James C. Molet's Blog, page 20

Retirement Living

There a number of factors when considering where to retire. The wife and I have two overriding priorities with respect to where we will retire. First, we have to enjoy the climate and environment. Second, we will not go into retirement with a mortgage. Moving, and committing to paying a new mortgage, after we retire is not an option for us. Of course, what weight to apply to the various factors (e.g. taxes, climate, lifestyle, etc.) will differ for all.

RetirementLiving.com is a convenient, easy-to-use resource designed to assist individuals in planning and making decisions about their retirement. The information offered is of particular value when deciding whether or not to move, and if so, finding the right location, lifestyle and housing opportunity.

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The  website provides access to an array of resource materials, including reports on great places to retire, tax information on each state, monthly reports on new retirement communities, an online newsletter, books and online publications, a guide to state aging agencies, access to information about special assistance products and services, and links to online stores.

10 Financial Mistakes You Should Avoid – A SavvyReview

10 Financial Mistakes You Should Avoid: Strategies Designed to Help Keep Your Money Safe and Growing Paperback: 134 pages Publisher: Stephen Ng Financial Group, LLC (2015) Stephen Ng Financial Group, LLC, OUR MISSION No matter where you are in your financial or retirement planning journey, our mission statement remains the same: to help you grow and preserve... Read Article →

3 Tips for Young People Who Need to Start Saving for Retirement – Now

The following is a guest from Eric Hutchinson, a Certified Financial Planner™ with more than 30 years of experience in the areas of financial planning, investments, estate and tax planning. He has professional affiliations with The Financial Planning Association, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards and the Investment Management Consultants Association. His new book The Financial Briefing,... Read Article →

A Few Economic Indicators to Watch the Rest of 2017

The following is a guest post from Stephen Ng, founder and president of Stephen Ng Financial Group. Stephen is author of 10 Financial Mistakes You Should Avoid: Strategies Designed to Help Keep Your Money Safe and Growing. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant and a Certified Estate Planner. He is also an... Read Article →

Dream Hoarders – A SavvyReview

Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What do to about It Hardcover: 156 pages Publisher: Brookings Institution Press (2017) Richard V. Reeves (born in the UK in 1969) is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington... Read Article →

The Military’s New Blended Retirement System

As an active duty retiree – 21 years in the United States Army – and a personal finance blogger, news of the Department of Defense’s new retirement system, the Blended Retirement System (BRS), was of particular interest. Suffice it to say a significant change is on the horizon for many of our nation’s service members.... Read Article →

How to Decide Who Merits Your Money as You Ponder Your Legacy

The following is a guest post from Patrick Renn, author of Finding Your Money’s Greater Purpose. Patrick has been a Certified Financial Planner for more than 35 years and holds a bachelor’s degree from in business administration from Villanova University and an MBA from Loyola College. He is the founder of Renn Wealth Management Group Inc., the former... Read Article →

Financial Literacy and Consumers with Bad Credit

Your credit score is a numerical representation of your creditworthiness and it tells lenders how good you are at repaying debts and effectively utilizing your available credit. There are several credit scoring models in use today, but the most common, the one most people are familiar with, is the FICO, created by the formerly named... Read Article →

Social Security and Medicare: The 2017 Trustees Report

Where does your Social Security pension fit into your retirement plan? That might depend on your age and your view on the program’s long-term prognosis. The annual trustee reports on Social Security and Medicare were released earlier today and showed little change from last year’s report. Depending on your perspective, that is either good or... Read Article →

Social Security and Medicare: The 2017 Trustees Report

Where does your Social Security pension fit into your retirement plan? That might depend on your age and your view on the program’s long-term prognosis.

The annual trustee reports on Social Security and Medicare were released earlier today and showed little change from last year’s report. Depending on your perspective, that is either good or bad. The bottom line is that the estimated insolvency date of Social Security’s big trust fund is 2034, which is unchanged from last year. The other big fund is Medicare’s hospital trust fund. Last year, it was projected to run out of funds in 2028. That date has been updated to 2029 in this year’s report.

As most are aware – or should be – both funds are paid for by wage earners out of their Social Security payroll taxes. What the insolvency dates mean is that payroll taxes will be the only source of benefit payments once the trust fund reserves are gone.

The Social Security report also projected that the program’s 2018 cost of living adjustment (COLA) would be 2.2 percent, the largest in several years. The COLA establishes annual … Read the Summary