Thursday July 24, 2008 - Good Stuff Cheap: Clothes
Clothes are a large line item in many consumers’ budgets.
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Wednesday July 23, 2008 - Good Stuff Cheap: Travel
It is hard to get a really good deal on air travel these days. I think the key to getting a good deal is to do some comparison shopping and be flexible. I did my research last month for this segment.
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Tuesday July 22, 2008 - Good Stuff Cheap: Eating Out
Eating out is one of America’s favorite past times. I like good food and particularly I like good food I don’t have to cook it. But I am also cheap!
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Monday July 21, 2008 - Good Stuff Cheap: Groceries
No one is officially using the “R” word but it sure feels like a recession to me, having lived through a few of them! There are lots of things you can do to maintain the same life style you have on the cheap.
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Friday July 18, 2008 - Insurance: Some You Probably Don't Need
Insurance is a financial tool that is used when you don’t have enough dollars in your emergency fund, that 911 fund, to cover the loss yourself. Someone like Donald Trump or Bill Gates have lots of money to self-insure but the average person does not.
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Thursday July 17, 2008 - Insurance: Long Term Care
Long-term care is simply defined as the care needed for individuals with chronic disabilities, this care may now be in the individual’s home or it may mean custodial care in a nursing home.
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Wednesday July 16, 2008 - Insurance: Homeowners
The single largest hard asset most of us will ever own is our home and it is critical to protect it with insurance. You cannot get a mortgage today without proof of homeowner’s insurance. If something should happen to your home, the mortgage holder wants to be paid.
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Tuesday July 15, 2008 - Insurance: Disability
Between the ages of 25 and 55, you’re more than twice as likely to become disabled as die. Life insurance protects your dependents if you should die. If you are unable to work it is disability insurance that will protect you and provide an income stream for you and your dependents.
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Monday July 14, 2008 - Insurance: Life
Life insurance is used primarily be used to cover the loss of your income stream for your dependents if you should die. There are many other reasons to own life insurance...
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Friday July 11, 2008 - Money Goals for Families: Retired Empty Nesters
Well this is it you think; you’ve raised your kids, worked all of your life and now it's playtime! Maybe? If you haven’t planned well for retirement you may find yourself coming up short.
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Thursday July 10, 2008 - Money Goals for Families: Single Parent with Children
So often we start as a couple, have one or two children and then the blush is off the rose and we divorce. Fifty percent of marriages still end in divorce. Certainly as a single parent you need to rethink your goals. Where there were two incomes there is now one and perhaps child support.
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Wednesday July 9, 2008 - Money Goals for Families: Mom, Dad & Teenagers
You wake up one morning and you realize the baby is having a birthday and she’s 13 today. Oops, what happened to all of the planning you were going to do? Your little girl has grown so quickly and her brothers are now 15 and 17 and come this fall they all will be in highschool.
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Tuesday July 8, 2008 - Money Goals for Families: Mom, Dad & Baby Makes 3
Where there were two there now could be three or four or more. What does having a baby do to your goals and dreams?
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Monday July 7, 2008 - Money Goals for Families: Newly Weds
Let’s start the week where most of us start, being a newly wed couple. And I will assume my couple is under age 30 and both are working. This profile will work for a young couple that are living together as well and want a future together.
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Friday July 4, 2008 - Ways to Save: The Fixed Expenses
All week we have discussed ways to save on discretionary spending. But what about our fixed expenses? Let’s start with where we live.
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Thursday July 3, 2008 - Ways to Save: The Big Ticket Items
Vacations, cars, TVs, appliances, furniture, computers or a college education. Basically anything you can plan for.
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Wednesday July 2, 2008 - Ways to Save: Eating Out? Don't
Eating out is entertainment for Americans. Over 50% of our food budget is for food prepared for us. And I am as guilty as everyone else here. I love to eat out! Its fun to try new foods that I did not have to cook! And when it’shot I don’t want to heat up the kitchen. I tell my husband that the best things I make in the summer are reservations!
