Planning a Midlife Career Change

If you’re unhappy in your current job and want to make a career change late in life, it’s important to make a thorough plan first. More than half of U.S. workers want to change careers, a number that will likely increase as time goes on. People are living longer, retiring later and looking for a sense of purpose in their careers, leading them to pursue career changes later in life. The days of pension plans and employer loyalty are all but gone, and workers are thinking of their careers as an extension of their passions, not their employers’ needs. Women especially may seek a career change as they transition in and out of the workplace to care for children or aging parents.

Embarking on a brand-new career late in life can be more difficult than starting when you’re young. Sometimes it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and the logistical barriers—not to mention age discrimination—make it easy to stick with the status quo. But if you’re truly unhappy with your career, or if you’d like to pursue a passion you’ve been neglecting thus far, now is the time to get started. The average career change takes around 18 months, and every day you wait puts you that much further away from your dream of career satisfaction and financial freedom. 

Should You Shred? Why Protecting Your Identity is More Important than You Think

We’ve all heard terrible stories about identity theft – stolen credit card numbers, collection agencies calling about an account you never opened – the list goes on and on. When even the Supreme Court has deemed that there’s nothing illegal about dumpster diving for Personally Identifiable Information (PII), how can you protect yourself?

The answer is simple, and that’s to shred anything that may have a signature, account number, social security number, or medical or legal information before throwing it away. We’ve compiled a list of a few common papers and documents you may have laying around the house, and how you should properly dispose of them.

5 Things You'll Want to Know About Special Needs Trusts

If you had to guess the largest minority group in America, what would you say? The Department of Labor states that as of January 2016, people with disabilities make up the nation’s largest minority, counting almost 50 million individuals.

For families affected by disability, especially physical and developmental, the care needed can be daunting – on physical, emotional and financial levels. While many government programs exist to aid these individuals, they still fall short in most cases and, in the current economic environment, face budget cuts.

The simple truth? It is vitally important for these families to have the necessary legal documents and financial planning in place. The cornerstone of such a plan can be the Special Needs Trust.

Gift Taxes: What to Expect

With only two weeks until Christmas, gifts seem to be high on everyone’s radar. While this article is about gift-giving, it’s not necessarily about those presents wrapped under the tree. Gifts, in the IRS’ mind, qualify as any transfer made without receiving full (or any) value in return. The gift tax is applied on these transfers, whether or not the giver intends for it to be a gift. This might sound like a damper on the holiday season, but the gift tax may not be exactly what you expect.

The Basics

The federal government imposes a substantial tax on gifts of money or property above certain levels. Without such a tax, someone with a sizable estate could give away a large portion of their property before death and escape estate taxes altogether. For this reason, the gift tax acts more or less as a backstop to the estate tax. Yet few people actually pay a gift tax during their lifetime. A gift program can substantially reduce overall transfer taxes; however, it requires good planning and a commitment to proceed with the gifts.

Deck the Halls (and Save Your Money)

Christmas is a time of togetherness and tradition – but it can too easily turn into a financial nightmare. If you’re buying gifts, planning parties, decorating the house, baking cookies, singing carols, and trying to make sure everyone’s happy, Christmas gets a little overwhelming. We’ve gathered a few tips to help you de-stress, save money, and enjoy the season.

Life After Debt

Many American families are finding themselves deeper and deeper in debt. Complicating matters even more, legislation makes it harder to declare bankruptcy, and saddles filers with a greater percentage of their debts to repay. If you, too, find yourself in trouble financially, there are usually no easy answers - but there are some ways out for those willing to commit to changing their spending habits.

Life Without Debt – But How?

Your ability to pay your bills can be affected by situations beyond your control such as serious illness, divorce, or unemployment. Poor financial management can also threaten your economic security. You may be able to juggle your creditors for a time, but eventually you may come to realize you need help in resolving your financial problems.

