Details

Personal Finance After 50 For Dummies

3. Aufl.

von: Eric Tyson, Robert C. Carlson
16,99 €
Verlag:	Wiley
Format:	EPUB
Veröffentl.:	31.03.2021
ISBN/EAN:	9781119724087
Sprache:	englisch
Anzahl Seiten:	400

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Beschreibungen

Titelbeschreibung

The best way to take control of your post-career financial future Retirement is lasting longer for all of us. That’s why—and however long you decide to keep working—it’s essential to plan ahead so you can live your post-career life as you wish. The latest edition of Personal Finance After 50 For Dummies details what you need to know—making it the perfect book to shelve next to your diet and fitness library, so you can keep your finances, as well as your health, in peak condition. Whether you’re new to financial planning or are pretty savvy but want to cut through the noise with targeted information and advice, you’ll find everything you need to know about how best to spend, invest, and protect your wealth so you can make your senior years worry-free, healthy, and fun. In plain English, retirement and financial experts Eric Tyson and Bob Carlson cover all the issues from investing, Social Security, and the long-term insurance marketplace to taxes and estate planning—including state-by-state differences. They demystify the muddy world of financial planning and provide strategies that make the course ahead crystal clear. They also dive into less obvious territory, showing how it’s possible to strategize financially to avoid the worst impact of unexpected events—such as the COVID-19 crisis—as well as exploring what investment approaches you can take to protect the most important possession of all: your own and your family’s health. <ul> <li>Minimize your taxes and make wise investing decisions </li> <li>Find out how the SECURE Act affects retirement accounts and savings </li> <li>Navigate the latest Medicare, Social Security, and property tax rules </li> <li>Dig into what’s new in estate planning and reverse mortgages </li> <li>Get what you want from your career as you approach retirement </li> </ul> Whether doing it for yourself or for parents, it’s never too late to begin retirement planning—and this highly praised, straightforward book is the best way to take control, so you can be confident your senior years are exactly what you want them to be: golden.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction 1 About This Book 2 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 4 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Understanding Personal Finance After 50 5 Chapter 1: Looking Ahead to Your Future 7 Planning for the Longer Term 8 Identifying long-term planning issues 9 Taking personal responsibility for your financial future 12 Saving and planning sooner and smarter pays off 12 Eyeing Keys to Successful Retirement Planning 14 Saving drives wealth 15 Keeping your balance 15 Understanding that planning is a process 16 Chapter 2: Protecting Your Employment Income and Your Health 17 Assessing Your Need for Life Insurance 18 Understanding the purpose of life insurance 18 Determining your life insurance need 19 Assessing your current life coverage 20 Figuring out what type to buy 22 Choosing where to buy life insurance 23 Protecting Your Employment Income: Disability Insurance 24 Why most people lack disability insurance and why you need it 24 Identifying needed disability coverage 26 Shopping for disability coverage 27 Investing In and Protecting Your Health 28 Take care of your ticker 29 Exercise (and sweat)! 30 Hydrate with good-quality H2O 31 Include fiber in your diet 31 Manage your stress 32 Get your calcium and vitamin D 33 Chapter 3: Developing a Retirement Plan 35 Deciding When to Retire 36 Knowing How Much You Really Need for Retirement 37 Figuring out what portion of income you need 38 Grasping what the numbers mean 39 Eyeing the Components of Your Retirement Plan 39 Social Security retirement benefits 39 Pensions 42 Investments 43 Your home’s equity 43 Setting Up a Couples Plan 44 Crunching the Numbers 45 Understanding assumptions and how they work 46 Making the numbers work 48 Dealing with excess money 48 Making Plans for Nonfinancial