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Tuesday July 1, 2008 - Ways to Save: What We Eat
The price of milk is up 25%, eggs 35%, flour 38% and meat and bread are up 9%. I was traveling to New Jersey last week and stopped at Rein’s Deli in Connecticut and a loaf of seeded Rye bread was $6.
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Monday June 30, 2008 - Ways to Save: The First Step
We are living in uncertain economic times. Stock market is on a roller coaster ride, up then down often in the same day. Many people are worried about losing their jobs, selling their homes, and most are worried about the higher prices we are payingfor the goods and services that we use every day.
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Friday June 27, 2008 - Retirement Realties: Financial Strategies
Money plays a very big role in retirement planning. Will you have enough? I talked earlier in the week about how you are going to spend your time. How much money you have plays a big part in what you can do in retirement. The more money the more options.
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Thursday June 26, 2008 - Retirement Realties: Here-After-Itis
As we approach those retirement years we become more susceptible to worrying about the Here After. I am constantly wondering about the Here After. I walk into a room and ask myself what am I here after?
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Wednesday June 25, 2008 - Retirement Realties: Pot Holes of Retirement
The pot holes of life have a way of messing up the best laid plans for a comfortable retirement.
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Tuesday June 24, 2008 - Retirement Realties: Retirement for One
So much has been written about retiring and more often than not it’s about traveling into the sunset with your significant other by your side sharing the adventure of retirement. Most of the ads you see on TV for retirement communities have graying couples playing sports or exercising together. That’s not a realistic scenario.
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Monday June 23, 2008 - Retirement Realties: Retirement Dress Rehearsal
Test the waters before you leap into retirement. I think before we start retirement for real we should consider a dress rehearsal to see if we really want to retire. I have seen too many retirees flunk retirement. If you can do it, I do believe it’s worth the time and energy to try and create a retirement dress rehearsal.
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Friday June 20, 2008 - Retirement, Myth #5: We'll Live Happily Ever After
The reality is you need to plan for the soft side of retirement as well as the financial side. Many people fantasize about leaving their jobs and having the good life, a better life in retirement than what they have now! This is the biggest myth of all.
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Thursday June 19, 2008 - Retirement, Myth #4: I Am Going to Work Forever
The reality is less than 50% of workers are still on the job at age 67. You may want to work forever but that may not be possible for a variety of reasons. According to a survey done by Merrill Lynch over 75% of Boomers plan to work in retirement.
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Wednesday June 18, 2008 - Retirement, Myth #3: Social Security Will Be Enough
The reality is Social Security will replace about 40% of your current paycheck and even less for the younger Boomers, more like 30%. Social Security was never meant to be your only source of income in retirement. Think about this, the average monthly benefit for a current retiree is $1,054.
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Tuesday June 17, 2008 - Retirement, Myth #2: I Am Going to Inherit Mom and Dad's
The reality is there may not be much money to inherit from mom and dad. The media has been reporting for years that there is mega money coming. The greatest intergenerational wealth transfer. Today’s retirees are wealthier than previous generations.
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Monday June 16, 2008 - Retirement, Myth #1: I Can Start Saving When I am 40
The reality is that you are responsible for your retirement savings. Fewer employers are offering pensions to employees. Waiting to start to save when you are in your 40s is a big financial mistake. You have already let the key years for saving passyou by.
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Friday June 13, 2008 - Father's Day: Estate Planning
This is a really awkward subject to talk about for it involves someone dying! I can assure you that Senator Kennedy is updating his affairs and is talking to his family about estate planning. Ask your dad if he has done any estate planning. He may think you are after his money, but assure him you are not.
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Thursday June 12, 2008 - Father's Day: Long Term Care Insurance
According to Genworth Financial’s 2008 Long Term Care survey, the national average annual cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is $68,000, with it costing close to $100,000 here in Massachusetts and a $103,000 in Boston, which is up 4% from last year.
