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Making sensible financial planning decisions after the loss of a family member or personal friend can be quite a challenge…

Financial Matters Following a Loved Ones Death

Is it true that if you save for college in a 529 plan the government will just short your financial aid? Here’s your answer.

529 Plans and Financial Aid Eligibility

Aging is part of the human experience. While we may not always like the aging effects, most of us would opt for aging over the alternative. Incorporating aging into your planning process is important, especially when it relates to increasing health care costs and insurance premiums. These increases reflect the ever increasing cost of providing health care…

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Long-term Health Care Planning

At one point, the buzzword was “viatical settlements,” a practice of selling one’s active life insurance policy to a company that would pay the insured the estimated present value of the death benefit so uninsured healthcare costs and related expenses could be paid. Such settlements grew in popularity during the 1980s AIDS crisis, when insured individuals, mostly young men at the time, desperately needed funds for what was at the time an almost guaranteed death sentence. That business eventually attracted some unscrupulous dealers.

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LPL Insured Cash Account Program – FDIC insurance up to $2 million for joint account holders 

With the recent financial debacle, you may be asking “Is my “safe” money safe?” Where do you save or invest money for liquidity and security?  Many people would reply they use savings accounts, money market accounts and certificate of deposit (CDs) for these purposes.  But is the money truly safe? 

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Many of us have taken a vacation and found an idyllic spot where we’d love to retire, spend the weekend or telecommute. Some people have actually bought property spontaneously while on vacation – and while that’s not always a horrible idea, it is better to have a strategy.

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Disability insurance protects your ability to earn an income. It provides money to pay your rent, mortgage and all your basic living expenses if you are injured or sick for an extended period. It is called disability Insurance or disability income protection but think of it as income replacement when you are sick or hurt and cannot work. At any age, you are about six times more likely to be disabled for some period of time than to die.

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It’s still a month until most of us will file our 2007 tax returns, but it’s a good idea to keep in mind key tax changes that will affect our 2008 returns.  Here are some of the highlights:

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It’s getting to be the case that virtually any standalone investment product sold to individuals can be repackaged into a mutual fund. It makes a lot of sense – everyone already knows what a mutual fund is, and all that’s left to explain is the objective, availability of capital, specific risks and fees.

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Celebrities are usually just a little below gambling winners on the “Who you should not take financial advice from” scale.  But like all of us, they get older and sometimes even wiser.  Money Magazine ran a piece recently featuring answers to questions about money from famous people who are not so young any more.  Here is a sampling of their views on money:

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