Month: April 2021

Prepare for Retirement the ‘S-M-A-R-T’ Way

Today we are featuring an article written by Kayla Huynh from Country Financial.She has some good things to say so let's get to it!I'm Kayla and throughout my life, I've always tried to make smart money choices. Preparing for retirement is no exception. So, I sat down with our Financial Planning Manager, Joe Burhmann, who taught me how to be SMART when it comes to preparing for my future. S - Start Saving Now… No matter what stage of life you're in, taking steps toward retirement today is important. Newer in your career?As a young adult, I've been more focused on starting my career than planning for what I might do when it ends. That's one mistake young people often make, but they should actually start saving for retirement as early as possible. Further along in your career?If you don't have as much time on your side, it's not too late to start saving today. Buhrmann suggests using the 70/20/10 method to find ways to cut back on expenses that can instead be put toward retirement each month. 70/20/10 Method to find ways to cut back on expensesThis involves living on 70 percent of your take-home pay, saving half of...

States With the Highest and Lowest Overall Tax Rates

Many of us look to make a move when we retire. Warm weather shouldn't be the only factor when deciding. One of the things you might look at is overall tax rates.Your tax rate isn't just about what the state levies in income taxes. It can also include other taxes, such as county and local taxes.When figuring your personal overall tax rate, don't forget to include applicable sales taxes and property taxes.WalletHub recently completed an analysis of state taxes and came up with a list of each state's overall tax rate. In doing so, they "calculated relative income-tax obligations by applying the effective income-tax rates in each state and locality to the average American's income."Below are the states with the lowest overall tax rates. Then for a flip side the Top 5 are shared.Be Well,Anisa States With The Lowest Overall Tax Rates… 5. WyomingEffective total state and local tax rate for the median U.S. household: 8.05% Wyoming won't tax your Social Security benefits, and you don't have to worry about paying personal income tax. On top of that, Wyoming has one of the lowest property tax burdens in the U.S. However, a projected $1.5 billion shortfall due to shifts in...

Erasing Personal Data From Your Computer: How-To Tips From Consumer Reports

Today we've got a great article from Nicholas De Leon of Consumer Reports. It's all about removing your personal data from a laptop before getting rid of it. Most importantly when you donate one it is very important. However even if you are throwing it away taking a few minutes to follow the steps below can protect against the next owner accessing photos, financial documents, and other private data once stored on the hard drive. How do you do this? Short of removing the drive altogether, the best solution is to perform what's known as a factory reset. Be Well,Anisa Why Can't I Just Clear Out My Downloads & Log Out of Accounts?… You might think if you do this you're protected but Matt Ham, owner of the service company Computer Repair Doctor, explains that manually purging files isn't enough. "You're likely to forget things like passwords saved in browsers and personal data in the deleted items folder. Or you can miss deleting some important files altogether," he says. "Reinstalling your system before sale is a much safer alternative." In most cases, wiping a computer with a factory reset will be sufficient to safeguard your personal data. So if you're...

Top Retirement Fears and How to Deal with Them

As I prepare for retirement I find myself a bit aprehensive and a little afraid.Turns out I'm not alone. Retirement can be scary for a number of reasons and everyone has different reactions and thoughts.Some people work longer to delay facing those fears, while others put their head in the sand, try not to think about the reasons retirement scares them.It is best to face your fears well before you retire. Doing this can make a huge difference in our golden years.I found this article by Ken Waltzer, M.D. and it tackles six of the most common retirement fears and offers some suggestions for dealing with them.Be Well,Anisa 1. Running Out of Money… This is the first retirement fear that most of my clients express. They worry they will outlive their money, or that high expenses or poor market returns will decimate their savings. For some, these fears are rational. They haven't saved enough and/or are spending above their means. However, even when the data indicate that such fears are unwarranted, they may nonetheless persist. The first step in dealing with this fear is to make a retirement plan. Ideally, one starts the plan well before retirement so that there's...