| A Long-Term Care Insurance Primer |
April 2008 |
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As millions of Baby Boomers head into their retirement years, it’s surprising how few actually know that the government provides little more than a few weeks of financial support for home-based or nursing home when the average person needs it for at least a year.
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| With the Market So Uncertain, Are Immediate Annuities a Good Way to Preserve Your Retirement Savings? |
April 2008 |
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One day, the market is up 400 points. The next day, down 300. Stocks in 2008 haven’t won any points for stability. In periods of market uncertainty, you’ll hear a lot about safe harbor investments that will supposedly guarantee income for life. One of these alternatives is an immediate annuity.
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| Afraid of the AMT? Now’s the Time to Get Some Help |
November 2007 |
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Unless Congress acts, the number of taxpayers hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in 2007 will jump to about 23 million from about 4 million in 2006. The AMT is an alternative, separate tax calculation created in 1969 to make sure the wealthiest Americans paid a fair amount of taxes. The AMT is applied to particular taxpayers’ regular taxable income when particular activities and deductions add up.
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| How Your Personality Affects Your Financial Decision-making |
September 2007 |
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The recent volatility in the stock market has everyone a little jumpy – even folks who have worked with a trusted financial planner for years. But if you’ve never worked with a planner before, one of the first things he or she will do is make you fill out a risk analysis questionnaire.
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| Should You Consider an HSA? |
August 2007 |
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The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA) that went into effect this year made it a bit easier for both employers and their workers and self-employees to obtain Health Savings Accounts, a kind of IRA for health care expenses.
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| An All-Weather Strategy to Real Estate Investing |
July 2007 |
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Despite some positive stirrings in real estate in various parts of the country, it’s wise to take cautious steps when strolling back into the investment property market that was so overheated just a couple of years ago.
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| An Annual Insurance Checkup Can Save You Money Without Hurting Your Coverage |
June 2007 |
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As we go through life, our insurance needs change. It makes sense to put certain dates on the calendar each year to see if your home, auto, umbrella liability, life, health, business and disability coverage not only fit your current needs at the right cost but protect you and your family in case of a disaster.
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| Thinking About Private School for Your Kids? The Earlier You Start the Better |
June 2007 |
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Considering private grammar and high school is a parent’s first introduction to a lifetime of saving for a child’s education.
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| Lenders May Give You a Break on Debt, But Uncle Sam Might Not Be So Forgiving |
June 2007 |
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There’s a good news/bad news story if you’re a borrower in trouble with mortgage debt. The good news is that your lender might be willing to renegotiate your loan to give you a break on your payments or even forgive a portion of the debt.
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Making Your Employer a Partner In Your Financial Planning |
May 2007 |
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People who look to their employers for nothing more than a weekly paycheck and basic health care insurance are missing the boat.
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Adopting a Child Requires a Specific Financial Plan |
May 2007 |
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Adopting a child is a massive decision, probably bigger than education, marriage or career. Few individuals or couples anticipate how expensive it is to have a biological child, and depending on your choice of adoption scenario you’re going to need a financial plan.
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Market Volatility Shouldn’t Rattle a Good Financial Plan |
May 2007 |
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On Feb. 27 this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 416 points, the biggest drop since the market reopened after the 9/11 attacks. By early May, the market had more than made up those losses and stood at record highs.
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Losing Your Inheritance to Uncle Sam – or Others |
April 2007 |
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Successful estate planning takes not one generation, but two. The first generation needs to make a clear, sensible plan and the second needs to be involved in that plan.
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Creating an Ethical Will |
April 2007 |
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You may or may not have heard the term “ethical will.” But, for those who care about making their values and ethics part of their legacy, it is a tool to consider when planning your estate.
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Getting the Kids Involved in Saving for College |
April 2007 |
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The World War II generation got a taste of higher education through the G.I. Bill and made it a point to supplement or pay their kids’ tuition. It was a struggle, but a far more manageable one than it is in this day and age. Figures from the University of Texas in 2005 showed that since the 1960s, the price of a public higher education has risen from about five percent of median family income to more than 17 percent today.
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Now Is the Time to Pick Up Low-Cost Life Insurance |
March 2007 |
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If you need life insurance, now may be the time to buy it. Insurance premiums are expected to drop 4 percent this year, following a 5 percent decline last year, according to the Insurance Information Institute, New York. In fact, premiums are less than half of what they were a decade ago.
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How Bunching Can Preserve Your Right to Itemize |
March 2007 |
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Tax laws are at times nothing if not infuriating. Indeed, with phaseouts and sunsets coming and going, taxpayers may find it difficult planning from one year to the next.
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Most Americans Need to Prepare for Financial Impact of Disability |
March 2007 |
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Most Americans are not prepared to deal with the possibility of becoming disabled due to sickness or injury and leaving the workforce for an extended period of time. In fact, more than half of U.S. adults said they would be unable to pay their bills or meet expenses if they became disabled and could not work for a year or longer, according to a recent National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) study.
