The Eleven Reasons People Can't Sell Their Homes

The environment for home sales becomes more difficult with each passing month. Some estimates put 11 million mortgages, about 20% of the U.S. total, underwater, meaning that homeowners owe their banks more than the underlying properties are worth. Home repossessions reached more than 100,000 for the first time in September. Rising foreclosure rates continue to further depress housing prices. The federal government let its tax benefit for homeowners expire in April and has not renewed it since them. The program did boost sales earlier this year. Shoppers must now face a market without the credit in which many home prices continue to fall. The clamor over flawed foreclosure paperwork and robo-signers could further chill the housing market. People who might buy have bought a home in foreclosure...

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15 Ways to Tell if You Are Ready to Retire

It can be difficult to determine if you are prepared to permanently exit the workforce. You need to save enough to last the rest of your life--and you'll need to manage that money to beat inflation and minimize taxes. Retirees should also have a plan for remaining connected to others and staying relevant in this new life stage. Here's how to tell if you are ready to retire. Establish a Retirement Budget Retirees no longer have to pay for professional work clothes or transportation to the office. But unless you enter retirement newly mortgage-free, most of your other expenses are likely to remain the same after you leave your job. "I don't find that people's expenses go down in retirement," says Leisa Brown Aiken, a certified financial planner for Veo Financial Counsel in Chicago. "You're...

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How to Make Your Money Last in Retirement

People are living longer and saving less. But there are ways to stretch out your dollars. If you're like many people, you've put considerable time and effort into socking away money for retirement. But you've probably put less thought into how slowly you'll spend the money and in a way that will make it last--a potential disaster. A perfect storm has foisted this challenge upon individuals. People are living longer. Fewer have pensions. Instead they have 401(k) plans that may have been decimated. Assets in savings accounts may actually be losing value thanks to short-term interest rates that are actually lower than the inflation rate. And Social Security seems iffy for younger workers. There are steps you can take to make your money last. Spend less and work longer, of course. But even...

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How to Do Estate Planning on the Cheap

You could use software to write your own will, but here's a safer alternative. Yes, it can be painful to pay for estate planning. Lawyers charge a lot. The benefits of a plan are delayed, and you don't live to see them anyway. Who wants to spend big bucks on a plan when times are so tough and the federal estate tax is in flux? Fewer and fewer Americans, it seems. Only 35% had a will in 2009, and only about half had any estate-planning documents at all -- a will, a trust or a financial or medical power of attorney, according to a survey by Lawyers.com. That's a drop from previous years. What about do-it-yourself planning? In theory, you can use books or software and websites that spew out documents for free or for a fraction of what lawyers charge. There's a decent argument that doing...

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How to Become a One-Income Family

It's no myth: More couples than ever are relying on two incomes to get by. According to the Families and Work Institute in New York, 79 percent of today's married couples have both people in the work force, up from 66 percent in 1977. But at some point, life happens — you start a family, go back to school or face a layoff — and this new reality may force you and your partner to question whether you're ready to jump off of the dual-earner treadmill. While there are steep odds to overcome, living with only one family income can be done with thorough planning and a willingness to make choices Get on the Same Page With Your Partner It is critical to have a frank conversation with your spouse about why you're making the choice to live on one family income. "Be sure to talk about all...

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How to Keep Your Nest Egg Intact After a Layoff

Unexpected job loss -- stressful as it is -- comes with another headache: what to do about your 401(k). Without careful attention, there are plenty of taxes and penalties that could shrink your existing retirement account balance. Here is how to keep your retirement stash intact when your job is eliminated. Find out if you are vested. All the money that you deposit into a 401(k) still belongs to you after a layoff. But you can only keep your employer's contributions if they are vested. Only about a third of 401(k) plans provided immediate vesting in 2008, which means employees can keep a 401(k) match when it is deposited, according to a Profit Sharing/401k Council of America survey. Other retirement accounts may require you to be with the company for several years before you can keep any...