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Wednesday June 11, 2008 - Father's Day: Reverse Mortgages
Just as the name implies a reverse mortgage works in the reverse way a usual mortgage works. The lender gives you the money! You borrow against the equity in your home and the money does not have to be paid back until you die or want to move. These mortgages are not for everyone.
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Tuesday June 10, 2008 - Father's Day: Alternative Living Arrangements
What if Dad can no longer maintain his home or comfortably live there because of the stairs or outdated plumbing? The first thing the adult child needs to do is a get buy-in from dad that he wants help with the housing issues. Change is difficult for all of us; now compound that with having lived in a place for 30 or more years.
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Monday June 9, 2008 - Father's Day: Eldercare
With Father’s Day less than a week away this is a good time to continue the series we started around Mother’s Day on helping our elders. According to a survey conducted by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving an estimated 22.4 million U.S. households, nearly one in four, are providing care to a relative or friend aged 50 or older. They consider 50 old!
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Friday June 6, 2008 - Couples & Money: The Second Time Around
I always hear from listeners whenever I talk about not getting married. Marriage is an institution. A fine institution meant to protect the family unit, but our laws don’t always protect the individuals the second time around.
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Thursday June 5, 2008 - Couples & Money: Living Together
My generation called living together “shacking up”. A more PC term is co-habitation. More couples are trying this approach before marriage and in some instances instead of marriage.
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Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Couples & Money: Tax Tips for Newly Weds
June is the month for weddings primarily because the weather is usually so nice. It’s also mid year and that is a good time to be thinking about tax planning. Saying “I do” changes your tax situation.
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Tuesday June 3, 2008 - Couples & Money: Yours? Mine? Ours?
Many of the couples getting married today are older and have accumulated assets. They are merging two households, may even own two houses. It may be a second marriage for one or both. So what should be owned individually or owned jointly?
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Monday June 2, 2008 - Couples & Money: The Wedding
It’s June and that means weddings. According to a survey done by Prince and Associates a wealth research firm, two thirds of women and one half of men said they were very or extremely willing to marry a person for money. Wealthy was $1.5 million!
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Friday May 30, 2008 - IRAs: Getting Your Money Out
Minimum required distributions, known as MRDs, must begin at age 70½ for your IRAs except the Roth IRA. Now you would think you would reach 70½ on the date that is six months after your 70th birthday. Congress doesn't think the same way you and I do.
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Thursday May 29, 2008 - IRAs: Rollover IRAs
Awhile back there was this TV commercial for T Rowe Price featuring a 10-year-old boy trying to teach his very large dog to rollover without much success. And the kiddo was hoping his mom was having better luck with her rollover whatever that is.
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Wednesday May 28, 2008 - IRAs: Spousal IRAs
This particular IRA benefits the “at home non-working spouse,” a term coined by Congress in its infinite wisdom. There is no such thing as a non-working at home spouse. Any spouse at home is working and certainly more that 40 hours a week!
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Tuesday May 27, 2008 - IRAs: Roth IRAs
A Roth IRA is a new twist on an old product. Congress was looking for ways to help people save more for retirement but at the same time get some of its tax money upfront. They introduced Roth IRAS in 1997.
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Monday May 26, 2008 - IRAs: Traditional IRA
IRAs, Individual Retirement Arrangements have been around for a long time now, since 1974. At one point IRAs were deductible for everyone with earned income. Then Congress decided it was only the rich using them so in 1986 they changed the rules adding income limits to IRAs. And the rules have changed with every major tax law since then.
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Friday May 23, 2008 - Generation X: Estate Planning
The oldest Gen-Xers are celebrating their 43rd birthdays and the youngest are 25 and most of them have not done any estate planning! Wrongfully thinking that they don’t need to because they haven’t accumulated many assets or are too young to be thinking about dying.
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Thursday May 22, 2008 - Generation X: Starter Marriages
This is a catchy name for childless marriages where the couple is in their 20s or 30s. These marriages last less then five years and the couple ends up splitting very few assets, because there are very few assets to split.