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More Tax Changes: The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 |
January 2007 |
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President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act into law in late 2006. The new law, which offers $45.1 billion in tax breaks and adds more than 200 changes to the Tax Code, extended several tax provisions that were scheduled to expire, resurrected several tax provisions that had already expired and added a few surprises.
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Getting Fiscally Fit In 2007 |
January 2007 |
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Resolutions are standard fare at the start of any new year. But most of those resolutions seemingly are crafted by institutions and organizations striving to help Americans secure a financially secure future. Here’s a sampling of resolutions that Americans might consider in 2007.
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Medicare Provides Preventive Services |
January 2007 |
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There are many myths about Medicare: many of which focus on what it covers and what it doesn’t. Not surprisingly, older Americans are seemingly unaware that Medicare covers a broad range of services to prevent disease, detect disease early when it is most treatable and curable and manage disease so that complications can be avoided.
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The Ins and Outs of Mortgages and Refinancing |
December 2006 |
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There was a time when mortgages were a fairly straight forward instrument. There were 30-year, fixed rate mortgage and nothing else. Today, however, there are more than 200 different types of mortgages, including those with adjustable-rates, according to a recent Journal of Financial Planning article written by George Collis, CFP®
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The Ins and Outs of Roth IRA Conversions |
December 2006 |
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If you are thinking about making a Roth IRA conversion in 2006, now is the time to make sure that distributions from your traditional IRA are completed before year end. Yes, you have until April 15, 2007 to make a 2006 contribution to your Roth IRA, according to Ed Slott, publisher of Ed Slott’s IRA Advisor, but Roth IRA conversions work a bit differently.
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Figuring Out the Financial Aid Formula |
February 2006 |
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Few areas of financial planning are more complicated for parents than ensuring that their children will have enough money to pay for tuition, room, board, books, transportation and other related expenses.
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Changes in Store for Medicare and Medicaid |
February 2006 |
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President Bush signed into law in February the Deficit Reduction Act, otherwise known as the fiscal year 2006 budget reconciliation bill.
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Taking Time to Understand the 2006 Tax Changes |
February 2006 |
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The Internal Revenue Code is not ordinarily thought of as a gift that keeps on giving, but, with 2005 having given way to 2006, it does contain several sections which provide for keeping more of what you will be earning and saving more for your retirement—on a tax-sheltered basis—out of what you keep.
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Equity-Indexed Annuities Demystified |
December 2005 |
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There is perhaps no financial product more confusing today than equity-index annuities or EIAs. On the surface, EIAs are somewhat simple.
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Financial Planning for Life |
December 2005 |
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If the term “financial planners” evokes visions of equities and equity mutual funds—selected to implement financial plans they developed for clients in accordance with their investment goals and tolerance for investment risk—it should not be surprising.
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Making and Keeping Investment Portfolio and Financial Planning Resolutions for 2006 |
December 2005 |
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Even if you aren’t among those who normally make New Year’s resolutions—and keep them—this may be a time when you will want to make and keep them in the year to come.
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A Primer On Charitable Donations |
November 2005 |
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Americans have long responded generously to people in need. Witness the torrent of checks to the victims of recent hurricanes and earthquakes.
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Rules For Hiring Family Members |
November 2005 |
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Many self-employed people want to hire family members to work for them. But as with many things in life, there’s a right way and a wrong to do this.
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Year-End Tax Planning Tips |
November 2005 |
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Although it’s too early to know what your taxable income will be in 2005, it’s not too late to plan strategies to lower it by means of legitimate tactics that can impact your total income, the expenses you may deduct against it, or both.
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A Primer on the National Saving Rate |
October 2005 |
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The Commerce Department recently announced that the nation’s personal saving rate, calculated as a percentage of disposable (or after-tax) personal income, had fallen to a negative number for the first time since October 2001.
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Preparing for the New Medicare Drug Benefit |
October 2005 |
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Starting January 1, 2006 Medicare will offer for the first time in its 40-year history coverage for prescription drugs.
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Tips on Filing Homeowner's Insurance Claims |
October 2005 |
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Whether your home was damaged by Hurricane Katrina or Rita or by other causes—or whether it has been spared—it is important to know what to do and what to expect when you file a claim for losses under your homeowners insurance policy.
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Will your future social security payments be
smaller than expected? |
January 2005 |
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Your future Social Security payments might be smaller
than expected—more than $300 a month smaller in some cases—and you might
not even realize it.
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| What
is the real reason you should invest? |
January 2005 |
| Most people think they know the answer
to the question of why should they invest. Yet many all too often invest
for the wrong reasons—and that can lead to financial difficulties.
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| Financial Alternatives
for small businesses |
January 2005 |
| Whether starting up a small business or expanding an
existing company, you almost certainly will need financing. But which
option or combination of financing options: personal savings, friends
and family, commercial or government loans, outside investors? Which
options will most likely be available to you and what are their pros and
cons? ....read more |
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