies and funds to “meme” stocks and cryptocurrencies, and they see the fun and excitement in investing. That said, they’re by no means flippant or unserious about how they manage their finances. They’re planners, and their time horizons tend to be long-term.

I love the combination of energy, engagement, optimism, and pragmatism that Gen I brings to investing. These aren’t just careless speculators, but an eager group of new investors looking to understand and learn. At the same time, a unique thing that Gen I investors share is having only seen one market cycle. But market cycles change, and new investors have to be prepared.

That brings me to my four pieces of advice for them:

1. Do a stress test – Every investor must know their risk tolerance, and it can be hard to measure when markets are rising. But you have to really test yourself to understand how much risk you’re willing to take—both financially and psychologically. Ask yourself, could you afford to lose a significant portion of the money you’re investing? How would you react to a 20% drop in your portfolio? If the answers are “no” and “poorly,” you should invest in ways more in line with your risk tolerance.

Read: Stressed about market volatility and want to change your investments? Do these 5 things before making a move

2. Spread the love – Tech stocks and crypto can be exciting, but beware of overconcentration. A mix of assets can help reduce the impact of any single investment on your portfolio’s performance. Also, when one asset class does poorly, others may do well. So spread the love. Diversify your risks across asset classes, sectors and regions. Make some investments that you may even consider boring — things like bonds. Having a robust mix of holdings can help smooth out the ride.

3. Avoid drift—As markets rise and fall, your portfolio can drift. Consider repositioning assets that have become oversize in relation to the rest of your portfolio and move that money into positions that have become undersized. Staying invested is key to long-term success, but being a prudent investor requires trimming from positions that have increased and caused a portfolio to get out of alignment. This can be emotionally challenging, because you’re selling positions in investments that have gone up, but avoiding drift helps ensure that your portfolio aligns better with your risk tolerance. It’s a good practice to rebalance at least once a year, and potentially more frequently if markets make big swings. Keep in mind, though, that there may be tax implications and other costs associated with selling investments.

4. Choose wisely – Consider where you invest. What kind of tools and services do they offer, and how can you interact with them if you need guidance or have a question about market volatility? A great investing app is important, but not enough for most new investors. Our research revealed that when markets see significant swings upward or downward, 84% of Gen I want access to a person to talk about it. So look for a combination of great tech and human support.

It’s undeniably great news that so many people have started investing over the past 18 months, and we’re encouraged by what we see in the instincts among Gen I to plan. If and when the market cycle changes, having a good plan in place will be critical.  

Amy Richardson is a Certified Financial Planner professional with Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium, Schwab’s hybrid digital advisory service which combines a fully automated investment portfolio with a comprehensive financial plan and unlimited guidance from a Certified Financial Planner professional.

The information here is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered an individualized recommendation or personalized investment advice.

Investing involves risks, including loss of principal. Diversification and asset allocation strategies do not ensure a profit and cannot protect against losses in a declining market.

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium® are made available through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”), a dually registered investment adviser and broker-dealer. 1121-1KDR

Retirement Weekly: Are your retirement savings falling short? Here’s what to do.

The answer to “how much savings do I need for a comfortable retirement?” is incredibly personal. There are a lot of factors that go into determining this value for each unique person.

Whatever that perfect number is for you, the best way to get there is to start saving early. But if you’re closing in on retirement and feel like your savings are too lean, don’t worry—there are steps you can take, even late in the game, to set yourself up for a comfortable retirement.

1. Make a plan ASAP

Knowing how much money you need in savings to retire comfortably is the key question. And no matter what age you are, it’s never too late to make this calculation.

This value will be completely driven by how much you plan to spend on a monthly or annual basis when you retire. This is typically driven by your current lifestyle; however, lifestyles can fluctuate depending on what stage of life you’re in. For example, a young professional may prefer a more expensive lifestyle than they currently have, whereas a couple with three children may be currently spending more money on college savings than they will during retirement.

Whatever your individual case may be, sit down and map it out so you know the reality and can make sound financial decisions to help you reach your goal. If you aren’t sure how to begin, set up a meeting with a financial adviser to ensure you’re putting your best foot forward.

Read: The happiest retirees have at least $500,000, one financial adviser said. Here’s what readers had to say about that.

2. Avoid the comparison game

It’s human instinct—and we all do it—but when it comes to catching up on your retirement savings, it’s imperative to resist the urge to “keep up with the Joneses.”

When you’re building your wealth, try to quell your need for “the latest and greatest.” When you do buy something, buy quality so that it lasts and you won’t need to continually re-buy that item. Instead of wasting money on constant upgrades to items that still work just fine, you’ll be investing in your retirement and setting yourself up for a healthy financial future. Focus on you and your goals, not those of your neighbors or peers.

A good tactic to achieve this is reverse budgeting: living a lifestyle that’s affordable after your savings plans are in place. Once your savings and investments are tucked away, you’ll live day-to-day on the remainder. By not spending every dollar you make, and never “dipping into” your investments, you’ll set yourself up for successful savings.

3. Consider a backdoor Roth

If your cash flow and income level allow, a backdoor Roth could help you save more by building a tax-free bucket of money to use in retirement.

