Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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You may be quite willing to plan an investment strategy for your retirement years. After all, it can be enjoyable to think about traveling the world, pursuing your hobbies or participating in any of the activities you’ve associated with an active retirement. However, once you do retire, you’ll need to “shift gears” somewhat to focus on your legacy. Specifically, to protect your loved ones and ensure your intentions are clear and carried out, you’ll need to do some more planning – and you’ll need to share your thoughts with your family. Here...
November is National Adoption Awareness Month. If you’re considering adoption, you know that it will change your life in many ways. And you’ll need to prepare for many of these changes – including the financial ones, because adoption can be expensive. The average U.S. adoption costs between $8,000 and $40,000, while the range for international adoptions is $15,000 to $30,000, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a U.S. government-funded adoption information service. Given these numbers, you might think you’ll have a tough t...
In just a few days, witches, zombies and vampires will be converging on your house, asking for candy. As is the case every Halloween, you’ll likely be merely amused over the sight of these costumed characters. But in other areas of life, such as the investment world, you may need to watch out for some seemingly scary entities. Here are a few of them: •The Horrendous Headline – Big, glaring headlines rarely offer any comfort to investors. Whether it’s political squabbles at home, conflicts in the Middle East or the debt crisis in the eurozon...
Now that we’re well into autumn, the days are getting noticeably shorter. The change in seasons reminds us that time is passing – and it’s important to use that time wisely. When used well, in fact, time can be your greatest gift in many walks of life – and that’s certainly true when you invest. To illustrate the importance of time, let’s look at a scenario. Suppose you start saving for retirement when you are 25. If you invest $3,000 per year in a tax-deferred vehicle, such as a traditional IRA, and you hypothetically earn a 7% annual retu...
National Save for Retirement Week is observed Oct. 18 – 24 this year. And this week has some weight behind it, as it is recognized by the U.S. Senate for its importance in encouraging Americans to prepare themselves financially for retirement. Are you doing all you can? Many of your peers aren’t. About a third of working adults have no retirement savings or pension, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve. And more than half of workers report that the total value of their household’s savings and investments, excluding the value of their...
What’s the biggest obstacle to your ability to invest successfully? Is it the ups and downs of the financial markets? Political events? The fact that you weren’t born rich? Actually, the chief hurdle you face is something over which you have control: your own emotions. Your emotions can lead to a variety of ill-advised investment behaviors, such as these: • Cutting losses – Declines in the financial markets can lead some investors to try to “cut their losses” by selling investments whose price has declined. Yet, when prices have dropped, it...
If you work for a fairly sizable company, you may be entering your open enrollment season, when you can add or adjust your employer-sponsored benefits. While you probably should review all your benefits, you may want to pay special attention to your life insurance to determine if you and your family are adequately protected. How much life insurance do you need? You may hear that you require anywhere from seven to 10 times your annual income in life insurance coverage, but this rule of thumb might not be appropriate for everyone; the amount of i...
We’re getting close to Labor Day, a celebration of the men and women who roll up their sleeves and go to work each day. If you’re in the workforce yourself, you can appreciate this recognition of your efforts. And as an investor, you can employ these attributes of the American worker: Organization – The most productive workers are those who organize their time and efforts to maximize their productivity. When you invest, organization is also important. You might have trouble gaining traction toward your goals, such as a comfortable retir...
Many people look for the “secrets” to investment success. Is it timing the market just right? Is it finding those hot stocks or getting in on the “ground floor” of the next big thing? Actually, these types of moves have little relevance to the vast majority of investors — even the most successful ones. So let’s take a look at some steps you can take that can be effective in helping you work toward your financial goals. • It’s time in the market…not market timing. Some investors think they can succeed at “market timing” — buying when the pri...
Summer is almost over, which means it’s “back-to-school” time. If you have young children, you may be purchasing backpacks, pencils, notebooks and similar items. But one day, you could be shopping for colleges — and when you do, you’ll find the bill is a little bit higher than the one you get from your local school-supply store. That’s why it’s never too soon to start saving. Just how costly is college? For the 2014–2015 school year, the average expense — tuition, fees, room and board — was $18,943 at a public four-year school and $42,419...
You might not think much about inflation. After all, it’s been quite low for the past several years. Still, you may want to take it into account when you’re planning your retirement income strategy. Of course, no one can really predict the future course of inflation. But it’s a pretty safe bet it won’t disappear altogether — and even a mild inflation rate, over time, can strongly erode your purchasing power. Consider this: If you were to purchase an item today for $100, that same item, in 25 years, would cost you $209, assuming an annual in...
August is What Will Be Your Legacy Month. If you knew this, you have an unusual knowledge of obscure celebrations. But even if you weren’t aware of this “month,” you can see that the idea behind it — the importance of leaving a legacy — is an important one. What should you do to help ensure you’ll leave the type of legacy you desire? To begin with, identify those people whom you’d like to directly benefit from your legacy. What can you leave behind to your children, grandchildren, other family members or even close friends? Then, think about t...
You don’t have to be a CEO or multimillionaire to benefit from a trust. In fact, many people gain advantages from establishing one – so it may be useful to learn something about this common estate-planning tool. Why would you want a trust? For one thing, if you have highly specific wishes on how and when you want your estate to be distributed among your heirs, then a trust could be appropriate. Also, you might be interested in setting up a trust if you’d like to avoid the sometimes time-consuming, usually expensive and always public proce...
