A number of people have asked me what my take is on what is happening in Greece and China.  They have read articles and heard the media “experts” but don’t fully understand what is going on and how it will affect them and their clients and have asked me for a simplified version.  I’m not sure I can do that, but I’m going to try.  If you subscribe to my Audio Insights, you should have gotten a recording on this.

There are plenty of tips and tricks to maximizing your retirement benefits, and more than a few are considered “loopholes” that taxpayers have been able to use to circumvent the letter of the law in order to pay less to the government.

But as often happens when too many people make use of such shortcuts, the government may move to close three retirement loopholes that have become increasingly popular as financial advisers have learned how to exploit kinks in the law.

1. Back-door Roth IRA Conversions

Buying a home or starting a family are just a few of the major decisions that people might regard as milestones in their lives. However, a new survey found that a majority of American adults (51%) have delayed at least one important life decision in the last year due to financial reasons. This represents an increase of 20 percentage points from a similar survey conducted in 2007, when 31% of Americans reported delaying a major life event.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry nationwide, freeing gay couples from complicated legal and financial planning.

“Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right,” the 5-4 Obergefell v. Hodges decision read.

Before launching into his formal keynote presentation at the 2015 Morningstar Investment Conference, GMO chief investment strategist Jeremy Grantham ticked off the top 10 issues on his mind today.

GMO chief investment strategist Jeremy Grantham speaking at the 2015 Morningstar Investment Conference.

"In my current role, I'm totally free to obsess about important issues that interest me," he said. And here they are, fleshed out a bit with some quotes from Grantham's commentaries:

I found this on nextavenue.org, a PBS website for "America’s 50+ generation," and find it interesting.  We consider ourselves “financial experts,” but can we really, truly understand retirement until we actually retire ourselves?

This paper from the Center for Retirement Research examines the importance of annuity-like income as a share of total money income received by aged families. The abstract, along with its findings and implications, are below.  A link to download the entire paper is after the summary.

The following article by Kelly Phillips Erb on Forbes.com addresses the tax consequences (or lack thereof) of crowdfunded investments.

Stable 12 Brewing Co (from L to R: Tyler Fontaine, Richard Wolf, Chris Carbutt)

President Obama's aborted attempt to tax 529 plans may end up being a boon to the state-run college savings plans.

Widespread outrage at the proposal he floated in January - from both Democrats and Republicans - brought it down two weeks later. But all the nationwide media attention the college savings plans received gave them a much-needed boost in publicity.

Getting started on retirement saving and repaying high-cost debt can pay huge dividends in the long run for new college graduates

You have graduated from college and landed a job. Planning for retirement may seem like a distant concern, and paying off your debts may feel like a monumental task. But now is the time to make some crucial financial moves that could pay off handsomely in years to come.

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