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How to Rehabilitate a Dying Career

Ariel Preminger spent a decade running a construction business that built entry-level homes for families in the Los Angeles area, but by the middle of 2008, Southern California's housing market had gone bust and Preminger quickly found himself without customers, and without a job. "At the beginning of the recession, I thought we were going through a slowdown in the housing market for a couple years and then we would rebound," Preminger said. "But instead of a slowdown, it was a complete collapse and our business completely stopped." Preminger, who moved to the U.S. from Chile in 1987 to build "a better future" for himself, realized he had no choice but to change his career to protect that future. He spent much of the year after his business collapsed weighing his options, considering whether...

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Financial Products That Are a Waste of Money

You can save big bucks by skipping unnecessary financial products and services. There are many things that people buy, sometimes repeatedly, that are a waste of money or just a bad value. Often, you don't need them at all or you can opt for less-costly or free alternatives. Take a pass on these financial products and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Skip it: Collision on older vehicles Save: $300 a year, based on national averages in 2007 If you have an accident, collision coverage reimburses you only up to the value of your car, no matter how severe the damage. So at some point, the cost of the coverage might approach or exceed the maximum the policy would pay on a claim. You might consider dropping collision once its cost equals 10 percent of the car's book value. Do...

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Financial Products That Are a Waste of Money

You can save big bucks by skipping unnecessary financial products and services. There are many things that people buy, sometimes repeatedly, that are a waste of money or just a bad value. Often, you don't need them at all or you can opt for less-costly or free alternatives. Take a pass on these financial products and save hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Skip it: Collision on older vehicles Save: $300 a year, based on national averages in 2007 If you have an accident, collision coverage reimburses you only up to the value of your car, no matter how severe the damage. So at some point, the cost of the coverage might approach or exceed the maximum the policy would pay on a claim. You might consider dropping collision once its cost equals 10 percent of the car's book value. [Click...

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Shopping Tips and Secrets

It is possible that you may be frequenting one of the supercenters for your groceries. These stores occupy a much larger land area compared to the regular grocery store. The super stores tend to sell almost a general list of goods such as apparel, electronics, toys, food, produce and much more. In some of these stores there are other independent businesses within the super center like a bank, photo studio, or even a beauty shop. In addition to the company's main departments other branch department like automotive where car maintenance takes place as you shop. A classic one-stop shop indeed. To make sure that you do not over spend or lose you money in anyway, consider these experiences to help you make an informed choice: Coupons/ Cost Cutters 1. Check out the advertisement flyers at the...

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Credit Cards for Every Situation

By doing a little research you can see that credit card offers number in the hundreds to thousands. Just too many credit cards to choose from so the only problem is deciding on which one to choose. Certain credit card offers require an annual fee for being a holder but there are also cards that do not require an annual fee. For every financial transaction there is almost a specific credit card offer for it. Take a look at the credit card deals and make a selection. It isn't that tough but you'll just need to spend a little time going through the offers You Can Compare Credit Card Rates It won't be that difficult a decision on which card you would like if you have a good idea of what you features you want in a credit card. Looking for that 0 Credit Cards APR? Depending on the credit card,...

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Confused by Life Insurance? Here's Help

You know why you need life insurance -- to keep a roof over your family's head, to pay off debts and the future education of your children -- but when it comes to making a decision, it isn't always easy. Life insurance is confusing. Here's some help to sort out the different policies so you can buy the best possible policy to protect your family. What are the Major Types of Insurance? Life insurance falls into two major categories, protection and investment. Term insurance is for protection. In the event of death, the beneficiary gets a lump sum of money. This is what most people think of when considering life insurance. Investment life insurance plans are those called 'whole life', universal life', and 'variable life'. The main purpose of these plans ore to increase the money you make...