What’s your most valuable asset? While you are still working, this asset may actually be your future income — so you need to protect it. And you can do so by maintaining adequate life insurance, which can help provide your family with the financial resources necessary to meet critical expenses — such as mortgage payments, college tuition, and so on — should you pass away prematurely. But what type of insurance should you purchase? There’s no one “right” answer for everyone, but by knowing some of the basics of different polices and how they...
Contributing to an IRA can help you build some of the resources you will need to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But what happens to your IRA if you don’t use it up in your lifetime? You can still put the IRA’s assets to good use — as long as you’ve made the right moves and communicated your wishes clearly to your family. When you opened your IRA, you should have named a beneficiary — someone who will receive the IRA assets when you pass away. You could also name a contingent beneficiary if the first beneficiary dies before you. These ben...
It’s that time of year when many of us hit the road for a summer vacation. If you are fortunate, you will be joining them — after all, “all work and no play” is a difficult way to live. But while you may not think it beneficial to work all the time, the same can’t be said of your investments and your investment strategy — because, ideally, they should never stop laboring on your behalf. How can you avoid “taking a vacation” as an investor? Here are a few ideas: • Don’t let your portfolio get “lazy.” Laziness is fine for vacations, but it’s not...
It’s almost the Fourth of July — time for fireworks, picnics and a reflection on all the liberties we possess in this country. But if you’re going to enjoy the freedom to do the things you want, especially during your retirement years, you’ll want to take the steps necessary to achieve your own “Financial Independence Day.” Here are a few suggestions for helping you reach that goal: • Liberate yourself from debt. For most of us, a certain amount of debt is unavoidable. But the greater control you can gain over your debts, the better off yo...
What’s your most valuable asset? While you are still working, this asset may actually be your future income — so you need to protect it. And you can do so by maintaining adequate life insurance, which can help provide your family with the financial resources necessary to meet critical expenses — such as mortgage payments, college tuition, and so on — should you pass away prematurely. But what type of insurance should you purchase? There’s no one “right” answer for everyone, but by knowing some of the basics of different polices and how they...
On Sunday, June 25, 1950, North Korean bombs fell on Seoul, South Korea’s capital, and the civil war began. It ended three years later, on July 27, 1953, with the same division as it had begun, with the Korean peninsula divided into two parts at the 38th parallel, communist to the North and a democratic-republic to the South. South Koreans now call the war, “the 6-2-5 Upheaval,” but the North Koreans call it “the Fatherland Liberation War,” even though no fatherland was ever liberated. In 2011, Suki Kim, a Korean-American woman, then 41 years...
Father’s Day is almost here. If you’re a father, especially one with young children, get ready to add to your collection of homemade cards, ties, golf tees or other such gifts designed to please you. Your greatest gift, of course, is your children — and you would doubtlessly get great satisfaction from knowing that you’ve provided them with financial resources that can benefit their lives in many ways. So, why not use this Father’s Day as a starting point for investing in your children’s futures? Here are a few methods for doing just that:...
We all make excuses. Most of the time, they’re pretty harmless. But you could be hurting yourself if you make excuses for not taking action in some areas — and one of those areas is investing. Not investing, or not investing enough, can have serious consequences. In fact, a lot of people are poorly prepared financially for retirement. Consider these figures from the Federal Reserve: The median retirement account value for individuals between 35 and 44 is just $42,700; for people 55 to 64, the corresponding figure is $103,000. These figures are...
If you’re a working parent, you know firsthand about the difficulties of finding quality, affordable care for your children. But eventually, your kids head off to school, and those child care bills go away, or at least diminish greatly. When that happens, you could start putting away money for another one of your children’s milestones: college. Just how expensive is child care? Costs vary greatly among the 50 states, but the national average for a 4-year-old at a child care center is approximately $7,880 per year, according to Child Care Aware...
Mother’s Day is almost here. This occasion may have special significance for you if you’ve been fortunate enough to have your mother around for your adult life. So naturally, you’ll want to bring Mom some flowers or another gift. But if she’s planning to retire soon, you may want to think about a longer-term way to improve her life — namely, by initiating a conversation about her retirement income strategy. Of course, she may already have matters well in hand. But a great many people on the verge of retirement have not planned for those yea...
May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This “month” is designed to encourage people to follow a healthy, active lifestyle. You can take steps toward this goal, of course, but why not carry the concept of improving health to other areas of your life — such as your investments? Toward that end, consider these suggestions: • Give your portfolio a regular “check-up.” To maintain your fitness, it’s a good idea to visit a doctor for a check-up on a regular basis. And to help ensure the “health” of your portfolio, you may want to perio...
It’s unfortunate but true: The elderly population is targeted for financial abuse or exploitation. In fact, by some estimates, this type of targeted abuse results in billions of dollars in losses each year. If you have elderly parents, what signs should you watch for to determine their vulnerability? And what can you do to help protect your parents from being victimized? In regard to the first question — signs of vulnerability — the most important thing to watch for is your parents’ mental state. As you know, many people go through their e...
