My 56 year old friend Colin (fictitious name), recently told me that he plans to retire at age 65 and then kick back and do what he wants. His retirement will include traveling when and where he (and his wife) choose, driving his vehicle of choice and pretty much living the good life…
Managing Money
Long Term Care Insurance: Are Seniors The Only Ones Who Need it?
Many in their 40s and 50s begin to wonder about long-term care insurance. They may be taking care of an aging parent or seeing someone they love that needs an assisted living facility, in home health care, or a nursing home. So that brings up an interesting question: who needs long-term care insurance?
Should You Sell Your House to Pay Off Debt?
“Help!” you are crying. “My debt load is weighting me down so much that I am considering selling my house to get rid of it. Should I?” Although I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice in order to dump debt, selling your house may not be the best way. Ask yourself the following question: Why am I in debt?
8 Money Questions That Have a Lasting Impact on Your Finances
Making decisions can be hard work. Sometimes I get tired of trying to choose between all the options of life. Truth be told, some decisions that I thought were important turned out to have little or no impact on my life. Other decisions that I made are still impacting me (either positively or negatively). In […]
12 Factors that Affect Your Home Insurance Rates
An important part of any good financial plan is to have a goal for moving forward, and also to have a good defensive financial plan. Of course, insurance is a key component in financial defense. Most importantly, I think that insurance is biblical. Like any sort of shopping, when buying insurance you are looking to get…
Cash Envelope Budgeting
In case you don’t know or need a refresher, cash envelope budgeting involves using envelopes to manage money. An envelope is created for each of your budget categories such as food, clothes, entertainment, transportation, etc. After you receive a paycheck you fund each individual envelope (or budget category) the cash allotted to it for the month…
What is Private Placement Life Insurance?
Private placement life insurance describes a type of variable life insurance that is only offered privately and not through a public offering. It can be a great a defensive tax strategy that transforms ordinary taxable income as well as capital gains into tax free income without any income tax reporting requirements under, and it is all done legally…
Advantages Of A Living Trust vs. A Will
Over the past 15 years as a financial planner, I am often asked, “should I have a will or a trust?” I sure wished every prospective client would ask this question because this would reveal they were planning ahead. The sad fact remains that less than half of adults have a will, let alone a trust…
