Even though retiring is the furthest thing from the minds of most twenty-somethings, you need to invest sooner, rather than later for one reason – you have an advantage over everyone else: time. Time to let your money grow exponentially. There is a reason Albert Einstein is credited with calling compound interest “the 8th wonder
Retirement
You may have heard of reverse mortgages through Fred Thompson’s ubiquitous daytime television ads, but you may not know much about them or how they work. So let us take over for Fred and explain them in detail.
In essence, the reverse mortgage is a variation of a home equity loan that is used to
By Andrea Woroch
As a new decade begins, many have their sights set on change. After what feels like a lifetime of working, though, it can be difficult to transition to a cold-turkey retirement. To stay busy and supplement income many people are “semi-retiring” instead.
Folks are leaving their traditional jobs, cutting costs and
Are you planning on delaying your retirement? Workers are trending in that direction. Labor force participation numbers have been increasing over the past two decades, as have average retirement ages.
U.S. Census Bureau information shows that after a short dip to an average retirement age of 62 for men in the 1980s, the average retirement
Who doesn’t want more money in their monthly check? Most people do – before and after retirement. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which you may see an increase in your check even after you’ve begun to draw retirement benefits.
Continuing to Work – Your Social Security benefits are calculated from the 35 highest
You don’t want your boss to fire you, but being FIRE is good… when FIRE is the acronym for “financially independent, retire early”.
A FIRE retirement requires careful planning. You’re going to need more money than most to sustain your early retirement plans – perhaps covering up to forty years of retirement. Where can you
Hey, We Agree On Something It’s difficult to get a bill passed on a bipartisan basis in the current Congress, but the latest retirement bill is one of those rarities. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act is designed to give Americans greater access to retirement funds while making it easier to
“Attention, employers. This is Denise. She’s just entering the working world, but she’s already concerned about retirement. She knows that traditional defined benefit pensions covered 84.4% of workers in 1979 but only covered 27.7% as of 2015 – and the share probably hasn’t been increasing.
She expects you to offer a 401(k) or similar defined
You want to buy a home, but you haven’t been saving for one. You want to retire near the typical retirement age, but you haven’t been saving for that, either. Don’t worry, the homeowner and retirement fairies will be pulling up to your door soon to deliver a truckload of cash.
Absurd, isn’t it? Nobody
Mistakes are part of the human condition; it’s impossible to avoid them 100% of the time. But financial mistakes are in a class all their own — they tend to have a snowball effect and get worse over time. A seemingly small money mistake in your twenties can have outsized consequences in your thirties, forties,
MoneyTips Not as Much as It Seems How is your 401(k) doing? Fidelity Investment’s Q1 2019 retirement analysis shows that many retirement funds are following a positive trend. Ten years after the Dow Jones hit its lowest mark in the financial crisis, retirement balances have more than doubled in 401(k), IRA, and 403(b) accounts. Average
By Eric Olsen, Executive Director, HELPS Nonprofit Law Firm
Recreational Vehicle (RV) loans last typically for 10-15 years and sometimes up to twenty years. Often a medical condition or simply a change in lifestyle makes the RV no longer necessary. Sometimes a high RV payment can become simply unaffordable. What are the solutions for seniors
You’ve reached a point where you don’t have to use credit cards anymore. Your home is paid off. You don’t have other outstanding debts. You must be an excellent credit risk, right?
As strange as it sounds, creditors do consider you a risk when you’ve become “credit-retired.” If you haven’t been using credit for some
A stable income is critical to a comfortable retirement – as is limiting the amount of that income that you give to Uncle Sam. Maximizing retirement income and minimizing taxes requires advance planning – as illustrated in these seven tips.
1. Use a Roth IRA Because Roth IRAs are funded with post-tax dollars, they are
Debt is a major barrier to financial well-being among Americans. While we tend to think of debt as an issue affecting young and middle-aged people, the truth is that senior citizens carry debt, too. Among seniors approaching retirement, debt can be an obstacle to maximizing savings. Retirees living on a reduced income may find debt
Do you plan to “retire in place” and stay in your current area, or are you interested in retiring in a different state? In either case, you may want to consult an annual study by WalletHub if retirement is imminent.
The study ranked all 50 states using 41 statistical metrics that were weighted and grouped
A good 401(k) plan can be an attractive selling point for businesses looking to hire the best and brightest. However, smaller businesses may have a hard time establishing a 401(k) plan capable of competing for the attention of potential employees.
Few small businesses have the resources to carry out 401(k) administrative tasks, and the smaller
You’ve just become eligible for Social Security benefits. Are you going to apply for them now, wait until your full retirement age, or delay benefits as long as you possibly can? What if circumstances change, and you determine you would be better off waiting for benefits after filing?
You may be in luck. According to
You’re never too old to learn new things – including better money management practices. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) agrees.
To address financial literacy concerns, the FDIC created the Money Smart teaching program in 2001 to help educators and financial institutions increase consumer understanding of basic financial systems work and how to use them
By Eric Olsen, Executive Director, HELPS
Nonprofit Law Firm
I just got off the phone with a senior couple who have a timeshare they can’t afford and don’t use any longer. They had called a company who advertised that they help people get out of timeshares. (I hear such advertisements on the radio and television
There’s a lot of financial advice out there, from the Wall Street Journal to podcasts to your brother-in-law’s stock tips to “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The infographic above, developed in collaboration with the Common Cents Lab at Duke University, shows six simple steps to get your finances on sound footing.
You may be mentally and physically ready to retire, but are you financially ready to retire? Don’t just automatically assume that your current nest egg is sufficient because you’ve reached a certain age. Assess your financial readiness, starting with these five questions.
1. What Are Your Retirement Goals? – Typical advice suggests aiming for 80%
Bankruptcy is a painful process at any point in life, but it’s especially excruciating when you are at or near retirement age. There’s no time to recover and build retirement income.
Unfortunately, seniors are declaring bankruptcy at an increasing rate. A recent study from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project found that the rate of Americans at
Reverse mortgages can be a useful tool for seniors attempting to convert the equity in their home into cash for living expenses or other retirement purposes. The loan is usually paid out over time instead of as a lump sum.
There are no repayments as long as the senior taking out the loan
You must maximize your retirement funds to increase your chances of enjoying a comfortable retirement, so it’s important to avoid unnecessary fees that take a bite out of your nest egg without providing value in return. Consider these five retirement expenses that are generally avoidable if you pay attention and properly plan your finances.
1.
For millennials who are just stepping into their workaday world, planning for retirement is definitely not something they seem to have on their mind. However, as Social Security benefits are sure to scale back over the next two decades, retirement planning has become a must for every millennial who wants to maintain the same standard
One day you appear to be on track for retirement, and the next day the stock market crashes. You were on track for a comfortable retirement at age 67 – or before, with a little luck. Now you may have to work into your 70s before you can afford to retire.
Don’t let
Are you planning to retire within the next 10 to 15 years?If so, are you ready to take retirement preparedness to the next level?
Retirement is no longer an abstract concept when you reach your 50s. It’s important to take a closer look at your financial plans now, while you have time to make any
How would you like to retire early? Millennials certainly like the idea, according to a recent survey from Bankrate.com. Millennials identified the perfect retirement age as 61 – a full six years before their full retirement age (FRA) as defined by Social Security and one year before they can even claim reduced Social Security
Are you familiar with the 4% rule and how it relates to retirement? Let’s find out. Choose one of the options below.
The 4% rule refers to…
a) The average amount of your retirement time you’ll spend looking for something you misplaced.
b) The average annual amount of time you’ll spend getting medical care.
c)
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