Traditionally, about 50% of people eligible to collect Social Security at 62 do so. But if you do, you?ll receive about 25% less income (i.e. Social Security benefits) than waiting until your full retirement age ? between 65 and 67 depending on your birthday. What implication does your early retirement have on your spouse? Everyone whose work earnings make him [...]
Categories: social security benefits Tags: husband's benefits, social security spouses benefit, wife's benefits
There's a terrible problem in retirement investing that concerns how much risk you should take with your retirement funds. It's a seemingly unsolvable financial conundrum of investing in retirement. Let's take a closer look. On the one hand, you'd like to put all your retirement funds in the bank and keep it safe and secure in FDIC insured accounts. The issue is you will only [...]
Planning on retiring in the next few years? You better check out your company's policy on maintaining retiree health benefits for you during your retirement years. Just as companies cut back on defined benefit pensions, they are leery of guaranteeing the future health care liabilities of retirees. Cutting health care benefits for future retirees can protect companies from crippling future [...]
Categories: senior heath care Tags:
As you make your way through retirement in fairly good health, you may consider the wisdom of maintaining your long-term care policy, especially if your savings are running low. Will you really need the policy? It's understandable why you'd want to drop a long-term care policy you don't think you'll use, but before doing so, there are a few things [...]
Categories: long term care Tags:
Estate tax laws are once again up for debate in Washington D.C. But no matter what the outcome of the negotiations will be - whether estate taxes will be repealed or reinstated after the year 2012 -estate planning should not be placed on hold. Your benefits will likely never be better than they are now. Currently, federal estate taxes are [...]
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While you are in retirement, be sure to get one issue resolved - and the sooner the better: discussing with your children how your affairs should be handled and by whom when your disability and death occurs. Of course, these discussions of inheritance planning have little legal bearing as you need to put your wishes on paper - in a [...]
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It's rare, but occasionally one spouse cannot qualify for long term care insurance because of poor health, such as hypertension, Alzheimer's, arthritis, diabetes, or frailty. Does this mean that the healthy spouse should forgo the coverage as well? As you get older, the chances of needing long term care increases. Forty-three percent of individual's age 65 and older will spend [...]
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A revocable living trust can be a useful tool to help you reduce estate settlement costs and to retain control over your assets while you are living. However, the benefits of a living will vary from person to person based on their circumstances. In other words, living trusts are not equally beneficial to everyone. A revocable trust allows you to [...]
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Do you own a life insurance policy that you no longer can afford or want? Perhaps you're tempted to sell it to an investor who has offered you a way to get money from this relatively illiquid asset. However, before you cash in life insurance, be sure to get all the facts. You just might be better off keeping the [...]
Categories: life insurance Tags:
Do you own a cash-value life insurance policy? Do you have intentions to make charitable gifts either now or at death? Then combine the two for the most powerful donation you can make. Life insurance can be a great charitable gift because you may no longer need the death benefit of the policy and the value of the policy (i.e. [...]
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Some life insurance companies will try to sell you policies for your children and grandchildren, arguing that if you love the child, you'll protect him or her with a policy- especially given how inexpensive the rates are. But is life insurance for a dependent really necessary? We say, no. The main purpose of life insurance is to replace an income that [...]
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Everyone is conscious concerning the high cost of healthcare. The good news is that some tax breaks can help you decrease taxes to offset these significant expenses. Listed here are some useful tax breaks recommendations. Benefit from tax breaks for medical costs The federal government permits taxpayers to write off any medical expenses that exceed 7.5 % of their adjusted [...]
Categories: tax breaks Tags: healthcare expenses
