Leaving a Legacy

Legacy, “a gift by will especially of money or other personal property” is the definition taken from Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. Anything given to you by someone, who has marked you as beneficiary, after death. An article of clothing or a piece of jewelry. It could be a letter or land. However big or small, what…

Are you ready to retire?

One of my best friends is facing retirement and isn’t quite sure he’s ready. He has spent his career paying into the Social Security system, so he will have that income; and he has an employer sponsored 401K, his own Individual Retirement Account and some other moderate investments. That should be enough, right? My friend is nearly…

Life insurance for the living

So often when we purchase life insurance, whether Term Life, Whole Life or Guaranteed Universal Life, the first thing we think of is who will benefit from it; those we leave behind. We seldom think about using life insurance while we’re living. The reality is there are many reasons to use it during our lifetimes.…

Life insurance for real life

When I bought my life insurance policy years ago, I wasn’t thinking I would use it as retirement income or even think of using it myself in life. The agent did say I could borrow against the cash value if I needed to for certain life events, but I always assumed my life insurance policy…

Permanent versus term life insurance

“I already have a term life insurance policy through work that will pay triple my salary if anything happens to me. I really don’t need anymore than that, right?” The simple answer is, you only need that term insurance policy if you don’t plan to outlive your employment. That policy only covers you for the…

Is it too late to start saving?

“I’m not that far from retirement and I’ve still got some debt. I don’t have a lot of savings, but I have some. I don’t know if I have enough time left to save now.” It really is never too late to start saving. It just takes planning and the right savings options. Sure hindsight…