Everyone should have a will; it ensures that your loved ones will receive the assets you wish them to have in the event of your death. To be clear, a will is a legal document that states how you want your property to be distributed and to care for any minor children. To ensure that your wishes are carried out as stated by you, a will must be written and signed by you and your witnesses. Keep in mind; even though you have set up a will for your family; you may have several reasons to update your will, especially …

Wills and trusts are both invaluable estate planning documents but they serve very different functions and are used at different times. Used in combination, they can help provide a comprehensive estate plan and both should be addressed when planning for retirement. Wills A will goes into effect after an individual has died. It delineates the distribution of assets according to the testator’s wishes and typically designates an executor who will ensure that the distribution is correctly made. Only sole and separate property can be included in a will; property that is jointly held or held in trust cannot be included …

Life insurance myths are some of the most persistent misleading misinformation affecting people planning retirement. These analytics are commonly severely lacking in adequate research to back up the popular perceptions. Consequentially, a few have fallen into avoidable financial traps. Insurance has the potential to be the strongest plan with the right guidance.  Benefits of utilizing life insurance 1. Protection of income in an untimely death to help the survivors. 2. Insurance of savings. 3. Ease tax management. 4. Maximize investments and returns. It is paramount to debunk the myths that surround life insurance before commencing life retirement plans. 1. It …

Everyone has different ideas of what it is like to retire. However, their ideas may be based solely on what they assume or what they have heard. The only way to know for certain is to ask people who have gone through it. Here are several facts and myths that you should learn about the retirement planning experience. Boredom Most people assume that boredom is a common occurrence for people without jobs. This is not an issue for those who have their days planned out. Many retirees claim that they have very few boring days. They say that they simply …

The year 2021 was an up-and-down year for many Americans. No one knows what is on the horizon for 2022, but it doesn’t hurt to set goals. Here are some financial goals that could help you get off to a great start in 2022. Start an Emergency Fund Whether you’ve just graduated and have yet to start your dream job or you’re a professional with many years of experience under your belt, you need an emergency fund. This is the first point of emphasis that many financial experts point to. If you have no emergency fund, you’ll likely have to …

As you prepare or revise your retirement plan, one of the most important steps that you can take is to ensure that your projected future budget is accurate. Any oversights or poor estimations can, unfortunately, lead to a financial shortage in retirement. However, the flip side of this is that overestimating expenses may lead to unnecessary financial anxiety. It could cause you to scale back your lifestyle so dramatically now that you cannot maintain a comfortable lifestyle. In some cases, it could cause you to work for several additional years than you need to. When you read retirement planning books …

Retirement should be a time of rest, relaxation, and play. It should be about focusing on those pursuits that you wanted to do when you were younger, but you have yet to cross them off of your bucket list. Failing to plan for a comfortable retirement can be a major stressor in the life of someone facing their golden years. Recreational hopes and dreams can quickly be squashed in the wake of news that you haven’t set up things to be nearly as prosperous as you’d hoped. Learning what to do, and what NOT to do, as you plan for …

You’ve spent the better part of your working years planning for your comfortable retirement. As you celebrated your last official day of work, you already had a pretty good idea of the value of your financial investment portfolio and personal worth. And, you probably had a plan for how much money you would need every year to maintain the comforts of life that you were accustomed to. You either would have more than enough for a comfortable retirement or you would have to be careful with spending to maintain your lifestyle. Either way, a budget is always a good idea …

The average individual spends less during their retirement due to a budget. The exception is giving to charitable causes. A study by the WPI (Women’s Philanthropy Institute) looked at how households in America spent money as they retired. The results revealed that both single women and married couples spent the same amount of donations on charities before and after they retired. The charitable giving of single men decreased once they retired.  The report from the WPI also showed both married and single women have less confidence regarding their financial health upon retirement than men. Their focus is not on outliving …