Matters 49 Personal connections 50 Personal health 50 Activities, hobbies, interests 50 Chapter 4: Identifying Retirement Investments and Strategies 53 Defining Investments 54 Understanding risk 54 Eyeing your returns 55 Considering how investments are susceptible to inflation 57 Being aware of tax consequences 57 Monitoring sensitivity to currency and economic issues 58 What You Need to Do Before You Select and Change Investments 59 Knowing your time horizon 59 Factoring some risk into your investment plan 59 Keeping the bigger picture in mind 60 Allocating your assets 61 Surveying Different Investments 61 Comparing lending investments to ownership investments 62 Looking into stocks 63 Investing in mutual funds and ETFs 64 Comparing investments and risks 66 Managing Investment Portfolios 68 Funds of funds and target-date funds 69 Index and exchange-traded funds 70 Assessing and changing your portfolio 72 Chapter 5: Grasping Retirement Accounts and Their Rules 75 Eyeing the Characteristics of Retirement Accounts 76 Focusing on the tax benefits 76 Being aware of restrictions and penalties 78 Identifying the Different Types of Retirement Accounts 79 Employer-sponsored retirement accounts 79 Self-employed retirement savings plans 80 Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) 81 Rolling Over Retirement Balances 82 Deciding what road to take 82 Choosing a custodian and rolling over your balance to an IRA 83 Choosing Beneficiaries for Your Retirement Accounts 85 Taking Required Minimum Distributions 87 Calculating your RMD for an IRA 88 Computing the RMD for other retirement plans 89 Part 2: Making Money Decisions in Retirement 91 Chapter 6: Managing Budgets and Expenses 93 Discussing Some Retirement Worries You May Have 94 Running out of money 94 Supporting others 95 Addressing your worries 96 Spending Your Nest Egg 97 Considering the 4 percent rule 97 Naming the factors affecting your use of retirement assets 98 How Spending Really Changes in Retirement 99 Managing Your Expenses 102 Bigger-picture issues 102 Taxes 103 Housing 104 Utilities and communication 105 Food 106 Transportation 107 Personal care and fashion 107 Travel and fun 108 Healthcare 108 Insurance 109 Children and grandchildren 109 Chapter 7: Guiding Investments and Distributions in Retirement 111 Guiding Your Investments through Retirement 112 Estimating your investment income 112 Rebalancing your investments 113 Looking Closer at Annuities 115 Annuities: A retirement account and insurance combination 116 Contributing in your working years 116 Annuitizing in your retirement years 118 Examining the newest annuity 120 Choosing Your Pension Options 121 Selecting between a lump sum or monthly payments 121 Deciding among monthly payment options 125 Eyeing Withdrawal Strategies for Your Investment Accounts 126 Chapter 8: Making Important Housing Decisions 129 Analyzing Moving 129 Considering the pros and cons of moving 130 Eyeing the options for where you can move 132 Tapping Your Home’s Equity: Reverse Mortgages 135 Defining terms and costs 135 Determining whether a reverse mortgage is right for you 137 Searching for more information on reverse mortgages 137 Looking at Tax Issues Regarding Your Housing Decisions 138 Being aware of capital gains exclusion rules 138 Converting your home to a rental: Yes or no? 138 Chapter 9: Considering Your Long-Term Care Insurance Needs and Options 141 Understanding Long-Term Care 142 Naming the types of long-term care 142 Predicting who will need long-term care 144 Estimating how much long-term care will cost 145 Planning to Pay for LTC 148 Considering Traditional LTC Insurance 149 Knowing the basic features of LTCI 149 Checking out two more important LTCI factors 155 Using Hybrid Insurance Products 157 Exploring annuities to finance LTC 158 Financing LTC with life insurance 159 Assessing the LTC hybrids 159 Reimbursement versus Indemnity Coverage 160 Financing LTC Yourself 161 Figuring out whether you can finance your own LTC 161 Deciding when to buy LTCI 163 Comparing tax-qualified and nonqualified policies 164 Opting for life insurance instead of LTCI 166 Taking advantage of the reverse mortgage 166 Evaluating Employer and Group Coverage 167 Combining LTCI and Self-Insurance 169 Part 3: Dealing with Government Programs 171 Chapter 10: Making Your Best Choices under Social Security 173 The Lowdown on Social Security 174 Determining When You’re Eligible for Benefits 176 Reviewing your earnings history 177 Defining when you can retire 177 Taking a Closer Look at Spouses’ and Survivor Benefits 180 Understanding the choices for spousal benefits 181 Ensuring spouses are taken care of: Survivor’s benefits 184 Identifying When You May Need to Receive Benefits 186 What are your cash flow needs? 