Guest Posts

07-05-08
A New Model for Retirement

If you are one of the millions of baby boomers set to retire, you either don’t want your parents’ retirement plans or you are ready to create a new plan of your own. Retirement plans take careful financial planning, especially in today’s chaotic money markets. Baby boomers begin to chart a new course for all future generations by retiring facing unique challenges their parents did not face: longer life spans, no pension plans, and higher medical costs. This generation will teach future generations strategies for surviving in their later years with a new vision and sound economics with a new model for vibrant living through retirement.

 

Some of the things that are already being discussed are the need to either retire later or taper off towards full retirement. This allows for greater security, as retirement benefits last longer and are higher by retiring at full retirement age or later. That doesn’t mean they have to work a full-time job, just do something to make the economics pan out for the longer life spans expected for this generation.

 

Other ways to secure additional monies, for future retirement purposes are to save early and more, and to nurture hobbies that can turn into second careers later in life. It’s certain that the baby boomers do not want an inactive retirement, and their good health and life spans may help them to enjoy the later years with sufficient activity and income. If they’ve deferred a dream of being an artist, they may now find that this additional income, though far less than their traditional careers, may make enough to secure their future when they retire. It pays to stay creative and to find additional income sources that don’t rely on just the Social Security network or traditional retirement plans. Part of long-range planning for retirement from now on will include a look at how one hopes to spend their time, beyond just golfing and sight-seeing.

03-20-08
Planning and Managing Your Modern Day Finances

Planning your future is more intricate these days. The modern world has to include knowledge of financial tools that prior generations did not use, like the FICO score. Now more than ever, you need to understand how lenders evaluate you as a bad or good credit risk. This can help you obtain loans in the future for important milestones in your life like education or a home. If you decide that this type of information is only for financial professionals, this attitude can cost you hundreds, if not thousands, in extra costs on your loans or even keep you from obtaining employment sometimes.

The Credit Bureaus
There are three credit bureaus that keep track of your credit score: TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. You should check out the information in each of these credit reports annually and dispute any wrong information. Endeavor to pay your bills on time and this also helps to substantially build up your credit score. If you’ve suffered a bankruptcy, the impact of it on your credit reports can still be mitigated. You can establish more positive recent credit history with loans that don’t require a good credit history but report payment to a credit bureau, like a payday loan.

Are Your Loans Becoming Unmanageable?
Rather than avoiding unpleasant news, if your loans are becoming harder to pay you should seek some arrangement with your lender. By being proactive, you can manage your bills and keep bad news from showing up on your credit reports. An example of one way that you can negotiate with a lender is to change the due date on a bill. Many lenders, especially credit card lenders, don’t mind if you change it once to a date that is more suitable for your budgeting purposes.  

Other types of loans have very flexible payment terms, like student loans. You have a grace period of many months and can even go into forbearance, if you can prove a hardship. However, you cannot get your payments or terms modified unless you contact the lender, so it’s in your best interest to do so before the information lands on your credit report.

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