This post was last updated on January 15, 2021, to reflect all updated information and best serve your needs.
As family members, we have a natural inclination to volunteer when it comes to helping with managing end of life affairs and estate planning. It’s what we do. We make sure our parents, siblings, and other extended families can count on us to pitch in now and in the future.
This post was last updated on January 15, 2021, to reflect all updated information and best serve your needs.
For many of us, our 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan is our primary vehicle for retirement savings. A 401(k) is a defined contribution plan meaning that our retirement benefit is determined primarily by the amount that we save and how we invest those savings. However, there is a maximum 401k contribution limit that we will cover.
This post was last updated on January 15, 2021, to reflect all updated information and best serve your needs.
A question that comes up regularly is what to do with old retirement accounts. In the old days, many workers stayed at the same employer their entire career and retired with 30 to 40 years of service.
There’s no easy way to say it: getting a divorce is terrible. Not only is there the emotional toll that you have to deal with; a divorce also brings with it a measure of financial stress as well. Instead of living on multiple incomes and sharing expenses, you are now forced to make – and pay for – everything on your own, making all financial decisions along the way.
This burden doesn’t get any easier as you approach your retirement years either. A reduced income can make it harder for a single individual to live and thrive during what are supposed to be the golden years of life. Thankfully, there are programs out there that can provide some measure of help, and Social Security is one of them.
For the recently widowed, there are many painful questions that have to be answered. Unfortunately, many of those questions are about money. When you should be focusing on family and saying goodbye, you instead have to deal with questions about loss of income and the decisions that need to be made.
For widows and widowers approaching retirement, many of the money-related questions have to deal with Social Security. Because a spouse has spent his or her entire life working and paying into the system, it doesn’t seem right for it all to go to waste. Shouldn’t the widow be entitled to the Social Security benefits of the deceased?
For married couples, filing for Social Security comes with several options. Depending on the situation of the couple, there are different strategies that couples can employ to maximize their life-time benefits. We’ll cover each of these in more detail below but, for now, here is a brief overview to get you started.
First, for couples that have a long life expectancy, the best strategy is to wait as long as possible before filing. Because waiting to file (up until age 70) increases the monthly size of your Social Security payments, a couple that expects to live a long time can earn more over the course of their retirement by waiting to file.
If you want to save money for retirement, you need to start doing it right now, no matter how old (or young) you are. While there are multiple methods for building a nest egg, one of the most reliable is contributing to an individual retirement account (IRA).
There are two primary types of IRAs available - traditional and Roth. Both options have benefits and downsides, so it’s crucial to understand the differences between them. Here is what you need to know.
As you get older, there’s a possibility that your health will decline to the point where you need assistance. This assistance can range from part-time help all the way to full-time assisted living.
This long-term care is expensive, and without proper planning can financially devastate a person or couple. Paying for care with your own dollars will erode your nest egg and, depending on how big it is, it might even dwindle it all down before Medicaid swoops in.
As you get closer to retirement, it’s crucial to plan for every detail. While your primary concern will be whether you’ve saved enough, one element that can come into play is life insurance.
Typically, most individuals believe that life insurance coverage is only necessary when they have dependents. However, it can be a valuable asset at any stage of life, including retirement. In this article, we’re going to outline the steps you should take to determine whether you need life insurance in retirement or not.
If you’re saving for retirement, chances are that you are putting money away into an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. According to a recent study by the Investment Company Institute, Americans put away over $5.8 trillion in assets in 2019. By comparison, that number was only $3.1 trillion in 2010.
While 401(k) and 403b accounts are by far the most widely utilized saving plans, you may not be aware of the various costs and fees that come with them. In fact, if you’re like 37% of savers, you may not realize that you pay anything at all.
Planning for retirement can be both exhilarating and scary at the same time. Living a worry-free retirement requires a combination of a robust investment portfolio, liquid assets, potential annuities and social security income.
At the beginning of 2020, no one could have imagined the sudden economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Market volatility has naturally made many people consider postponing retirement plans because of sudden drops in the stock market that have increased investment uncertainty in retirement accounts.
This is one of the most common questions that I am asked on a regular basis. It’s certainly a fair question and one that’s probably even gone through my head a few times.
We live in an instant gratification world – what have you done for me lately?” We expect to see the results of our saving and investing efforts immediately. While there are times you’ll actually notice faster growth within your investments because of a specific sector or company, for the most part it’s a long-term process.
Budgeting software has totally changed the way that we think about our money. They give us the ability to customize our budget which can help us:
With budgeting software applications on our mobile devices, we can take them with us everywhere to inform our spending and saving decisions. They have given us intuitive and easy-to-use tools that make budgeting easier. With so many budgeting software and applications on the market though, how can you be sure which one is going to be the best for you?
Modern budgeting tools simplify managing your money. Some of these tools don't cost anything, but some can still really benefit you for only a small fee. Mint and Quicken are perfect examples of these tools.
Mint is free, while Quicken will cost you a small fee. However, both can be extremely helpful and keep your finances organized. Let's take a closer look at both of these great budgeting apps.
There was a time when monitoring your financial situation was relatively complicated. Whether it was balancing a checkbook or writing expenses in a ledger, you had to input everything by hand and do a lot of math to get accurate results.
Thankfully, we’re living in the golden age of technology. Instead of using old-fashioned financial tracking methods, all you need to do is download an app, and you’re ready to go. However, with so many options available, it can be a bit overwhelming to determine which one is best for your needs. Fortunately, we’re here to help with our review of Mint vs. Personal Capital.
Like it seems for just about every service profession today if you want to go the DIY route and figure it out for yourself, just Google it and you’ll be on your way. I swear I think there is a YouTube video for just about every DIY project you’re attempting to do around the house, with some being easier than others.
While it’s not quite that easy when it comes to managing your finances or becoming your own financial advisor, it can still be done. As long as you have the time and willingness to learn, you certainly can go at it yourself. Many people handle their personal finances themselves and do a great job.
Let’s get right to it and answer the question before getting into the details. A power of attorney is a legal action that offers someone else of your choosing to make decisions on your behalf if you’re unfit or under contract.
Its most common use is for people to have a go-to friend or family member to act on their behalf if they become sick or injured and can’t make decisions themselves. Power of attorney agreements are an essential part of the estate planning process and are usually connected to a will or trust fund.
Since the novel coronavirus began spreading across the globe, it has impacted everything about our daily lives. However, while some of the effects were immediate, such as quarantines and lockdowns, one of the less obvious was how it would impact retirement planning.
In this article, we want to look at the various ways that COVID-19 has disrupted retirement plans. To help understand these effects better, we’re going to look at the three stages of planning - early, pre-retirement, and retirement. We’ll also pay attention to the various legal changes that were inside the relief bill passed in March.
When it comes to estate planning, it’s crucial to have all of your assets and beneficiaries listed and up to date. However, because this planning can be relatively messy at times, what you want may not always come to pass. For example, what happens if your beneficiaries predecease you?
Although this situation can be rare, there’s already a process for what happens to your assets. It’s called per stirpes, and it can ensure that your money or property will pass down to living heirs should your beneficiaries die before you do.
We have some super exciting news around here at NextGen Wealth. We have taken our trademarked financial planning process, The Financial Freedom Blueprint®, and turned it into a do it yourself online course.
So, if you’re the do it yourselfer type when it comes to your personal finances, you now have a financial planning process laid out for you that will take you through every step of the way.