186 Will waiting pay off? 186 What other income do you have? 187 Do you want to continue to work? 188 What are the potential income taxes on benefits? 188 What’s your life expectancy? 188 Noting How Working Reduces Benefits 189 Taking the penalty for exceeding the annual income limit 190 Determining the penalty on a monthly basis 190 The penalty isn’t always bad 191 Preserving Your Benefits 191 Deferring income 192 Using your corporation 193 Considering exempt income 193 Relying on special income 194 Being Aware of Potential Income Taxes on Your Benefits 195 Understanding how modified adjusted gross income works 195 Reducing taxes on benefits 197 Changing Your Mind: A Do-Over 199 Deciding whether you should take a do-over 200 Doing the do-over 200 Looking at What the Future Holds for Social Security 200 Chapter 11: Getting the Most Out of Medicare 203 Starting Medicare: A Broad Overview of Enrollment Deadlines 204 Understanding Part A 206 Seeing who’s eligible and signing up for Part A 206 Defining Part A coverage 208 Exploring Parts B and C 210 Scoping out Part B 211 Probing Part C: Medicare Advantage 215 Qualifying for Prescription Drug Coverage with Part D 219 Examining Part D plans 220 Enrolling in a Part D plan 224 Eyeing a Medicare Supplement 226 Understanding Medigap policies 226 Standardizing Medigap policies 227 Choosing a Medigap policy 228 Obtaining quotes for Medigap insurance 230 Resolving Some Sticky Issues 230 Changing plans 231 Monitoring changes at work 231 Making a foreign move 232 Chapter 12: The State Healthcare System Backup: Medicaid 233 Discovering What Medicaid is 234 Considering Medicaid Eligibility 234 Establishing Functional Eligibility 235 Meeting Financial Requirements 236 Understanding income limits 236 Understanding asset limits 238 Examining Planning Strategies 246 Spending down 247 Creating a life estate 247 Setting up trusts 248 Buying an immediate annuity 250 Going the spousal refusal route 251 Recognizing the downsides of Medicaid eligibility strategies 252 Using Both Medicare and Medicaid 253 Eyeing Reasons Not to Seek Medicaid 254 Part 4: Estate Planning: It’s More than Just Dead People and Lawyers 257 Chapter 13: The Basics on Estate Planning 259 Understanding Estate Planning 260 Studying Some Strategies Before Starting Your Estate Plan 263 Finish your plan no matter what 263 Keep track of your estate 264 Estimate cash flow 265 Don’t wait for the perfect plan 265 Carefully choose executors and trustees 266 Anticipate conflicts 266 Answering Key Questions to Gather Critical Information 267 Who’s in charge? 268 How much should I give now? 268 Should I apply controls and incentives? 268 Should heirs get equal shares? 269 Should I exclude someone? 270 How should my blended family be handled? 271 Should I leave only money? 271 Should my wealth stay in the family? 272 Knowing How Estate Taxes Work 272 Reviewing the estate tax 273 Considering state taxes 274 Finding Good, Affordable Advice 275 Doing it yourself 275 Using an expert: Yes or no? 276 Chapter 14: Eyeing Wills and Other Legal Documents 279 Creating Your Will 279 Pointing out some important details 280 Facing the limits of wills 284 Excluding family members 284 Avoiding things you can’t do with your will 285 Assigning a Financial Power of Attorney 285 Recognizing the importance of a POA 286 Choosing the right POA 287 Delegating Medical Decisions 288 Understanding living wills 288 Signing DNRs 289 Assigning a healthcare proxy or POA 290 Authorizing HIPAA 290 Combining documents 291 Passing Other Assets 291 Naming beneficiaries for your assets 292 Examining the special case of IRAs 292 Looking Closer at Probate 294 Avoiding probate: