The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 was signed into law on February 13, 2008.  The Act is intended to stimulate consumer spending in 2008, and features taxpayer rebate checks for more than 130 million individuals, as well as increased small business expense and depreciation limits, and increased loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and [...]

Deciding when to retire may not be one decision but a series of decisions and calculations. For example, you’ll need to estimate not only your anticipated expenses, but also what sources of retirement income you’ll have and how long you’ll need your retirement savings to last. You’ll need to take into account your life expectancy [...]

Before you retire, take the time to figure out just how much money you’ll need for retirement. One of the biggest concerns for retirees is whether their retirement savings will last the rest of their lives–will they run out of money? Social Security is not the guaranteed source of retirement income it once was, and [...]

What does it mean?
 
Getting a good return on your investment
Optimizing your Social Security retirement benefits means getting the best return possible on each dollar you invest in the system.  Every pay period, you pay 6.2 percent of your salary in taxes that finance your future benefits (retirement, disability, and survivor’s benefits) and those of other [...]

In our recent recession it has been quite a stressful time for those ready to retire or that are already retired.  Let’s face it, if you are in your 20’s it’s no big deal if the market drops by 20%, which by the way since October of 2007 the DOW is down over 20%.  When [...]

Banking fees got you down? Well, don’t go stuffing your cash into your mattress in an attempt to avoid them. Sure, the idea is attractive, but the downside is that you don’t get any interest (except maybe from the local cat burglars). All you need to do is tell the bank to stop sending you [...]

When it comes to planning for your retirement income, it’s easy to overlook some of the common factors that can affect how much you’ll have available to spend.  If you don’t consider how your retirement income can be impacted by investment risk, inflation risk, catastrophic illness or long-term care, and taxes, you may not be [...]

credit card payments
Because more and more people are beginning to use credit cards for their purchases, the need to safeguard credit card information within company databases has become a huge task. Many companies now require that businesses, both big and small, adhere to regulations that will protect consumer information. If these regulations are not followed [...]

It is clear that many people would ideally like to live a life that is debt free. Debt not only affects your life it also has a major effect on your mental state. Then avoiding personal bankruptcy advice is probably the best kind of advice that anyone can give.
Knowing how to avoid bankruptcy is a [...]

You’ve worked hard your whole life anticipating the day you could finally retire.  Well, that day has arrived!  But with it comes the realization that you’ll need to carefully manage your assets so that your retirement savings will last.
Review your portfolio regularly
Traditional wisdom holds that retirees should value the safety of their principal above all [...]