Getting rich quick can be liberating, but it can also be frustrating. Sudden wealth can help you address retirement saving or college funding anxieties, and it may also allow you to live and work on your terms. On the other hand, you’ll pay more taxes, attract more attention, and maybe even contend with jealousy or envy. You may also deal with grief or stress, as a lump sum may be linked to a death, a divorce, or a pension payout decision.
Topics: Financial Planning, Planning, Retirement, Saving
How healthy a retirement do you think you will have? If you can stay activeas a seniorand curb or avoid certain habits, you could potentially reduceonetype of retirement expense.
Each year, Fidelity Investments presents an analysisof retiree health care costs. In 2019, Fidelity projected that the average 65-year-old couple would spend around $285,000 on health care during retirement, including about $11,000 in the first year. Both projections took Medicare benefits into account.1,2
Topics: Financial Planning, Planning, Retirement, Saving
What financial, business, or life priorities do you need to address for the coming year? Now is a good time to think about the investing, saving, or budgeting methods you could employ toward specific objectives, from building your retirement fund to managing your taxes. You have plenty of choices. Here are a few ideas to consider:
Topics: Budgeting, Build True Wealth, Financial Planning, Goals, Investing, Investments, long term objectives, Planning, RMD, RMDs, saving and investing, Stay focused on objectives
If you are like most small business owners, you find it difficult to plan because your future has more unknowns than your non-business-owning counterparts. You might not know how much your business is worth, when you should sell, where to find the right buyer, how to fetch the best price, or even how much insurance to carry. If you have a family business or operate with a partner, you also have additional layers of both complexity and ambiguity.
Topics: Financial Planning, Planning, small business owner, small business
No insurance policy will protect you from everything. Even the most comprehensive umbrella liability policy has its shortcomings. A good auto, homeowner, or renter policy will insure you against what the carrier believes to be common threats. There are other risks, however, that you might need to address.
Earthquakes. A typical homeowners policy offers no earthquake protection, and that presents a serious coverage gap in certain states. Just 10% of California households have earthquake insurance, for example. (On the bright side, a record number of Californians bought these policies in 2017.)1
Floods. In some regions, houses may be more at risk for flood damage than their owners believe. Last year, tens of thousands of Southeast Texas homeowners discovered just how vulnerable they were in the wake of Hurricane Harvey – neighborhoods well inland were inundated. Just 12% of U.S. homeowners have flood insurance coverage, which the average homeowners policy does not provide.2
Sewage backups. The main sewer system in your city is the city’s responsibility – but the pipes that reach from the main sewer system in the street onto your property are your responsibility. If something goes wrong with those pipes, your homeowners policy probably will not cover any property damage. The good news is, you can get sewer backup insurance. It costs about $75-150 per year for $5,000-$10,000 worth of coverage.3
Home business damage or mishaps. Are you a solopreneur with a home-based business venture? Are you a lawyer or therapist who hosts clients in a home office? You should realize that regular homeowners insurance usually won’t cover business-related liability and neither will the normal umbrella liability policy. At the very least, you need commercial liability insurance, which addresses risks your business venture may face inside and outside of your residence. It can cover property damage (to your home or another home you or your employees visit on business) and bodily injury claims. Commercial property insurance can cover business equipment you have at your house. A standard business owner’s policy includes both commercial property and commercial liability coverage. The yearly premium for a business owner’s policy is usually less than $500.4
An accident or theft involving a vehicle you lease. If a car you are leasing is stolen or totaled, there is a good chance that your auto insurance provider will not reimburse you for the full amount of your lease agreement. (This could also be the case for a vehicle you have bought with financing.) How can you mitigate this risk? You can purchase gap insurance from the auto insurance company you have a relationship with, the dealership, or a lender. This coverage fills in the gap in value between the full lease or loan amount and how much the vehicle was worth at the time of the incident.5
Topics: Uncategorized, Disability Insurance, Homeowners, Insurance, Insurance Risk, Planning
