Retirement Watch Weekly
Finding the Best Long Term Care Insurance Policy
Many people in or near their silver years know they should own long-term care insurance, but there are several hurdles the policies haven’t cleared with them. Fortunately, there is a short cut solution to clearing most of these hurdles. There are several common reasons people don’t buy LTCI: Policies have a history of sharp premium […]
Preparing for Medicare Advantage Changes
Medicare Advantage members soon will feel direct effects from the new health care law. This fall they may need to shift their coverage, and they should begin preparing now. Medicare Advantage plans are run by private insurers. The insurers receive a fixed amount per member from Medicare, and the payment is higher than the cost […]
Planning for Heirs and Your IRAs
Most people have done only part of their essential IRA planning. You aren’t done planning until you’ve ensured the IRA’s beneficiaries have the information and tools they need to maximize the IRA’s after-tax value. The primary goal of the IRA, of course, is to maintain your standard of living in retirement. A secondary goal is […]
Avoiding the Latest Silver Generation Scams
Silver generation investors are susceptible these days, and the con artists know it. Scams are proliferating that focus on helping recover the losses in your nest egg. You’re hearing a lot of pitches that are heavy with rhetoric about Wall Street crooks, government bailouts, high inflation, and currency collapses. Investor fears about these things are […]
Paying Taxes Now Instead of Later
Many financial strategies are changing, and one of the oldest tax planning strategies should be among them for many of you. Since the beginning of the income tax, taxpayers have been told to defer taxes whenever possible. Don’t pay a tax today when you can put it off to a future year. The advantages are […]
July 2010
July 26, 2010 12:30 p.m. A Week of Surprises Last week was filled with surprises in the economy, markets, and media. Here are some items that grabbed my interest during the week. For some time the stock market moved based on surprises in economic and financial data. Positive surprises and a rising stock market dominated […]
Estate Planning for Avoiding Probate, Or Not
With the estate tax eliminated for 2010 and changes on the back burner until fall, this is a good time to take a look at another key element of Estate Planning. One of your key estate planning issues is to what extent, if any, your estate should avoid Probate. This is very different from decisions […]
Exchanging Other Policies for Long Term Care Insurance
Consumers can exchange tax free old life insurance policies or annuities for long-term care insurance (LTCI) policies, under a 2006 law that became effective Jan. 1, 2010. Unfortunately, few people have been able to take advantage of the law. The idea behind the law is to give another option to people with cash value life […]
