Personal Finance Blog

Advice, Articles, News, and Money Management Tips

October 7, 2007

Knowing When to Buy Long-term Care Insurance in The U.S

My family has me covered , think many who pass over the topic of long-term care insurance. Or, perhaps, those who pass over the opportunity to buy this insurance, will rationalize that it can’t happen to me . As a result, should a debilitating condition ever set in, such as cancer, or a denegerative muscle disease, those who failed to buy long-term care insurance will often find that their family simply isn’t capable due to work obligations or simple lack of medical ability to provide long-term care in the home.

October 6, 2007

After Your Mortgage Is Paid, Do You Need Life Insurance?

Life insurance is a form of protection against the inevitable – death. It’s sole purpose is to help take care of end of life expenses. For home buyers, life insurance can help settle any unpaid mortgages, as well as help pay for funeral expenses, and provide a safety net for when you are gone. Having life insurance can help reduce the stress accompanied by the departure of a loved one also.

October 5, 2007

Retirement Communities and Senior Housing

In most developed societies and mature economies, there has been a decline in what once was an age old tradition. Traditionally, communities consisted of a self-perpetuating cycle wherein children became adults, lived with and took care of their elders, and their children would follow suit. As technology brought about the automobile, and as the world has shifted to a globalized economy, this trend and ritual of retirement housing has been on a decline.

Nowadays there are some very tough calls for a career oriented individual as his senior parents continue to age. At some point, the vast majority of senior citizens no longer are able to be self-sufficient in their traditional housing environment.

October 4, 2007

Retirement savings: The traditional IRA vs Roth

Both the Roth and IRA have unique benefits stemming from differences in how they operate. For any person considering opening a retirement account, there are several characteristics of each of the two options. Neither choice is necessarily wrong, as saving for retirement is a very wise and financially prudent decision. However, either the IRA or the Roth retirement account with be better suited to you as an individual.

October 3, 2007

Early Retirement Planning Tips

Retirement used to be more of a reality than a dream. Just a few short decades ago during the peak of the middle class, you went to work at an early age, put in twenty years with the same company, and then at the end, the company would take care of you. Since then, many employers have dropped retirement pensions and instituted a 401k retirement plan in lieu.

October 2, 2007

How to Consolidate Your Debt Into One Payment

Debt consolidation of multiple bills allows you to reduce your obligation into a single, larger, and more convenient to manage bill. In order to consolidate, you will need to locate a vendor offering a consolidation package that fits your individual needs. In addition, you will have to qualify for a a loan. You can locate a consolidation offer, whether from bank, credit card offer, mortgage secured consolidation, or third party vendor, is not critical for the purpose of how to consolidate debt.

October 1, 2007

How to Save When Money Is Tight?

For many people, money can be tight. With a general decade long trend of spiraling home-purchase costs, coupled with life and its innumerable changes, the average American finds themselves unable to save when the money is tight.

Research by the US Department of Commerce supports this assertion, showing that for the first time since the great depression of the ’30s, consumer spending exceeds net money. That doesn’t mean that saving is impossible for the millions of individuals who are struggling along on a day-to-day basis.

September 30, 2007

Advice and Tips On Unfair Debt Collection Practices

Why is it when you sit down to enjoy dinner the phone will ring? You get up to answer the phone because it surely must be a family emergency, or something important. But no, once you lift the phone off the receiver, you immediately are greeted by a very foreign voice militantly asking who they are speaking to. It’s a debt collector.

September 30, 2007

How to Get Beyond Debt Reduction to Debt Avoidance

The road to conquering debt is a challenging one, but through debt reduction you’ve made it. The question you now ask yourself is, Now that I’m done with all the collection calls, and debt-related hassle, how do I avoid going through this nightmare again? You’ve learned a lot about your spending habits by this time. And obviously you’ve employed techniques from the wide array of debt reduction strategies to eliminate your debt. Unfortunately, doing this often is not enough for debt avoidance.

September 28, 2007

The Saving Crisis: A Generation of Americans Who Can’t Save Money

There is a marked trend in the decline of personal savings of modern Americans. The all time low in money savings crisis has yet to manifest during our generation. Actually, the crash of personal savings is documented twice throughout modern history. In 1932-1933, during the Great Depression, the then generation of Americans had a significant problem saving money. Evidence of that is left in a paper trail showing a negative savings rate.

The savings crisis resulting from a negative savings rate becomes apparent once we properly define the term “negative savings.” Simply put, a negative savings means an individual spends every penny he has to his name, and then some more for good measure.