Yay or nay? 295 Considering joint tenancy 295 Making use of living trusts 296 Chapter 15: Tackling the Federal Estate Tax When You Have Too Much Money 299 Understanding the Estate Tax 300 Examining how your estate tax is calculated 300 Decreasing your estate taxes 302 Tallying Your Assets 303 Making sure you don’t overlook certain factors 304 Assessing included assets 304 Reducing Your Estate 306 Considering strategies to lower your estate’s value 306 Maximizing tax-free gifts 309 Taking Deductions 312 Looking at the marital deduction 312 Understanding portability of the lifetime exemption 313 Giving charitable gifts 314 Choosing Family Estate Strategies 315 Equalizing estates 316 Using the bypass trust 316 Taking advantage of marital deduction trusts 317 Putting the strategies together 318 Contemplating Life Insurance 319 Paying obligations with life insurance 320 Purchasing life insurance to enhance inheritances 320 Avoiding the Tax on Gifts to Grandkids: The GSTT 321 Chapter 16: Focusing on Estate Taxes and the Many Types of Trusts 323 Identifying the Cast of Characters 324 Naming the Types of Trusts 325 Looking at when trusts take effect 325 Revoking or retaining rights 326 Determining how income is distributed 327 Addressing the trustee’s powers 328 Using Trusts in Estate Planning 328 Donating to charity with charitable trusts 329 Opting for retained income trusts 330 Taking care of special needs with SNTs 332 Spreading the wealth through dynasty trusts 333 Creating life insurance trusts 334 Part 5: The Part of Tens 335 Chapter 17: Ten Common Retirement and Estate Planning Mistakes 337 Not Having at Least a Basic Financial Plan 338 Procrastinating about Estate Planning 338 Underestimating Life Expectancy 339 Miscalculating Inflation 340 Believing You’ll Retire When You Expected To 341 Ignoring Nonfinancial Planning 341 Failing to Coordinate with Your Spouse 342 Expecting to Age in Place 343 Thinking Most Medical Expenses Will Be Covered 344 Missing the Initial Enrollment for Medicare Plans 345 Chapter 18: Ten Things to Know about Working in Retirement 347 Some Work is Good for You 348 The Social Security (Tax) Impact Can Be Huge 348 Number Crunching Can Show You How Different Scenarios Work 349 Life is Short and You Owe It to Yourself to Do What You Love 350 Investing in Education Can Boost Your Employment Value 350 Some Employers Are More User-Friendly for Older Workers 350 Taking Some Employment Risk is Important 351 Starting/Buying a Small Business May Be a Rewarding Option 351 Your Spouse May Not Want What You Want 352 Volunteering Makes You Happy and Benefits Your Community 352 Chapter 19: Ten (or So) Tips to Know about Caring for Your Aging Parents 353 Leverage Off Others’ Experiences 354 Ask for Professional Help 354 Invest in Their Health 355 Get Your Parents’ Affairs in Order 355 Examine Housing and Medical Care Options 355 Use Caregiver Agreements 356 Separate Living Spaces if Parents Are Going to Move In 357 Take Care of Your Family 357 Take Care of Yourself 358 Index 359

Autorenportrait

Eric Tyson is a recognized personal finance counselor, writer, and lecturer. Tyson has been featured on and quoted in hundreds of publications and media outlets. Bob Carlson is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Fairfax Country Employees’ Retirement System.

Back cover copy

Putting the “gold” in “golden years”You’ve worked hard—isn’t it about time you reaped the benefits? Regardless of how long you decide to keep working, you have financial options. This book, tailored to your generation, can help you plan for and live your best retirement life. You’ll learn to shore things up for your descendants, while you’re at it. With advice on money matters like investing, taxes, Social Security, insurance, and estate planning, you’ll choose the right track for your future. It’s full steam ahead to financial freedom after fifty!Inside. . .<ul><li>Retire when you’re ready</li><li>Minimize your post-career tax bill</li><li>Find out about insurance after 50</li><li>Discover smart investments that will take you through retirement</li><li>Learn all about the SECURE Act and the latest Medicare changes</li><li>Protect your health and property</li></ul>