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Wednesday June 21, 2008 - Generation X: Banking on Mom & Dad
Should you loan your kids money? It depends! If your adult child wants to use you as a bank hear them out and then make your decision.
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Tuesday May 20, 2008 - Generation X: Boomerang Kids
A.K.A., the rubber band kids! In the movie, Failure to Launch, the parents of a thirty-something slacker, as he is referred to in the movie, hire someone to get him to move out of the house. A bit extreme you think? Well it’s not so far fetched.
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Monday May 19, 2008 - Generation X: Who Are They??
I like this generation. My kids and their friends belong to his generation. So often people confuse this demographic group with anyone just getting out of college. In doing my research I found several theories as to the defining years for a Gen-Xer.
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Friday May 16, 2008 - Scams & Spams: Bogus Cashier Checks
Thinking of selling your car or some other valuable item through a classified ad or an online auction? Beware of this latest scheme, the bogus cashier check.
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Thursday May 15, 2008 - Scams & Spams: Wealth Building Schemes
Infomercials – These are program length TV commercials that tout making money – easy money - in real estate, government loans or grants to start a new business.
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Wednesday May 14, 2008 - Scams & Spams: Internet Hoaxes
Nigerian Scam letter – this scam is as old as dirt! Well almost! They used to come in as faxes late at night and now they are e-mails. I still get on average one a month.
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Tuesday May 13, 2008 - Scams & Spams: Identity Theft
It is very easy to steal another’s identity. Your Name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, credit card numbers, ATM numbers and checking account numbers are floating around everywhere. You need to protect all of those numbers.
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Monday May 12, 2008 - Scams & Spams: Phishing
According to the Federal Trade Commission’s latest numbers 25 million adults were victims of consumer fraud with losses amounting to close to $1.5 billion.
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Friday May 9, 2008 - Mother's Day: Tax Planning
Yes there is still such a thing as tax planning. There are tax breaks your parents can take advantage of. Take a look at their tax returns for the last three years and if this job is beyond you hire someone to do it for them.
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Thursday May 8, 2008 - Mother's Day: Insurance Planning
Finding the insurance policies is the just the first step. Now you need to review them to be sure you have the latest policy and the premiums are paid. It would not be unusual to find that mom & dad have many expired policies in their file.
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Wednesday May 7, 2008 - Mother's Day: Is There Enough Money?
Does mom have enough money to maintain her current lifestyle? Tough question to ask, but one that may be necessary. Can mom and dad continue to maintain their life style, stay in the same house? Has poor investments eroded their nest egg?
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Tuesday May 6, 2008 - Mother's Day: Organizing Her Stuff
I talk about getting organized so often that my reputation as the Money Diva has diminished and I am now the Organization Queen. I know our listeners have heard it before but life is so much better once you have all of the paperwork organized! Less stress! And the bonus is if you need to help mom and dad from a distance it will be so much easier!
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Monday May 5, 2008 - Mother's Day: Helping Mom
With Mother’s Day next Sunday I thought this would be a good week to discuss our elders. Ask your mom what she would like for Mother’s Day and she will probably tell you; your time. As moms get older they especially want to spend time with you.
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Friday May 2, 2008 - Kids & Money: Grown Up Kids
Talking to your adult child about money is harder than talking to a 10-year-old about money. If the adult child brings up the subject its often because they want to borrow money from you or have you co-sign a loan for them. I strongly recommend thatyou do not co-sign a loan unless you have the cash available to pay for whatever they are purchasing.
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Thursday April May 1, 2008 - Kids & Money: Credit Cards
College students are graduating with more than a diploma these days, they have accumulated on average over $3,000 of credit card debt. This is not debt because of tuition or books, but debt due to the late night pizza runs, the concerts, the clothesand the CDs.
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Wednesday April 29, 2008 - Kids & Money: Allowances
I do believe kids should get an allowance and I also believe it should not be tied to work that they do around the house. All children should be exp |
