Many seniors in the United States will have to find ways to pay for long-term care, either in a residential setting, such as an assisted living home, or at home through a home health or home care service. The cost of these services is generally high—between $2,000 and $5,000 per month for full-time care—and can [...]
Q: My husband and I are on the hunt for a new home, and we’d like to buy an older house—not a fixer-upper, but something with a little charm. What should we look for when we’re visiting the homes, and what are some issues we might face that are different from buying a new home? [...]
According to a May 2013 Pew Research study, 40 percent of all households with children younger than 18 have mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income. The majority—63 percent—are single mothers, and 37 percent are married mothers with higher incomes than their husbands. With so many women in positions of financial [...]
The college years are an exciting and difficult time: From tuition payments to Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms to full or part-time employment, college may be the first time young adults are in charge of their own finances. With more financial freedom comes added responsibility, including a duty to pay Uncle Sam. [...]
Congratulations – your new baby has finally arrived. With this new addition comes added responsibility that can make it easy to forget about all the important things you need to do. While taxes aren’t the first thing you think about when your new baby arrives, forgetting anything on this list could have you scrambling come [...]
The other day, a client called me very proudly. She had made her second quarterly estimated tax payment “right on time”—on July 15. I couldn’t help chuckling. After all, she tried to get it right. Unfortunately, she was actually one month late on her payment. Estimated taxes are used to pay taxes on income not [...]
How do you know if you’re ready for a financial planner? After all, it’s sort of a strange proposition: You’re spending money on someone who will tell you how to spend your money. But that’s exactly why millions of people see financial planners in the first place. “Typically, people who come to me are already [...]
There is an old saying that people spend more time planning for a vacation than they do for retirement. You can imagine that most people spend even less time with estate planning. Planning for death or incapacity might not be on your bucket list, but it must be considered, especially when it relates to your [...]
There’s nothing new about buying a house and renting it out to make some extra income, but the flood of foreclosures that began in 2007 sparked fresh interest in purchasing rental real estate for investment. Today, millions of individual investors, as well as huge Wall Street hedge funds, have invested billions of dollars into purchasing [...]
Let’s face it: few people like to talk about life insurance, let alone buy it. Benjamin Franklin, who was instrumental in creating the first life insurance company, the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund, subsequently found that various religious authorities were outraged at the practice of putting a value on human life. Criticism cooled, however, when it was [...]
