Download PDF of this article here: Two Percent Can Go a Long Way You may not have noticed it but your paycheck has increased by two percent (2%). The 2010 Tax Relief Act (H.R. 4853) extended some of the current tax rates and it also reduced the Social Security payroll tax by two percent…
Download PDF of this article here: A Way to Help Parents and Grandparents in Financial Need Estate planning is often about how people can pass wealth on to their children or grandchildren, but what if a child wants to give financial gifts to a parent or grandparent? This article from Bloomberg discusses just that: how…
Download PDF of this article here: Coming in 2012 Change for Retirees Last month the Obama administration released their budget for the 2012 fiscal year, and included in that budget were a few things that retirees (or those close to retiring) will want to be aware of. If you own a business you may want…
Download PDF of this article here: Retirement Advice for EVERY Age “Retirement”—It’s a word that goes hand-in-hand with “Baby Boomer” these days. After all, as has been pointed out over and over again, retirement is the issue of the hour as the first round of Baby Boomers hits that magic age. But what about the…
A recent article in U.S. News and World Report points out that although “the Great Recession may technically be over… Consumers [still] don’t want to spend and are still slowly digging their way out of the mountain of mortgage and personal debt that helped fuel the downturn.” Among those groups who are still struggling the…
In spite of all the advice you see out there to start saving early for your eventual retirement, we’re realistic. We know that many people—either out of choice, neglect or necessity—put off saving for their retirement, only to find themselves up against a wall of anxiety when they realize that retirement isn’t very far away. …
You have a longer life expectancy than a man, different ideas about what constitutes risk, often work for a different pay-scale… and if you’re a woman, you likely need a different kind of retirement plan as well. You may think that the financial advisor recommended by your husband/father/brother will suit you just fine, but this…
Caring for an aging relative is hard work. Many of the people who serve as caregivers admit that they often feel as if they have two jobs—their day job, and the part-to-full-time job of caregiver. If you consider that in our fast-paced society time is money, then most of these caregivers are not only giving…
Do you feel comfortable with your retirement plan? If you’re a small business owner the answer to that question is probably no. In fact, according to this report by Jules H. Lichtenstein, Office of Advocacy, US Small Business Administration, “Retirement account ownership, contribution, and participation rates for all business owners are low” and that “Having…
In just about every will or trust you will find something about the estate “paying the deceased’s final expenses,” otherwise known as funeral and/or memorial costs. As a small portion of what can sometimes be a very large and intricate document, this “final expense” clause can seem unimportant—but we know better. A funeral comes at…