Participant Insights

Portfolio rebalancing, how to budget your money, what’s an HSA and who needs one? Preparing for retirement is hard. From personal finance basics to retirement planning and everything in between, we’ve got a few ideas to make life a little simpler. Contact MCF with any questions.

Investing in Uncertain Markets

Four Tips for Increasing Your Retirement Dollars

September 15, 2020

1. Don’t Cash Out Retirement Plans When Changing Employment When you leave a job, the vested benefits in your retirement plan are an enticing source of money. It may be difficult to resist the urge to take that money as cash, particularly if retirement is many years away. If you do decide to cash out, understand that you will very likely be required to pay federal income taxes, state income taxes, and a 10 percent penalty if under age 59½. This can cut into your investments significantly and negatively impact your retirement savings goals! When changing jobs, you generally have three options to keep your retirement money invested – you can leave the money in your previous employer’s plan, roll it over into an IRA, or transfer the money to your new employer’s plan.

Staying Focused During Market Volatility

September 8, 2020

Market volatility is a term used to describe the daily fluctuations, large and small, of the stock market. While volatility is an inevitable element of investing, markets have tended to reward those investors who don’t get rattled during market declines and stick to a long-term investment strategy. There are a wide range of factors that may affect market volatility such as world events, performance of certain sectors of the market, political factors, and natural disasters. Most of these factors are beyond anyone’s control and happen unexpectedly. So, what is a retirement investor to do when volatility strikes?

Investing in Uncertain Markets

August 25, 2020

Retirement Plan Check-Up

August 18, 2020

It is important to conduct regular check-ups on your retirement plan to make sure you are on track to reach your retirement goals. Below are a few questions to ask yourself, at least annually, to see if (and how) they affect your retirement planning.

5 Risks to Retirement Income

August 11, 2020

Good Health is the Best Wealth

July 14, 2020

Alisha and Jasmine are both 45 years old and both sought medical treatment for high blood pressure. Alisha doesn’t follow the lifestyle changes her doctor suggested, whereas Jasmine diligently follows her doctor’s recommendations. With Jasmine’s small changes she saves more than $1,000 in out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Additionally, Jasmine’s combined pre-retirement and in-retirement savings will be $89,456 more than Alisha, as shown in the table below.