Topline With numerous Federal Reserve officials sounding the alarm on inflation, minutes from the central bank’s latest monetary policy meeting released Wednesday hinted at bigger interest rate hikes ahead this year and outlined a plan to reduce its balance sheet by $95 billion per month. Key Facts Federal Reserve officials, who last month raised interest
Retirement
Medicare Advantage managed care plans, which in 2021 covered 26 million enrollees, will get an average 8.5 percent increase in total Medicare payments next year. At the same time, MA plans are rapidly embracing a wide range of social services and supports for older adults living at home. Sometimes called long-term care lite, these benefits
I was 64 on New Year’s Eve 2015, when I worked my last shift at the Chicago Tribune. I packed up my cubicle, turned off the lights and – just like that – dropped the curtain on one of the most rewarding chapters of my life. At first, I was giddy with all the freedom
The legal profession urges you to get your estate planning done. They draft wills, trusts and empowering documents like the Durable Power of Attorney and Advance Healthcare Directives. Responsible people with means usually get this done. What they and the lawyers they hire apparently don’t think about is what happens when the client, who may
Yet Another Tax Proposal The Biden administration released its budget and tax proposals on March 28, 2022. This is called the “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2023 Revenue Proposals,” or more affectionately the Greenbook. Should you care? Honestly, who knows. Speakers at a major estate planning conference speculated that it was unlikely for
Some people wait until the last minute to take care of things. If that’s you, here is a last-minute RMD Alert. IRA (and 401(k)) owners born in the last half of 1949 (after June 30, 1949, but before Jan. 1, 1950): Did you take your RMD (required minimum distribution) in 2021? If not, you need
Most people worry about their financial future and yet basic financial education is excluded curriculum from high school to university Building Financial Confidence The need for individual confidence in personal financial planning has never been more paramount. Managing debt, navigating ever changing economic conditions, investment risks, rising inflation, and the increasing need to build a
By Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Next Avenue As a “preacher’s wife” (so vividly portrayed by Whitney Houston in a cinematic classic), I have witnessed many funerals where confusion and animosity clouded a celebration of life due to the proper lack of estate planning. Specifically, when there is no will in place, all hell tends to break
By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Next Avenue Jane Coloccia is no stranger to moving long distances, having moved in 2014 from New Jersey to southern California. When she picked up the phone to hire a moving company earlier this year to relocate from California to northwest Oregon with her husband, Victor Teixeira, and their small dog, Sophie,
By Andrea King Collier, Next Avenue When I started this series at the beginning of 2021, my husband and I were preparing ourselves for our “big” 65th birthdays in November and December. It was all straightforward. We made a list of things we needed to tackle and went after it. And now, just like that,