The A, B, C, & D of Medicare Breaking down the basics & what each part covers. Whether your 65th birthday is on the horizon or decades away, you should understand the parts of Medicare what they cover, and where they come from. Parts A & B: Original Medicare. America created a national health insurance program for seniors in 1965 with two components. Part A is hospital insurance. It provides coverage for inpatient stays at medical facilities. It can [...]
What’s Your Financial Health Score? Can a 5-question test predict how wealthy you will become? In the future, will you become wealthier or poorer? Who knows, right? It seems like you would need a crystal ball to really answer that question given life’s up and downs. What if the answer is right in front of you? What if you can determine it from your present financial behaviors? Two economists present a brief questionnaire – and an audacious claim. Last month, [...]
Your Annual Financial To-Do List Things you can do before & for 2015. What financial, business or life priorities do you need to address for 2015? Now is a good time to think about the investing, saving or budgeting methods you could employ toward specific objectives. Some year-end financial moves may prove crucial to the pursuit of those goals as well. What can you do to lower your 2015 taxes? Before the year fades away, you have plenty of options. [...]
Accentuating the Positive Retiring? Saving for retirement? Here’s some good news. Are 90% of articles written about retirement pessimistic? Sometimes it seems that way. Repeatedly, we are reminded that most baby boomers haven’t saved enough for the future. There’s no denying this, but the media is giving short shrift to other, more positive developments that may be improving the economic and retirement outlook for many Americans. Here are a few worth noting. 401(k) savings have rebounded tremendously from Great Recession [...]
IRS Raises Retirement Plan Contribution Limits Roth & traditional IRAs won’t get 2015 COLAs, but other plans will. A little inflation means a little adjustment. As the Consumer Price Index is up 1.7% over the last 12 months, the federal government is giving Social Security benefits a 1.7% boost for 2015 and lifting annual contribution limits on key pension plans as well.1 401(k), 403(b), 457 & TSP annual contribution limits increase by $500. You will be able to defer up [...]