Most people are quick to purchase the maximum collision and comprehensive coverage available to protect their new car. However, the costs associated with fixing or replacing even the most exotic car pale in comparison to the amount of money people will shell out to pay liability claims. It’s no coincidence that jury awards and settlements grow in proportion to a person’s net worth. Such is the mindset of our society today: What’s yours is mine...
Face it, life happens, most often beyond your control, and it can sometimes produce some unexpected illnesses or injuries that can potentially disrupt your ability to keep your income flowing. In fact, the most valuable asset that most people have is their ability to earn an income. Yet for many people, it’s the one asset that they haven’t protected. There is a plethora of statistics on the number of working people who suffer job disrupting...
The figures out last year show that the average amount of student loan debt a student graduates with is a little more than $35,000. Most graduates are carrying multiple student loans from multiple sources, and the cost and complexity of managing them can become overwhelming, especially if they are unable to secure steady employment with sufficient cash flow to make the payments. One option that has always been available to indebted graduates is a college...
Most people think estate planning is only for wealthy people. Certainly, the 55% of Americans who died without a will thought so, even though all of their estates ended up in probate court subject to the laws of the state. Sadly, the surviving families were thrust into a situation that resulted in unnecessary distress, expense and, for many of them, devastating financial consequences. It’s not enough to talk about estate planning and what you want...
The quick answer is “it depends.” But, for the 33 percent of retirees who now rely more heavily on their Social Security benefits to sustain their lifestyle, the answer takes on even more significance. Generally, your income from Social Security is not taxable on its own; but when it’s combined with other sources of income for tax reporting purposes, a portion of your Social Security benefits, up to 85 percent, could be includable as taxable...
It has only been since the Baby Boomer generation began to cross the retirement threshold that we’ve had to seriously confront the new challenge of our longevity. Although most of us are now bracing for the probability of living 20 to 30 years in retirement (nearly double the retirement life spans of our grandparents), what isn’t quite as clear is that our actual longevity is a moving target. That is, the older we get, our...
There’s no denying that Americans are in love with their credit cards; but increasingly, the romance is rocked by the actions of unsavory characters seeking to come between them. More specifically, they’re seeking to steal your credit card information and they are relentless in pursuing any and all technological means to get it. They will go after the big, “secure” data bases of our banks and credit card processers, and they will go inside your...
At a certain age, you are allowed to boost your yearly retirement account contributions. For example, you can direct an extra $1,000 per year into a Roth or traditional IRA starting in the year you turn 50. 1 Your initial reaction to that may be: “So what? What will an extra $1,000 a year in retirement savings really do for me?” That reaction is understandable, but consider also that you can contribute an extra $6,000...
For anyone who has dealt with an aging parent or grandparent the concept of long term care is likely a familiar one. Those unfortunate enough to suffer from Alzheimer’s or other cognitive illness can end up requiring nursing care that can reach and exceed $80,000 per-year depending on the quality of care. With modern medicine it’s entirely possible to live 10+ years after the diagnosis of a permanently disabling illness, meaning that a protracted period...
With the proliferation of investment and personal finance websites, investors have access to a boundless number resources and tools once only available to financial professionals. And, while an increasing number of investors consider themselves to be at least somewhat self-directed in their investment decisions, the ever expanding world of investments and the increasing complexity of the financial markets require much more than a part-time approach to planning. With so much at stake, it would be...
An increasing number of Americans are facing an uphill battle just trying to save enough and earn enough on their savings to be able to retire on time. Carrying much higher debt burdens than previous generations, many pre-retirees have had to put their savings on the back burner to focus on debt reduction, which, for practical purposes is smart, but it is also the primary reason why some will need to delay retirement or drastically...