More on Mortgages: Understanding the Underwriting Process

Even though it's probably the largest purchase they'll ever make, few consumers take the time to really go "behind the scenes" to more fully understand the complex world of mortgage lending. Learning the terms and working to understand your mortgage can help save you time, money, and a whole lot of headaches.

Qualifying for a Mortgage

Whether you're looking for a first mortgage on a new home, to refinance an existing mortgage, or take out a second mortgage, the interest rate you'll be offered depends on the same factors:

The Mysteries of Mortgages: Unveiled

With home ownership in the United States now approaching 70% of all households, the chances are good that you've either taken out a mortgage in the past or have one now. However, many homebuyers don't research and act as carefully as one might imagine given the amount of money borrowed and the huge difference even a few basis points (one one-hundredth of a percentage point) can make over a lengthy loan.

Instead, homebuyers often search for the home they want, then apply for a mortgage and hope for the best. A far better approach is to find out how much mortgage you can qualify for, then look at homes you know are in your price range. Known as "prequalification," having this piece of paper in your hand can also set you apart as a serious, committed buyer in hot real estate markets where properties are fetching multiple offers.

Higher Education for a Lower Cost? Saving With Scholarships

Finding Scholarship Opportunities

The vast majority of the nation's institutions of higher learning offer various types of scholarship, granting money to college students based on a host of criteria such as academic merit, financial need, and in some cases, racial or ethnic background.

Although the application process can be complicated and redundant between scholarships, a great deal of money is available for those who are willing to jump through the right hoops and prove their merit and/or need.

Leaving Debt Behind

Last week, we discussed eight ways to build a budget. One of these was eliminating debt, which quite honestly, deserves a post of its own. Debt can be all-consuming, but it doesn’t need to be. While it is easy to fall into and much harder to get out of, becoming debt-free is not unattainable! Millions of people have done it; but it will take dedication and the ability to see the bigger picture, beyond a sea of minimum payments.

With all of this in mind, debt-free living requires a plan. It is not an overnight decision, but a collection of weeks, months, and sometimes years of choosing to eliminate debt.

We suggest beginning by listing out your debts. Putting pen to paper will allow you to see exactly what you are dealing with, and how you can start eliminating payments. Once you can visualize exactly what you’re working with, the next steps will seem easier to take on.

8 Ways to Build a Budget

The idea of budgeting is not difficult – decide where you want your money to go, then make sure it goes there. However, it’s much easier said than done. Budgeting is made up of lots of little decisions, all used to uphold the one greater decision of creating a budget to get your financials under control. With all of this in mind, we’ve compiled eight steps to help jump start you into budgetary bliss!

Saying Goodbye to Coupons?

Couponing has turned into an extreme sport for some, even granting its own TV series and cult-like following. They’re saving loads of money, for sure, but not everyone has the ability to commit to such an undertaking! For those who don’t have the time or energy to pour into couponing, there are ways to still save money on your weekly shopping excursions. We found our inspiration for this list from Dave Ramsey’s recent blog post, found here.

Our Top 3 Tools for Smarter Saving

No one wants to work their entire life, only to run into financial troubles in retirement. However, this is exactly what’s happening to the majority of Americans. Statistics say the average household will not have enough money to sustain the lifestyle they lead before retiring. Breaking the cycle comes when you choose to be financially responsible in the years leading up to retirement. It will take some discipline, deferred gratification, and a well-established budget, but you are more than capable of setting yourself up for financial independence in retirement.

To get you started, we’ve pulled together three of our favorite budgeting programs. Hopefully, these will help you spend less time worrying about your money, and more time enjoying every other part of life!

Understanding Required Minimum Distributions - Part II

In an earlier post, we reviewed the basics of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). In this post, we will continue the discussion with some rules about RMDs and mistakes to avoid when you have multiple retirement accounts.

In particular, it is important to note the type of retirement account in question. For 401(k) and 457(b) accounts, RMD must be calculated for and taken from each individual account. However, for 403(b) and IRA accounts, RMD must be calculated for each individual account, but the IRS allows individuals to take the collective total from one or more of the accounts.