Category: Home and Garden
October 3, 2017 -- A whole lot of Americans are about to face a crisis as they enter retirement. Three quarters of Americans between 55 and 64 have less than $30,000 saved, according to the AARP. About half of baby boomers are looking at a retirement that is powered only by their Social Security checks. Since Social Security was designed as a safety net, not a luxury retirement, those checks will not be not enough for a comfortable retirement. In past articles we talked about different ways to cope with a retirement income shortfall. In this installment we explore an option that might be your salvation, if you find yourself in a budget-challenged retirement.
Get a Housemate or Roommate!
About one third of baby boomers are single, which certainly makes it easier to think about having a roommate. Couples can usually make a shared living arrangement work too. Millennials and GenX types are blazing new roommate trails as they start their working careers, so there is no
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Published on October 2, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
September 26, 2017 -- The Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Part D and Advantage Plans starts soon; it runs from October 15 to December 7. Since this is your window to make changes in your plan or sign up for new coverage, it is an excellent time reconsider if Medicare Advantage or Original Medicare is your best option, as well if you have the right Prescription Drug coverage plan (Part D). We gained a new appreciation for how complex this topic is as we wrote this article. It will provide you with some basic background information to start thinking about this issue, but do not make any important decisions like this without careful thought and research. This is part of a 5 Part series on Medicare.
Signing up for Medicare and Medicare Basics
You have 7 months to sign up for Medicare in all its forms when you turn age 65 with no penalties. That 7 month period starts 3 months before the month you turn 65, the month of your birthday, ends 3 months afterwards. Thereafter there are open enrollment periods when you have the option to change plans and coverage.
As a refresher, original Medicare
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Published on September 25, 2017
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 19, 2017 -- The triple whammy from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria are causing a lot of people to reconsider where they retire. Some previous best places to retire might end up on the worst places to retire lists instead! But hurricanes are not the only natural disaster that can ruin your retirement - temperature extremes, earthquakes, tornadoes, forest fires, and flooding can be devastating too. Now, as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise to the highest levels in the history of the planet, our ice caps melt and sea levels rise, the dangers to where you decide from natural disasters are important considerations. it might be just as critical as cost of living, taxes, culture, climate, proximity of friends and family, and recreational opportunities.
In this article we will first talk about the kinds of weather and natural
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Published on September 19, 2017
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
September 19, 2017 -- Last week we found out that one of the nation's largest credit monitoring services, Equifax, had been hacked. The credit records of 143 million Americans were compromised, including in most cases their social security numbers, addresses, birth dates, credit ratings and sometimes a lot more - basically the keys to the scamming kingdom. Since then the company is being investigated because there was an earlier hack not disclosed, and corporate insiders might have traded ahead of the public release of information.
If you have been wondering if you were one of those whose credit info is now available to the highest underworld bidder - yes you probably were. After all the U.S. population is 323 million, so statistically you have just under a 1 in 2 chance of being affected. This
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Published on September 18, 2017
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Category: Retirement Real Estate
Note: This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series. Part 2 is "The Worst Places to Retire: Weather and Natural Disasters".
September 14, 2017 -- The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida will provide many painful lessons for snowbirds and Sunbelt retirees. Those experiences impact where to live, what type of housing to choose, and whether to rent or buy. This article will explore those factors. We are grateful to Alan E for suggesting this topic. See bottom for more related articles on renting vs. buying and natural disasters.
Where to live
Almost every area of the country has its own set of natural disasters to worry about; it is hard to find a place that is immune to at least one of these: earthquake, hurricane, tsunami, blizzards, floods, sinkholes, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires, etc. When it comes to choosing a place to retire, it really boils down to picking your poison.
Over the long term Florida and Texas have had more devastating hurricanes than anywhere else, although in recent years New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut had more. Because Florida is a peninsula with coasts on three sides, the
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Published on September 13, 2017
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Category: Adventurous retirement
September 13, 2017-- The Galápagos Islands are at the top of many people's bucket list destinations. This article will give you a taste of what that experience is like, based on your Editor's recent trip, plus some tips and advice if you decide to go.
Where and whatThe Galápagos are a volcanic archipelago of small islands in the Pacific Ocean about 600 miles west of Ecuador, which is near the top of south South America. They are most famous because of the role they played in Charles Darwin's theories of evolution explained in his groundbreaking "Origin of the Species". He visited the Islands in the early 1800's, at a time when its only
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Published on September 12, 2017
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Category: Retirement Planning
September 2, 2017 -- Results from the Employee Benefits Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) paint a disturbing picture for many American workers. The percentage of pre-retirees who are very confident in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement continues to be low. On the other hand, people who are already retired report a much higher level of confidence that their finances will provide a comfortable retirement.
It is hard to say why the two groups - pre-retirees and the retired - report different levels of confidence. It could be that folks who are already retired know their situation and do not have the anxiety about the future that
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Published on September 1, 2017
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Category: Retirement Planning
Editor’s note. This is another in our continuing series of articles exploring actual people’s retirement stories. Thanks so much to Gary and Pat for sharing theirs. See bottom of article for more baby boomer retirement articles.
September 1, 2017 -- When it comes to planning out a retirement and then living it to the fullest, this pair of former educators in the Michigan school system could teach the course. Gary grew up on a farm on Lake Michigan, and Pat grew up nearby. Both learned the value of hard work, and both loved living near the lake and exploring it winter and summer in their childhood and working days.
The pair have always been enthusiastic runners, bikers, and tennis players. They met as competitive cross country ski racers, crisscrossing
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Published on August 31, 2017
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
August 28, 2017 -- From June to mid-August 15, nearly 107,000 payments for more than $100 million were attempted by people trying to use the latest financial scam. Unfortunately for those who tried, all of the payments were nullified. In this "too good to be true" flim flam people are being told there are secret accounts at the Federal Reserve that ordinary people can tap into to pay bills, if they learn how. All you need to do is add your Social Security number to
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Published on August 28, 2017
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
August 26, 2017 — As men hit middle age and then go into retirement there is one persistent health risk that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Isolation, new studies show, can cause all kinds of serious health and psychological problems. The harm caused by isolation is happening to men in ever greater numbers, and usually gets worse after they retire. Women suffer from isolation too, but not in nearly with the same frequency, and then usually just in the later stages of life. A story at the Boston Globe (see link at bottom) sparked this article and a whole lot of comments. We are happy to see that ur version on the topic is getting a lot useful discussion too.
An exercise
If you are a man reading this article, here’s an exercise that might be painful as well as instructive. Write down the names of how many close friends you have. Once you’ve done that, write down how many times you have had a close interaction with any
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Published on August 26, 2017
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