Most people don’t think about their own funeral expenses…ever! It’s only after they die that another family member steps up and handles the details, often under emotional duress. Personally, I’ve had two experiences that shaped my decision to prepay my funeral expenses: Story #1 Years ago the wife of a friend of mine, who is […]
For most of us, money management was not taught in school…or at home. In fact, for most of us we learn about managing money through the school of hard knocks…trial and error. And boy, those errors can be difficult to overcome. There are many different money management strategies to choose from, some of which can […]
Insurance Companies Exiting the LTC business Genworth, a major writer of long-term care insurance (LTC), recently announced they’d no longer offer LTC insurance through brokers and, instead, would only offer coverage ‘direct-to-consumer’. This is an effort to cut the enormous expenses of commissions paid to brokers and reflects declining demand for LTC products. Demand has […]
The weather is mixed…some cool days, some hot days, but make no mistake, Summer is just around the corner. Unless you have the luxury of taking the summer off, now is the time to line up a great summer job. Here are my best tips for landing your dream summer job: Decide what type of […]
I get it. Raising kids is not only hard, it’s very expensive! According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average cost of raising a child for a middle-income family is $233,610…not including college! This comes out to about $14,000 per year per child. It’s no wonder that the average savings account balance across American […]
Much of my professional time is spent either strategizing with clients about their retirement or writing about this topic. It seems engrained in our brains to ‘work towards’ our retirement. Most people target retiring around age sixty-five with a few thinking earlier and some later. Some, but very few, have no intention of retiring. These […]
Many parents have a lot of emotional attachment to the home where they raised their children. There are so many memories associated with virtually every room in the home, the yard, the neighborhood. But the home that was big enough for your family is likely much larger relative to your needs in retirement. What has […]
In my latest book, “J.K. Lasser’s New Rules for Estate, Retirement & Tax Planning- 6th Edition” (published January 2019), I discuss a strategy for passing along your family values to your children. If you have young children, I know you feel your first responsibility is to provide for their basic support including food, shelter, clothing […]
You know someone who has a very nice home and fancy cars and you think, “They must be rich”. But are they really rich? And how would you define rich? Is rich and wealthy the same thing? Too many people confuse a high income with being rich or wealthy. There are a lot of people […]
Last week our discussion centered on your Financial Checklist for the New Year and included making both your 2018 and 2019 contributions to either a Traditional IRA or Roth IRA as soon as you’re able…hopefully this month. If you’re ready to make that investment or at least set up a monthly auto-investment plan for one […]