Reverse Mortgages – a Potentially Important Retirement Income Source
Seniors who are in a cash flow bind because of increasing expenses or a drop in their investment income may want to look into tapping one of their most valuable assets: their homestead. There are several ways to do this. Homeowners could sell the home, but they would have to move. Or they could take out a loan against it, [...]
Categories: reverse mortgage Tags: retirement income, reverse mortgage
Ten Questions to Select the Right Retirement Financial Planner
Selecting the right retirement financial planner is important to you. Here are questions to ask a retirement financial planner candidate that will help distinguish one from the other. 1. What experience do you have with retirement financial planning? Find out the percentage of his clients by age category. You want to make sure that the bulk of his clients are [...]
Categories: retirement planning, retirement plans Tags: retirement financial planner, retirement plan
How Annuities Work
Annuities are term deposits with insurance companies. They are similar to certificates of deposits at the bank (note: bank deposits are FDIC insured while annuities are guaranteed by the issuing insurance company). There are two types of annuities: fixed annuities and variable annuities. Fixed annuities have these features: Your principal is guaranteed, it will never decline The insurance [...]
Categories: annuites defined Tags: annuitization, annuitize, annuity calculator, fixed annuity, immediate annuity, variable annuity
Last Year Americans Wasted $25 Billion in Estate Taxes, Will You Join Them?
The Annual Report on the United States Government reports that Americans paid $25 Billion in estate planning tax. Every dime of those taxes could have been avoided. How do you think the kids felt when they wrote out a check for $300,000 for estate planning tax and then learned from the estate planning attorney that mom and dad could [...]
Categories: estate planning, estate tax Tags: estate planning tax, estate plannning strategies, estate tax
Index Annuity Basics
Index annuities are fixed annuities that have the interest you receive tied to a stock market index. An index annuity is ideal for investors who want to participate in market-related returns yet are uncomfortable with market risk. But with about 40 known interest crediting methods, you may find that even if two index annuities are linked to the same index, [...]
Categories: equity index annuities Tags: annual reset, EIA, FIA, index annuity, participation rate
Senior Health Care Options for Retirees at 65
Most retirees have two main senior health insurance options–Medicare and managed care. Medicaid is a program that pays for medical assistance only for those seniors with low incomes or disabilities. As long as you have contributed enough through FICA taxes, you will be eligible for the best senior health care option–retired or not–for Medicare when you turn 65. Apply for Medicare [...]
Categories: senior health Tags: medciare, medigap, senior health, senior health care, senior health insurance
Five Ways to Reduce Long Term Care Premiums
Long term care premiums are not cheap but these recommendations may help you get a policy with an affordable long term care premium. While it would be ideal to have complete coverage (inflation protection, lifetime coverage, at least $160/day benefit), it is better to have at least a basic policy than to have none at all. In other words, a minimum policy is better [...]
Categories: long term care Tags: long term care insurance premiums
Retirement Solutions— Difficult Trends and What You Can Do
McKinsey in their recent report on The Coming Shakeout in the Defined Benefit Market estimates that 50-75% of all private Defined Benefit assets will be in a frozen or terminated status by 2012. In plain English this means that retirement plans offered by companies will cease or terminate in the next few years. If you are working, the pension plan [...]
Categories: retirement strategy Tags: 401k allocation, retirement solutions
