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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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...
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...
Two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans still don’t know what a 529 plan is, according to the annual 529 Plan Awareness Survey from financial services firm Edward Jones. In its fourth year monitoring college savings awareness, the survey found that only 34 percent of Americans could correctly identify a 529 plan as a college savings tool from among four potential options, up slightly from 30 percent in 2014 but down compared to the inaugural 2012 survey (37 percent). These college savings plans were first offered to Americans in 1996. ...
Like many people, you may enjoy investing. After all, it can be invigorating to put away money for your future, follow the performance of your investments and track the progress you’re making toward your long-term goals, such as a comfortable retirement. However, you might be less excited about doing estate planning, dreading the perceived time, effort and cost. Yet, you can make the entire process more manageable by breaking it up into specific tasks. What are these tasks? Everyone’s needs 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...
You might not think that 70 ½ represents any particular milestone. But when you do reach this age, you will have to make some decisions that affect an important aspect of your life — your retirement income. Here’s the background: Once you turn 70 ½, you will need to start taking withdrawals from your 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan and from your traditional IRA (but not your Roth IRA). Actually, you will need to begin these withdrawals — known as “required minimum distributions” (RMDs) — by April 1 of the following yea...
Next week, we observe the 45th anniversary of Earth Day. Since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has inspired millions of people to take action to improve the environment. But the lessons of environmentalism can also be applied to other areas of life — such as investing. Specifically, as an investor, you may well want to follow the “three Rs”: reduce, reuse and recycle. Let’s see how these environmental themes can be applied to your investment habits: • Reduce — Many of us probably own more things than we really need. In fact, if all the oth...
For the past few years, the stock market has moved up fairly steadily, with no major “corrections.” But thus far in 2015, we’ve already seen periods of volatility — enough, in fact, to make some investors jittery. Nervous investors may be more prone to make decisions based on short-term market movements — so how can you stay calm? First of all, when evaluating your investment decisions, stay focused on those factors that have historically driven stock prices. The U.S. economy is growing at a reasonably good pace, and corporate earnings...
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...
We’ve just about arrived at spring, the time when many people spruce up their homes, yards and other parts of their surroundings. This year, why not extend that practice a little further and give your financial and investment environment a good “spring cleaning”? Here are a few suggestions for doing just that: • Reduce duplication. If you’ve ever worked to “de-clutter” your home, you may have discovered a lot of extraneous items. Did you really need three blenders? Did you have more remote control devices than you did televisions?...
The world of today is vastly different from the one that existed in, say, 1974. Innovations such as the Internet, smartphones, tablets, Facebook, Twitter and so on have made our lives more enjoyable, efficient and productive in many ways, and have vastly improved our access to the world’s knowledge. Yet when it comes to one important area of our lives — investing for the future — many of us may actually face more challenges today than we might have in the past. At least two main factors are responsible for this apparent regression. First...
If the Federal Reserve (Fed) raises short-term interest rates this year, as many financial professionals predict, what will it mean to you? As a consumer, you might experience the “ripple” effects if long-term interest rates eventually follow suit, affecting mortgages and other loans. But as an investor, you might quickly feel the impact of a move by the Fed — especially if you own bonds. In fact, the value of your existing bonds might drop noticeably if interest rates were to rise. That’s because no one will give you full price for your lo...
On March 8, we observe International Women’s Day. On this occasion, thousands of events across the world will honor the cultural, political and social achievements of women. Of course, in many countries, women still face significant economic challenges. And even here in the United States, women encounter more obstacles than men in the pursuit of financial security, particularly in seeking a comfortable retirement lifestyle. So if you are a woman — regardless of your marital status — you will need to be aware of these challenges and take steps...
Your Social Security benefits can be an important part of your retirement income strategy. But when should you start taking these payments? You can begin accepting Social Security as early as 62, but your monthly checks will be much smaller than if you wait until your “full retirement age,” which will likely be between 66 or 67. And these monthly payments will get even bigger if you wait until age 70, at which point they “max out.” So, should you take your Social Security as early as possible and hope that the smaller monthly payments will be...
Valentine’s Day is almost here. And while it’s certainly fun to give and receive chocolates and roses, why not go a little deeper this year? Specifically, if you are married, consider using this commemoration of love as a starting point for taking care of your spouse in the future — even if you’re not part of it. Actually, both you and your spouse could designate Valentine’s Day as the beginning of your joint efforts to provide financial security for the surviving spouse when one of you is gone. Your strategy should involve at least these three...
Many factors will affect your results as an investor — and some of these factors are beyond your control, such as interest-rate movements or the eurozone debt crisis or the sales results of the companies in which you invest. However, as you work toward your financial goals, you will find that you actually have control over three of the most important drivers of investment success: time, money and return. Let’s look at these three elements: • Time — Time can be a big asset — if you use it wisely. However, many young people, just starting...
We’ve just begun the new year, but the next academic year is still months away. Nonetheless, if you have a child who will be attending college in the fall, it’s not too soon to start thinking about what might be a vital component of paying for his or her higher education: financial aid. Specifically, to help ensure that your child doesn’t miss out on federal and state student grants, work-study and loans for the 2015-2016 school year, you’ll want to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible. (You can sta...
If you’re an investor, you probably had a pretty good year in 2014. But what’s in store for 2015? It’s essentially impossible to make precise predictions about the performance of the financial markets — but it is possible to identify those economic conditions and market forces that may help shape outcomes in the investment world for 2015. By paying close attention to these conditions and forces, you can gain some valuable insights as to what investment moves might make sense for you. Here are a few of these moves: Consider adding stocks....
If you are interested in saving for retirement, here’s some good news: For 2015, the IRS has raised the maximum contribution limits for 401(k) plans from $17,500 to $18,000. And if you’re 50 or older, you can put in an extra $6,000, up from $5,500 in 2014. These same limits also apply to 403(b) plans, for employees of public schools and nonprofit organizations, and to 457(b) plans, for employees of state and local governments and other governmental agencies, such as park boards and water districts. So, in other words, a lot of workers have got...
Now that 2015 is upon us, you may be thinking about making some New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’ll decide to take up a musical instrument, or hit the gym more often, or even learn a new language. All these are worthy goals, of course — but you could also gain some key benefits by working to achieve some financial resolutions. Here are a few to consider: Fill “gaps” in your investment portfolio. From time to time, you — or possibly your financial advisor, if you work with one — might identify “gaps” in your investment portfolio. For ex...
During the holiday season, you no doubt have a lot going on in your life — work functions, gatherings with friends and neighbors, tracking down the elusive “perfect gift,” etc. But you may find it valuable to add one more event to your calendar: a family meeting to discuss those financial preparations that affect you and your loved ones. Of course, the scope of your meeting will depend on your age and the age of your children, and on whether you have elderly parents. So, let’s look at one family meeting scenario that would work under two dif...
