Archive for July, 2008

How does the social security benefit is calculated?

Social security is calculated based on your income during the 35 years period in which you earned the most. Your earnings will be indexed to account for changes in the average wages since the year in which you earned the money. Then SSA(Social security administration) will use a predefined formula to calculate your basic benefit, or [...]

S&P 500 Index

Standard & Poor’s 500 index is a stock index that tracks 500 large cap stocks (mostly U.S Companies). The S&P is commonly used to measure the stock market performance.

Normal Retirement age

Normal retirement age is the age you must reach to qualify for your full social secuirty benefits. This is also called as “full retirement age”. Your monthly benefit amount will be reduced if you start collecting benefits before reaching your full retirement age.

Market Timing

Market timing is an investment strategy that attempts to highlight when the stock market is on the verge of moving lower or higher.

Early Withdrawl penalties

There are some penalties if you withdraw money from your retirement savings plans before you reach the eligibility criteria. Withdrawls taken from most of the employer sponsored retirement savings plans taken before age 59 1/2. Ofcourse there are some exceptions  like hardship withdrawls and loans from 401(k) plans, that are fully repaid.