When you hear the words “Estate Planning” there’s a certain picture that pops into your mind. Most people think of it as having a plan that distributes the assets you’ve accumulated during your lifetime to the people and organizations you want to benefit after you’re gone. And that picture would be exactly right. But there’s a part of estate planning [...]
Medicare has been around since 1965. In all that time, you’d think people would have a better understanding of what Medicare is, how it works, and the benefits it provides. But of the 64 million people on Medicare, 75% say the program is confusing and they have a hard time understanding it. Some of the confusion may come from all [...]
In 2021, they said yes. Then they said maybe. Now, Medicare has decided it will cover Alzheimer’s treatments for Medicare recipients who meet specific requirements. In November 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the monthly Medicare Part B premium would go up for 14.5% to cover the high cost of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm. Then, [...]
The legal part of the divorce is behind you and you’re a single mom. Now, besides making a living and all the work that goes with that, you’re also responsible for the care of minor children—little people whose daily lives and long-term future depend on you. How will they be cared for if something happens to you? Will they be [...]
The past two years have seen historic Cost-of-Living Adjustments for Social Security recipients. The increases of 5.9% in 2022 and 8.7% in 2023 were the highest they’d been in 40 years because of rampant inflation. But unless things change by October, the COLA for 2024 will be substantially lower. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2023 report, [...]
I’ve written about this before, but I recently had an experience that reminded me of all the financial things that have to be handled when a spouse dies. In this case, a long-time client of mine died on a Monday. On Tuesday his wife was on the phone. She said, “You always told me to call you if anything happened [...]
When it comes to retirement, one of the questions I’m asked most often is, “When should I retire?” There are a multitude of factors that go into making that decision and it boils down to your individual situation. There’s no formula that says if you meet a certain list of criteria, you should retire early, or if you check off [...]
Social Security has been around since 1935, and even after all those years, there is still a lot of confusion about the Social Security Spousal benefit. What is it? It’s an opportunity to receive a Social Security check based on their spouse’s work record. It’s beneficial for people who have very little work history of their own or if they’re [...]
You’re creating your estate plan. Part of it outlines how you want your estate handled when you die. But there’s another part giving instructions about what happens if you become incapacitated and can’t make your own decisions. In that case, it’s imperative that you have a financial power of attorney document. In the financial power of attorney (FPOA), you name [...]
Inflation, if it lasts long enough and hurts deeply enough, will make people rethink priorities. That seems to be the conclusion of a new Bank of America Report called Tracking the Confidence of Plan Participants which outlines current trends of workers who are enrolled in their employer’s 401(k) plan. Across all age categories, the average contribution rate is 6.4%. [...]
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