Posted on September 15, 2011 by Erin
A few years ago, having large gaps in your employment history may have been frowned upon. These days, it’s not unusual for many people to have large gaps of time in between jobs. Though most people are concerned about the appearance of gaps, the most serious implication long term unemployment can have is the daunting task of having to play catch up to your retirement savings.
Young savers in their 20s and 30s who have a gap in their retirement savings take a hit on their final retirement account because they miss out on the compounded returns. Luckily for them, there is time to make up for lost money. Adding a higher percentage to monthly 401K contributions or contributing any on hand money into a separate retirement plan like a Traditional or Roth IRA can help.
As people get older, the gaps in time become less damaging to their final retirement savings, but the contributions that are made need to be larger in amount and in a smaller amount of time. The key to all of this is to plan ahead for the unexpected. Create a rainy day fund that is specifically for emergencies. Avoid pulling money out of any account that is meant for retirement. You never know what tomorrow will bring, so plan today to help yourself out in the future.
Read more about what you can do to catch in retirement savings.
Need help figuring out where you are in your retirement planning? Use our Retirement Calculator to find out!
Sign up for one of our newsletters.
Posted on September 14, 2011 by Erin
In a study that was released by AARP, it was found that the majority of boomer women focus on their personal finances more than their health when they plan for the future. Women tend to center their lives around their work and their loved ones more than themselves so this study may not come as a surprise. However, it was found that the majority of the older women in the study had put a financial plan in place and discussed it over with loved ones. Younger boomer women age 55 and under however, were more likely to report that they had yet to start conversations regarding their financial future because they felt they had plenty of time to begin.
Of course, it is never too early to begin planning and discussing financial plans. Women on average live five years longer than men, and by 75, two-thirds of women are single. Maintaining a balance between staying healthy and planning for a secure financial future is crucial. You can’t have one without the other!
See where you are in your retirement plan by using our free Retirement Calculator.
Protect yourself against high medical costs further down the road by securing a Long Term Care policy.
Sign up for one of our retirement newsletters!
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Erin
A year ago, a man by the name of William Ludwig had given up on Chemotherapy. He had leukemia and no treatment seemed to be working anymore – he felt like his time was up. In an effort to possibly add an extra six months to his life or to simply contribute to the study, Ludwig agreed to have a billion of his virus fighting T-cells removed from his body to be injected with new genes that could potentially program the cells to attack his cancer. After the procedure, nothing seemed to happen but 10 days later, his blood pressure dropped and his temperature rose to dangerous levels. He was put into the ICU and his family was told to say their goodbyes. But a few weeks later, his stats returned back to normal and his leukemia was completely gone. And now, a year later, there is still no sign of the disease that was once close to taking his life.
Of course this treatment is still in testing and is not available to patients outside of these studies. There are high risks for the treatment and it is still considered dangerous, but there is a very real possibility that this could be the beginning of the cure for cancer and many other diseases. Read the full article here at the New York Times Website.
Protect yourself by ensuring you can cover the costs of any unplanned medical costs by purchasing Long Term Care Insurance.
See how having Long Term Care Insurance can affect your retirement plan.
Sign up for one of our retirement newsletters.
Posted on September 12, 2011 by Erin
People across the country have been struggling in the past couple of years to continue to put healthy food on their plates. It seems that paychecks are getting smaller (or disappearing) and the cost of food continues to rise. One way to fix the problem? Grow your own food!
Across the U.S., gardens are popping up in numbers that haven’t been seen in years. Garden-store retailers have even reported an increase in sales over the past two years. It seems that Americans who live in rural areas and have the land to plant a garden, and even city dwellers that buy a plot of land in a community garden are beginning to take matters into their own hands by growing their own food. The vegetables they grow are healthy and can save a family a significant amount of money on their grocery bill. Selling excess veggies to their neighbors in their community at farmer’s markets can also help retirees put some much needed cash back into their pockets.
Do you garden? Is it something that you do because you enjoy? Has it become supplemental income for you?
Growing your own vegetables and selling them is a past time that some retirees have taken up to make more money. Find other part time retirement jobs that you may enjoy.
See how you can instantly strengthen your retirement plan by using our free Retirement Calculator.
Sign up for one of our Retirement Newsletters.
Posted on September 9, 2011 by Erin
It’s not just people who are close to retirement that are concerned about the amount of money they’ve saved. According to a new study by The PNC Financial Service Group, 82% of Americans between the ages of 20 and 29 lack the confidence that they will be able to save enough money for a comfortable retirement.
This generation has never been able to experience a booming economy – their reality has been the “Great Recession.” Many of these young adults graduate college and are thrust into a world where jobs are being lost rather than made. And the jobs that they are finding are not likely to be in their field of study nor do they pay what is needed to make them financially stable. In fact, the study found that 77% of the young adults in this age group do not consider themselves completely financially independent, with many having to rely on their parents for help. The advice for this generation? It’s the same advice given to all ages – be smart with your money. Always make sure to pay yourself first by taking advantage of programs like the company 401(k) and remember to budget whatever money you do have.
Do you have children or grandchildren that are part of the struggling Generation Y? Have you had to help them out financially? How has this affected your own retirement plan?
See how your retirement plan is shaping up by using our Retirement Calculator.
Sign up for one of our newsletters.
Posted on September 8, 2011 by Erin
One of the most confusing to understand yet potentially one of the best ways to invest your money is in an Annuity. An annuity is like a pension that you buy for yourself. You purchase monthly income for a specific period of time for as long as you live. This sounds great, but not all annuities are created the same. Attempting to figure out which annuity is right for you can be a daunting and confusing task. Not all annuity products are the right thing for certain retirees and attempting to chose between fixed and variable annuity or even where to purchase an annuity can be downright frustrating.
