How is debt consolidation important for proper financial planning? Debt consolidation helps in lowering the interest rate on your debts and in addition it also helps in rolling over all of the debts that you have into a single debt. Thus, it becomes easier for you to pay off the unsecured debts that you have. [...]
Browsing Posts published in April, 2012
The Future of Estate Taxes In January 2013 the estate tax will change from its current 35 % rate at 5 million down to 55 % on estates over 1 million. There are numerous experts that feel that congress will either permanently extend the current rate or least another 10 years. It’s the belief [...]
Transitioning to Retirement Steps to take when transitioning to retirement: Remember this is an ongoing process through out your retirement years. Maintain an emergency fund – six months or more of expenses depending on your financial situation. Create a retirement plan which includes your assets, liabilities, income and expenses. Match your investments to your goals [...]
Home Ownership is it worth it? Whether owning your home makes financial sense will depend on numerous factors; including real estate market conditions, your income, expenses, savings and specific financial goals. Many individuals and married couples spend far too much on their homes, spending more than they really can afford. Does it make sense [...]
Ways to Maximize Social Security Benefits About 50 percent of all retirees receive early social security benefits at the age of 62 thereby reducing their monthly benefits by 25 percent. Many are living longer even into their nineties so waiting longer before taking your benefits might make a lot of sense. After full retirement age [...]
Looking for the Right Dividend Stock Start by screening your choices using filters to screen out stocks to meet certain criteria. You can search for companies with a dividend yield in a certain range in addition to other search criteria. When searching look for the following four characteristics: Dividend yield – Dividend yield is [...]
Financial Planning in a Divorce The first step is to review your finances. What are your assets? What are your liabilities (debts?) Have you and your spouse agree as to the division of assets? If you are going to reach an amicable settlement, you will need to decide how to pay off credit card [...]
Bond Bubble ? With bond rates at significant low levels; the past several years we have witness declining interest rates are we facing the possibility of a bond bubble? We’ve seen a secular bull market starting with 16-percent rates in 1981, then declining gradually, now less than 2 percent rate on the 10-year U.S. Treasury. [...]
ETF Market Tracker Fidelity Investments ( brokerage firm) has introduced a new ETF market tracker for its customers which allows you to view the “big picture”, then drill down to explore specific exchange traded funds. The tracker will assist you in discovering what is currently hot and what’s not by viewing a performance heat [...]
