Is a Home an Investment? From one perspective, the answer is yes; from another, no. When you buy a home, are you investing? If you buy it to flip it or buy it as a rental property, the answer is yes. If you buy a home simply to live in it, the answer may be no. Your home is an expression of your lifestyle, a wonderful setting for your life, and a place you can enjoy in privacy and comfort. [...]
Retiring Before 60 If that is your dream, explore whether these steps could be useful to take. How could you retire in your fifties by choice? You will need abundant retirement savings and ways to access your retirement assets that lessen or avoid early withdrawal penalties. You may also need to have other, sometimes overlooked, components of retirement planning in place. There are ways to tap retirement savings accounts before 60. True, the I.R.S. discourages this with 10% penalties [...]
The Rough Consequences of Not Saving for Retirement Do you really want to risk facing these potential outcomes? Saving for retirement may seem a thankless task. But you may be thanking yourself later. Putting away a percentage of one’s income, money that could be used for any number of bills or luxuries, is a sacrifice made in the present in order to avoid a larger trouble down the road. More than a quarter of seniors have no retirement savings. To [...]
The A, B, C, & D of Medicare Breaking down the basics & what each part covers. Whether your 65th birthday is on the horizon or decades away, you should understand the parts of Medicare what they cover, and where they come from. Parts A & B: Original Medicare. Americas national health insurance program for seniors has two components. Part A is hospital insurance. It provides coverage for inpatient stays at medical facilities. It can also help cover the [...]
Retirement Planning for Single Parents It is a challenge – and it must be met. How does a single parent plan for retirement? Diligently. Regularly. Rigorously. Here are some steps that may help, whether you are just beginning to do this or well on your way. Setting a household budget can be a wise first step. Most households live without budgets – and because of that financial inattention, some of the money they could save and invest routinely disappears. When [...]