One of the blogs we like to keep up with over here at NewRetirement is Tom’s Blog. He is the founder of Annuity Digest and writes a blog that deals with questions on annuities as well as other financial topics. When thinking about purchasing an annuity, you can never have too much information!
Check out our Pro’s and Con’s of Annuities list.
Use our Retirement Calculator to see where you stand in your retirement planning with or without an annuity.
Sign up for one of our newsletters.
Posted on September 7, 2011 by Erin
Recently, there seem to have been a lot of natural disasters – earthquakes, fires and hurricanes have been the top headlines for the past few weeks. If you were to find yourself in one of these situations, would you be prepared? 72 hours is the amount of time that officials say it may take for services to be restored, so being prepared is vital. Here are some tips:
The biggest thing to do is make sure that you have set up a personal support network. Make sure that someone will check in on you if an emergency occurs. Also, designate a meeting place in your community that is not your home, so friends and family will know where to find you. Always make sure that you are carrying an emergency health care card with you that will inform someone of any allergies you may have or medications you are on. In your home, have a bag that consists of a first aid kit, batteries, a flashlight and water (You’ll have to remember to check the expiration date on any food that you put in your kit and change them when the time comes). It’s also smart to purchase a thermal blanket or a poncho to put in your kit. And of course, know the best escape routes from your house. Have one route for each section of your home. Here is a great website that lists more great ways to plan for almost any disaster you could imagine!
Sign up for a NewRetirement monthly newsletter!
Posted on September 6, 2011 by Erin
It’s an unfortunate fact of life – no one lives forever. Losing a loved one is always difficult, but the loss is made extremely difficult when the one you lose is your spouse. For women, this happens often since women tend to live longer than their male spouses. And though behaviors are beginning to shift, often times men are the ones that take care of the financial issues leaving the widows to take on that role during their time of grief.
Recently in the New York Times, Financial writer, Ron Lieber posted four items that can help widows when they are faced with the task of taking on full responsibility for their finances during this intense period. His first piece of advice is to never rush any big financial decisions. Always continue to pay your bills and taxes, but hold off on making big decisions such as paying off a mortgage. Also be on the lookout for people who prey on recently widowed spouses and offer to sell things like annuities. If you do want to purchase something like a lifetime annuity, make sure you do your research and work with someone who isn’t going to get rich at your expense. Another piece of advice is to be careful with who you lend your money to – even if it is your child. Unfortunately, sometimes people take an emotionally charged situation and play off of it. It hasn’t been unheard of for a child to ask for an advance on their inheritance that you’re not prepared to give or to have a new man pop into your life who just happens to not be the most stable when it comes to his finances.
You may not be able to prepare for the loss of a loved one, but you can take some steps to make sure that you are not the victim of bad financial decisions.
See how stable you will be in your later years by using our Retirement Calculator.
Sign up for our monthly Retirement Newsletter.
Posted on September 2, 2011 by Erin
Today, the U.S. Labor Department released it’s new jobs report, and the news isn’t the best. Unemployment remained at exactly 9.1%. There are a few different reasons why this happened, one of them being the 22,000 Minnesota government workers that came back to their jobs after their strike which was unfortunately balanced out when 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike. Feeling frustrated, the CEO of Starbucks decided to call a town hall meeting and have companies, not the government, take a pledge that they will create the jobs to get America back on track again. He has successfully gotten the CEO’s of over 100 companies on board with him. Which got us thinking – what are the biggest companies? How many people do they employ? Do they really have the power to change America’s unemployment problem?
The nation’s largest employer is WalMart which puts to work 1.8 million workers. They are followed by McDonald’s at 447,000 and UPS at 407,000 employees. That’s a lot of people! Especially when you compare those numbers to entire city populations. One of the U.S’s biggest cities, Chicago, has a population of about 2.7 million – if you add up how many people the top 10 companies employ, that’s almost 5 million people. This means the top 10 employers in this country could employ the entire city of Chicago, twice! Maybe these CEO’s can help this country!
Retired but want to jump back into the workforce? We have ideas for fun retirement jobs!
See how your retirement planning is going – try our free retirement calculator.
Sign up for our retirement newsletter.
Posted on September 1, 2011 by Erin
“I trust my heart to ________.” Can you finish that sentence? A large portion of people can say “Lipitor” with no hesitation. Lipitor is the world’s most-prescribed drug and is worth more than $11 billion in revenue to it’s company Pfizer. But that may not be the case for long. Pfizer’s patent on Lipitor is getting ready to expire in November and Pfizer is scrambling to make sure it does not become a generic drug that will allow for a cheaper version of the drug to be produced. One solution? Have it become an over the counter medicine.
Usually when expensive prescription drugs become available over the counter (think ibuprofen, and many allergy medicines), it’s a great thing for consumers. But this time around, it’s not looking that way. Lipitor is used to treat high cholesterol and reduces the level of “bad” cholesterol. The problem is, elevated levels of the bad cholesterol are asymptomatic – there’s no way to know if you have it without taking a blood test. And currently, these types of blood tests can only be given by physicians. If people don’t know their cholesterol levels and are giving themselves the wrong dosage, they can easily harm themselves.
Do you think making this drug available over the counter is good for the public? Or do you think this move could do more harm than good?
Prescription drugs are expensive – make sure you have enough money saved to purchase your medications AND still retire!
Protect yourself with a long term care plan.
Sign up for one of our retirement newsletters!