The backdoor Roth IRA allows high-income earners to put money into a Roth IRA for future tax-free savings that isn’t subject to Required Minimum Distribution requirements. There aren’t immediate tax benefits, but you’ll be able to take advantage of tax-free growth for the future—which can be key if you’re falling behind on your retirement savings.

Keep in mind that if you’re younger than 59.5, there is a rule that requires funds from a converted Roth to remain in the account for a minimum of five years, or you may be subject to an early-withdrawal penalty.

Read: Congress is about to kill this popular retirement tax move

4. Actions to take today

If you’re anxious to boost your retirement savings right away, here’s a list of quick tips to help you get started.

  • Use credit cards with benefit plans: Try to put most of your daily expenses on a credit card that offers points or mileage. Pay the balance off in full every month so you don’t incur fees, and use the rewards system to cover your leisure activities or vacations so the rest of your savings can go entirely to a retirement fund. 

  • Minimize your taxes: Lots of financial investments offer an element of tax savings to you—including retirement plans, home mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and health savings accounts. Consulting a financial and tax professional could be helpful to determine which of these options makes the most sense for you.

  • Consider college savings plans: If you have children and want to save for their education, there are many plans available that offer tax benefits. Review the benefits of custodial plans, 529 plans, and prepaid tuition plans to determine how much you might be able to save in future cash flow and tax savings.

  • Take advantage of “catch up” features: Retirement and IRA “catch up” features allow for savers age 50 and over to put away an additional $6,500 contribution for 401(k)s and $1,000 contribution for IRAs.

  • Invest in growth-focused investments: If you have five or more years until you need your retirement funds, adjust your portfolio to balance the risk of downturns in the stock market with bonds or stable-value investments.

  • Add investments with downside protection: Safeguard your savings in case the stock market makes an unexpected decline.

  • Consider you potential long-term care needs. Certain insurance policies allow you to purchase coverage that can be paid up in 10 years. It may be best to purchase these while you’re still working and earning income rather than when you retire.

It’s never too late to start saving aggressively for retirement. Making a comprehensive plan—covering savings, debt management, insurance, taxes, investments, retirement, and estate planning—is the best way to ensure you’re preparing today for what you’ll need tomorrow.

Faron Daugs, CFP, Wealth Advisor, is founder and chief executive of Harrison Wallace Financial Group.

FA Center: Losing her father on 9/11 led this woman to help people manage their money and gain financial security

At the age of 16, Chloe Wohlforth lost her father in the 9/11 attack. This searing experience — and the challenge of coping with such a devastating blow — shaped her adulthood.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Martin Phillips Wohlforth was a 47-year-old bond trader working in the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. Chloe was a high-school student in Greenwich, Conn.

In the weeks after 9/11, the family’s friends rallied around Chloe and her mother. When one of them asked about the family’s financial situation, it triggered a set of events that no one could have predicted.

Wohlforth’s father had handled the family finances. Her mother had never made big decisions about money, but in the aftermath of the tragedy she faced a series of important choices.

Their friend introduced the Wohlforths to a financial adviser in October 2001. That simple act proved a godsend.

“The adviser was able to shed a lot of light on topics my mom was not sure of,” Wohlforth says. “It was amazing to see how a complete stranger could step up and be in that position [that my father was]. He spent a ton of time with us and treated our situation like it was his own.”

Rather than burden the family with a list of to-do tasks or complex discussions of financial matters, the adviser made just one request. He asked Wohlforth’s mother to fill a shopping bag with all the family’s financial account statements and related material that she could find, and drop it off at his house.

Over the following months, the adviser and Wohlforth’s mother met regularly to develop a comprehensive financial plan. While Chloe wasn’t involved in these meetings, she noticed the impact of his presence in the family’s life.

“I was aware that my mother could sleep at night because of the work he was doing,” Wohlforth recalls.

Wohlforth, now 36, attended Princeton University (her father’s alma mater) and graduated in 2007. Realizing the vital role her family’s financial adviser had played in bringing her family some stability, she chose financial services as a career and now is a certified financial planner based in New York City.

She almost never mentions her tragic loss with her clients. She says she’s brought it up “once or twice because I felt it was relevant to what they were going through.”

But she’s intent on preparing clients for life’s uncertainties by encouraging them to draft a will, buy life insurance and take other proactive estate planning steps.

Wohlforth’s experience also enhances her ability to respond to clients who suffer unimaginable loss. “When there’s a traumatic event, there’s a physical reaction and an emotional reaction,” she says. About her own loss, she adds: “Physically, I was very focused on taking it one step at a time as a high school student. The emotional impact has taken years to piece together.”

Says Wohlforth: “Everybody has a different lens when dealing with trauma,” she said. “People have different priorities and react differently. Because it’s usually different for each member of a family, you’re creating a roadmap for each of them. There’s no cookie-cutter answer.”

Meanwhile, Wohlforth continues on the road to self-discovery. When Hurricane Ida hit in August 2021, she went through boxes in her mother’s house. Perusing old letters, she found printouts of emails in the months after 9/11.

“I had printed them out because I wanted to remember the enormous amount of support I received, particularly from people I had never met before,” she says. “There’s no time limit on the healing process. I’m still learning things to this day, about my dad and about myself.”

More: ‘I promised myself I’d never be that broke again.’ This financial adviser’s family inherited $1.4 million and quickly lost it all.

Also read:This financial adviser helps people rebound from hard times. She knows what that’s like

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