HOME EQUITY AGREEMENT + Risks and benefits. Sometimes we need money. Maybe it is for college tuition, other times it is for 3 dental crowns (that can add up to $8,000 these days). In any case, you may be looking for a way to NOT add anything to your credit card balance (that’s a good thing usually). …
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Tag:SocialSecurity
GUEST POST from Don – Don’t Panic
DON’T PANIC Every day the “news” has “the sky is falling” stories. Write them down! Keep a journal. In 6 months, when you go back and read what they wrote you will find it did NOT happen. You’ll find more joy just ignoring the “doom and gloom.” PENNIES. “Pennies are going away!! Gasp!!” No. Don’t worry! Several other countries …
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GUEST POST from Don – Can I Retire?
CAN I RETIRE? Retirement requires a bit of math. You’ll need to know your sources of INCOME? Will you have a pension, business income (even sharpening mower blades), and Social Security? The more “sources” of income the better. Are you planning to live off your savings (see if you can delay that)? You can’t retire until you know how much …
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GUEST POST from Don – I Didn’t Know That!
Hey, I didn’t know that!! 1. Rule #1: Do NOT take Social Security benefits at age 62. 65% of males and 76% of females aged 62 will live to age 78. Why is that significant? That is the age when taking Social Security at age 62 will start losing you money. The loss becomes larger every year thereafter so that …
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GUEST POST from Don – 4% Rule
4% RULE Retirement isn’t for dummies. You still have to PLAN and do MATH. If you have planned: You have SOME invested in an IRA or 401(k). If you don’t have $1.5 million there don’t feel bad. You have lots of company. The median retired couple has less than $125k invested. So, if you have $250k or more, and you …
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GUEST POST from Don – The Upside +
THE UPSIDE + According to the numbers, foreign visitors to the US just FELL by 18.3% in March. Places which rely on foreign visitors will see a loss in revenue, of course. However, there is an incredible upside to this. In the last few years our National (and state) Park systems have been overwhelmed by the …
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A Day In The Life – Dec. 6, 2023
I didn’t take video…and only a couple of pictures…but thought I’d share about the day anyway! We needed to go to Mt. Pleasant (MI) for a couple of things. We had a Barbie doll that got put into our order by mistake on our last visit, and didn’t notice until we got home, so we …
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GUEST POST from Don: The Wrong Problem
THE WRONG PROBLEM I remember a day in college (~ 45 years ago now) when one of the proposals before state voters sought a simplistic solution to end roadside trash. It passed (I voted against). Unfortunately, it sought to eliminate ONE SYMPTOM, and did not solve the stated problem. Result was that all soft drink containers were required …
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