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.

What You Need to Know About Your 401(k)

In this new year, you may have the opportunity to reevaluate your employer-sponsored retirement plan. Most companies will give you the option to choose between a Traditional and Roth 401(k). Chances are, this decision will require a little research to ensure you’re making the right choice for you. We’ve done what we can to compile the basics, and help you understand exactly what you need to know about your 401(k).

Your Checklist to Year-End Financial Planning

The best financial decisions are made with the benefit of time, thoughtful consideration, and trusted professional advice. As tax time approaches, take the time to prepare for sound, long-term financial decisions to minimize expenses, taxes, and the headache of organizing your finances at the last minute.

A Christmas Greeting from Mark Kemp

Merry Christmas Eve!

Let me take this opportunity to express my warmest wishes—from all of us here at Kemp Harvest Financial Group—for a joy-filled Christmas season.  The holidays are a great time to get together with extended family and friends, but it can get busy, and quickly. Our family has a few traditions we make certain we celebrate that hold meaning to us and the holiday season. At Thanksgiving, when we have our family and friends (who are more like family) around the table, we share what we are thankful to God for—usually things from the past year.  Christmastime brings about the story of the First Christmas, the simple truth of Jesus’ miraculous birth, which our family always reads together. Merrymead’s Live Nativity is something we visit every year, and our family is always rolling on the floor with laughter after the annual reading of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barb Robinson. You can bet my family knows my Christmas theme song is “I’m Getting Nuttin’ For Christmas” and if you ask them, they’ll tell you why.

One more tradition that serves for both our home and office: we participate in Operation Christmas Child. This is a once-a-year gift-giving effort to provide a shoebox full of toys, school supplies and hygiene items to children around the world who could never expect to receive a Christmas present otherwise.

Finally, let me leave you with my prayer that your holidays (no matter which ones you cherish and celebrate) will be blessed.

With Gratitude,

Mark Kemp & Family

Setting Your Lifestyle Ceiling

As we approach the holidays each year, it becomes a wonderful time to spend with family and friends. It also becomes a time to step back, count our blessings, and reflect on how fortunate we are. You might also find that your budget is tighter this time of year, and a little concerned about how that will impact 2016. Let’s take a moment to quiet those concerns, and talk about lifestyle ceilings.

Imagine yourself as a high school senior (which may be painful, depending on how you styled your hair back then), and consider your options for after graduation. College could’ve been an option, but it wouldn’t necessarily have been a guarantee. Chances are, the likelihood of entering the workforce was much higher. Today, it’s pretty much expected that anyone who wants to attend college can. They might end up with student loans, they might have to work their way through it, they might even live at home to save costs, but it’s very much a given.

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.

Higher Education for a Lower Cost? Rising Costs and Funding Strategies

THE SKYROCKETING COST OF COLLEGE

Despite a decade of low inflation, the price of higher education has seemed to defy gravity. According to The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to help students and parents prepare and pay for college, tuition and fees at both private and public institutions have nearly doubled in constant dollars over the last 20 years.¹

But a college education is an investment that can pay big dividends down the road. The College Board, citing U.S. Census Bureau statistics, estimates that individuals with a bachelor's degree earn over 70% more, on average, than those with only a high school diploma.² Over a lifetime, that earnings gap translates into more than one million dollars - more than enough return to justify the investment, even if the rise in prices is outpacing inflation.³

Higher Education for a Lower Cost?

College is expensive, and costs are only increasing with time.  Even if you haven't been able to save all the money you’d like for tuition costs, several alternatives exist to potentially help make up the difference.

Financial assistance comes in many shapes and sizes - from scholarships and grants, which do not need to be repaid, to federal loans, which carry very favorable interest rates and terms, but must be repaid eventually. The following are a few of the most popular sources of financial assistance:

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.