Seek and Find!
In this issue, we explore several recent changes to Social Security that may affect your benefit planning, best practices for creating an emergency fund for unforeseen expenses, and how to take advantage of healthcare savings accounts, an interesting planning tool with attractive tax benefits.
As you rush to work, run to pick up the kids, or scramble to make dinner, retirement may seem like a far-off dream. Or maybe you try to talk to your partner about planning for the future, only to end up in a fight about how much to save now so you can enjoy life later. You delay this money conversation hoping that, in time, it will get easier. The truth is that waiting can be detrimental to achieving a secure future. So the time to talk about retirement is now.
In the fall issue, we address reader questions about how to make the most out of open enrollment season at work, year-end tax planning, and expectations for the stock and bond markets in the years ahead.
Retirement—Your Changing Health Insurance Needs If you are 65 or older when you retire, your worries may lessen when it comes to paying for health care—you are most likely eligible for certain health benefits from Medicare, a federal health insurance program, upon your 65th birthday. But if you retire before age 65, you’ll need some...
Selecting beneficiaries for retirement benefits is different from choosing beneficiaries for other assets such as life insurance. With retirement benefits, you need to know the impact of income tax and estate tax laws in order to select the right beneficiaries. Although taxes shouldn’t be the sole determining factor in naming your beneficiaries, ignoring the impact of taxes could lead you to make an incorrect choice.
If you are in a long-term, committed relationship, you have many of the same financial concerns as married couples. However, you lack many of the legal protections and advantages that married couples enjoy. Here are some tips that can help you and your partner stay on the road to financial security.
At a time when your career is reaching a peak and you are looking ahead to your own retirement, you may find yourself in the position of having to help your children with college expenses while at the same time looking after the needs of your aging parents. Squeezed in the middle, you’ve joined the ranks of the “sandwich generation.”
To illustrate how life insurance can help you plan your estate wisely, let’s compare what happened upon the death of two friends: Frank, who bought life insurance, and Dave, who did not. (Please note that these illustrations are hypothetical.)