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Be Cautious With Your Charitable Giving Part II

Before you commit to charitable giving, you need to know exactly what you're getting into. As I outlined in Part I of this article, the charity industry (and an industry it is) is riddled with immorality and outright fraud. So how do you sort the worthy charities from the illicit chaff? Check their bonafides There are certain charities we all know and more or less trust: the Red Cross, the United Way, the March of Dimes. But what about lesser-known charities, like the New Jersey Orphan's Society of the St. Dismas Home for Wayward Dogs? You can always look them up on the Internet, but it's better if you ask them these questions, and get the answers *in writing.* • Are you an employee of the charity, a volunteer, or a professional fundraiser? • Where is my donation going, and what will...

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Be Cautious With Your Charitable Giving Part I

Charitable giving is a basic part of the American creed. It's no surprise, then, that there are 700,000+ federally recognized charities in the U.S. Sadly, this makes it easy to fall victim to fake charities. Most of us are fairly vigilant about consumer fraud, which is why when we get an email from the Treasurer of Nigeria asking us to smuggle $47,000,000 dollars into the U.S., it's easy enough to hit the delete key. But what kind of scum would bilk you out of money by pretending to be a charity? America the Generous Lots of scum, actually. It's hard to underestimate the depths to which some people will sink when they find a way to make money for nothing. One way they do this is by soliciting for non-existent charities or, more commonly, by misrepresenting how the money will be used for...

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Are You Being Forced to Save for Retirement?

Retirement saving has never been at the top of most peoples minds as they struggle through the daily grind of paying bills, keeping a roof over their heads, and feeding themselves and their families. As the baby boomer generation is nearing or has already reached retirement age many of the younger generation are realizing that there will not be adequate social safety nets in place to provide for them in old age. The current retirees have a solvent Social Security system as well as now mostly extinct pensions to get them through the golden years of retirement. Younger generations can not depend on either of these, so what are they doing to prepare for retirement? Before the economy crumbled in late 2008 savings in general and retirement savings in particular were at low or record low levels....

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How to Teach Kids to Save Money

Part of your job as parent is to teach your children to save money and be responsible. Many times, this is easier said than done. Kids love to spend money. It's a fact. So what's a parent to do? Here are some tips to help you teach your child important lessons about how to save money. 1. Make kids work for an allowance Don't just hand your kids an allowance each week. This teaches kids that they can get something for nothing. Have age-appropriate chores assigned to each child. Teach your children how to do their chores correctly and post their list of chores where they can see them. Only give your child his or her allowance if they have completed all their chores. 2. Teach them to budget Money a child earns should be his. But, when children are young, they need guidance. Just as adults...

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How to Cut Costs at the Supermarket

Here are some well proven methods for saving money at the supermarket: Meal Planning Flip through your local grocery weekly ads and find out what are on sale. Then plan your weekly menu around items that are on sale. List each day of the week and plan your dinners accordingly. Fast dinners for busy nights and slow dinners for the nights we are at home. If ground beef is at a good price one week then you could plan on making Meatloaf on Tuesday and Hamburgers on Friday, this way you can buy ground beef in bulk and on sale. Coupons Using your coupons in conjuction of a sale is a fantastic way to save even more. Check your local grocery stores and find out which ones double or triple coupons and when. Try to save your coupons until they can be doubled or more. Shop with a List Each time...

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Seven Easy Steps to Avoid Foreclosure

Don't spend your hard earned money paying some middleman shyster to work with your lender! You can be your own best representative and the steps you need to take are simple. All these steps are based on experience and recommendations from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. 1. DO NOT IGNORE THE LETTERS & PHONE CALLS FROM YOUR LENDER As painful and time consuming as it may be, answer their phone calls and respond to their letters. Most lenders, especially in this economy, have programs in place and are willing to work with you if you communicate with them. Be calm, be patient and open to discussing your situation. 2. BE PREPARED Collect your financial information and share it with your lender. They will want to know: * Why you are having trouble making your payments *...

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