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Try It NOWCategory: Health and Wellness Issues
The Obama and Romney campaigns are both keeping their plans for fixing Medicare a secret. So here is your chance to tell them how it should be done – if you were in charge how would you fix Medicare so this cherished benefit is there for the next generation? Take…
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Category: Health and Wellness Issues
Updated May 17, 2016 -- Note: Although the basics about Medicare are unchanged, the amount you pay in premiums and deductibles changes over time. This article is both Module 9 of our Retirement 101 Online Preparation Course and the first in a series on Medicare.
-- Believe it or not, there is some good news about your turning 65 - you are now old enough to be eligible for Medicare! Cheer up, the worst of your medical insurance worries are over, particularly if you retired early and are not covered by an employer plan. Most people in the Medicare system are grateful for the coverage and peace of mind it provides.
This 101 article, part 1 in a series, is meant to address the concerns we know many of you have about how to get started with Medicare. Using information from the very helpful Medicare.gov site and in particular its FAQ feature, we'll explain exactly what the program is and outline the many options it can provide, so you can both rest
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Category: Retirement Planning
October 2, 2012 -- Remember when you were in your 30's or 40's and some guy at a party would ask people "What their number was?" As in, how much money do they have to have stashed away before they could take their job and shove it. Those days might seem pretty far away now, as our natural dates for retirement get closer and closer. This article will ask you some questions to help you determine if this is the right time for you to retire.
Retirement is a big step. Once retired, it is hard to reverse that decision,
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Category: Retirement Planning
October 1, 2012 -- If you are one of the more than 25 million single women over 45 then you might appreciate a new and essential reference that hits bookstores this week, "The Single Woman's Guide to Retirement," by Jan Cullinane. Many of our regular readers will recognize this name - Jan has been a frequent contributor to this site, both for her articles (see list at ebd) and for her many insightful additions to Blog posts and Discussion topics.
Jan's new book (her previous one in this area was "The New Retirement") is just the kind of read that we look forward to opening. It is practical and entertaining at the same time. Jan doesn't waste
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Category: General Retirement Issues
Sept 25, 2012 -- The NY Times does a great job of writing helpful features for its readers. This month's special Retirement section is no exception, so we are passing along links to some of the more interesting stories, which are difficult to find unless you know the exact title of the article. We hope you find them useful in planning your retirement.
Heading South, but Stopping Short of Florida. This piece profiles several couples who thought they would retire to Florida, but who decided for a variety of reasons to retire along the way. Indeed there are many parts of the mid-South where the 55-64 and over 65 population is increasing by 60% or more. You will find
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
September 25, 2012 -- The overwhelming majority of baby boomers are going to face a painful budget squeeze as their retirements start to become a reality. Used to the high life as many of us are, it will be a very big challenge to support that lifestyle without the income stream we are accustomed to.
This article was an idea from Linda, a member who asked us to try to get ideas from our members on different ways of raising cash in retirement. We've listed some ideas we've seen, including some nutty ones from a recent Wall Street Journal article. But we are really hoping that you, our members, will share what you are doing to bring in extra cash to support your retirement. Please add your ideas to the Comments section below, whether they are tried and true or just a wild idea that you think might work.
Best Ideas for Making Enough Money to Survive Your Retirement
1. Turn what you love to do into a business. So you like to make
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Category: Financial and taxes in retirement
Sep 19, 2012
Note: This was originally sent in by Doug, a member, as a comment with an alternative approach to retirement, specifically in reaction to Betty Fitterman's article, "Retiring on a Dime". We publish here because it has some interesting and common sense ideas, and appreciate Doug sharing them with us.
Hopefully my example will help others prepare for their retirement. Deciding when to retire is the key. In my opinion you should retire when you realize you've acquired enough assets and possessions to maintain the standard of living you want to live. I "semi" retired at the age of 43. My original plan was age 50 but circumstances led me to retire early. Six years later I don't foresee outliving my money at any point because I not only planned
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Category: Retirement Planning
By Betty Fitterman
Note: This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 is "Retirement Reality Check"
September 18, 2012 --- Now I don’t want to scare you, but whatever you have saved for retirement, it probably won’t be enough. That’s the opinion of the New York Times, anyway, and I’m here to tell you that I agree.
When I was a little girl, I never thought I’d be a millionaire. Millionaires were rich, for heaven’s sake, and I never thought I’d be rich. Some 50 years after that insight, I was indeed a millionaire, so how come I felt so poor? Too poor to retire, anyway, given that the economy was tanking and some of my friends had many times the
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Category: Retirement Planning
Sept. 17, 2012 -- The fun thing about this series of member surveys on retirement is that the results never come out exactly like we predict. Our most recent one, "The Best and Worst Things About Your Retirement" is no different. Its most pleasant surprise: the runaway worst thing about retirement is... "Nothing"! That makes us happy that so many of you are enjoying your retirements. Equally interesting were the hundreds of write-in comments provided by our members, full of insights about the best and the worst aspects of retirement planning. One typical example of a planning tip: "Find meaningful activity you absolutely adore doing and develop a circle of uplifting friends".
But we need to start by thanking the more than 250 members/subscribers who took a few minutes to answer our most recent 8 questions. Without your input, these incredible retirement insights wouldn't have happened - thanks! And to you who are coasting along on this input from your fellow members - next time
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Category: Retirement Planning
September 11, 2012 — Our surveys have produced some absolutely wonderful suggestions for future surveys. The most support came for this one – What is the best…and the worst.. thing about your retirement. We extended the idea a bit to include questions about retirement preparation as well as actual retirement.
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