It can be difficult determining how to balance planning for retirement while also investing for your children/grandchildren's college education. Our first article outlines how to prioritize decisions and accomplish both. Financially, marriage makes a lot of sense for retirees. Our second article details the benefits, and how to best take advantage of tax laws and other financial planning options during this stage of life.

This month's "What's Happening Now" section shares interesting stories on why there is not likely to be a cost of living increase for social security benefits in 2021, unusual commencement celebrations during COVID-19, and 5 things that need to happen for pro sports to come back.

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For parents, deciding how much to save for retirement versus what to set aside for a child’s education can be a difficult balancing act. Saving for your future should be a priority, particularly through maximizing the benefits of retirement plans. But, although paying yourself first is essential, that doesn’t mean you can’t set funds aside to further a child’s education. A college savings plan is a tax-advantaged way to achieve this goal.

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Financially, Marriage Makes a
Lot of Sense for Retirees

There are many financial pros and cons to getting married, but for those close to retirement who have been dating for a long time, there are several federal laws that provide some good financial reasons to give it some serious consideration.

If you are married, you can roll your deceased spouse's IRA over to your own IRA and delay taking required taxable distributions until you are age 72.

If you are not married and you are the beneficiary, your best option will be to transfer your deceased partner's IRA to the less tax favorable inherited IRA, where under the new Secure Act, this will trigger a lot more in taxes in most cases.

Markets continue to recover in May
May saw equity markets around the world rise for the second month in a row, as efforts to reopen economies began taking hold. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose by 4.66 percent, and the S&P 500 gained 4.76 percent. The Nasdaq Composite led the way with a 6.89 percent gain.
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Economic data indicates the worst may be behind us
Much of the economic data released in May was backward looking and showed the massive impact anti-coronavirus efforts had on the economy. With that said, there are signs the worst of the economic damage may now be behind us.

One of the hardest-hit areas of the economy was the labor market. Roughly 20.5 million jobs were lost in April, driving the unemployment rate to a post-war high of 14.7 percent—well above the 10 percent high-water mark set during the 2008 financial crisis. There were signs in May that the labor market may have bottomed, though. The pace of layoffs decreased for eight straight weeks, and a surprise decline in continuing unemployment claims midmonth suggests workers are going back to their jobs. If this holds, it provides reasons for optimism on the labor front.
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