July/August 2010 - FR2008-0407-0227E

Estate Planning:

Does your estate strategy still make sense?
In any economic environment, it's important to monitor your estate strategy regularly, including wills and trusts. What will you pass on to loved ones and charities? How much are you worth? And if your net worth has dramatically decreased, how do you move it in a positive direction?

Creating an estate strategy when you don't have children
While caring for children, both financially and physically, is a legitimate concern, not everyone with a need for an estate strategy has children.

General Interest:

Wanna be rich? Act poor!
Simply spend less money than you earn. Then, put that money away to potentially grow and help you meet future financial goals.

How not to get buried in paper records
It doesn't take many years as an adult to become overwhelmed with paper records. Every person will have different record-saving requirements, but these suggestions may help you determine what you have to save and for how long.

Should you start your own business?
Maybe not if it's solely because you're having a hard time finding employment elsewhere. But if you have a good idea and the expertise to turn an idea into a successful concern, running your own business can be a life-changing event.

Take advantage of tax breaks when looking for employment
If you are unemployed and looking for a new job in the same trade or business, count your miles. That's because the miles you drive to and from a job interview, for instance, are tax deductible if you file a tax return that itemizes deductions. And mileage isn't the only tax break you'll find.

Pay attention to taxes when changing jobs
Unemployed people looking for work aren't the only ones who may need to know more about taxes. If you change jobs, a number of things may either save you or cost you tax dollars.

Insurance:

Help protect your wealth with insurance
How do people preserve their wealth? In some cases, they make sure they have life insurance to financially protect loved ones if the unthinkable occurs. Or they might own disability income insurance, protecting some of their continued income.

Retirement Planning:

When the road to retirement has detours
After the deep recession and stock market volatility of the past few years, retirement might not look like what you originally envisioned. However, a creative approach and some adjustments may still help you reach your retirement goals.

Seniors:

Long-term care costs can grow and grow
If you think that long-term care costs don't amount to much, recent research conducted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) might change your mind. According to the Association, which represents the long-term care insurance industry, insurers paid out $8.5 billion in benefits to more than 180,000 people in 2008.

Small Business:

Making your one-person business a success
Are you a self-employed or sole entrepreneur? While running your company can present challenges, it also may offer cost-efficient opportunities to make sure you're properly insured and putting money away for retirement.

A SIMPLE way to provide for your retirement
When the SIMPLE IRA plan was introduced, it was hailed as a bright new way to help business owners and their employees prepare financially for retirement. You may not hear much about these plans today, but they're still around and they work well for many small businesses.

Standard:

The benefits of diversifying your investments
With the fluctuations of last decade's stock market behind us, what did investors learn? One might argue that diversification may potentially help reduce volatility and discipline investors to spread their investment dollars among different investments.

Rethinking how to invest for retirement
As you near retirement, how do you calibrate -- or recalibrate -- your retirement portfolio so that it doesn't swing in value so wildly?

Womens:

A window of opportunity for Roth IRA conversions
If you own a traditional IRA, you may have a special, one-time opportunity this year. If you convert to a Roth IRA in 2010 you can pay half of the resulting income tax in 2011 and the other half in 2012. Is converting to a Roth IRA right for you?