How to Shack Up Successfully in Your Senior Years

Shacking in retirementShacking up isn't just for young folks anymore. Plenty of unmarried retirees are spending their golden years together. And while skipping the "I dos" can seem like the easier course, just living together can be complicated, especially at this time of life.

"It's understandable, given our divorce rates, why people may want to retire together without having to be married to do it," notes Betty Liu, co-author of Age Smart.

"More women in this generation have worked and lived independently, so they're able to say to their partners, 'let's just live together and be financially separate.'" she says. "And, as you get older, the focus may not be so much on marriage, as it's about companionship and having the right partner with you."

But even though millions of couples are now doing this, she says, it's still a relatively new concept. Translation: Love is grand, but you'd better think about the details.

With separate goals and incomes, there are multiple potential sources of money conflict, from legacies to children to who pays for what. You are also without the legal protections of marriage and survivor benefits, and that's just the beginning, warns Ben Gurwitz, a certified financial planner with Financial Life Advisors.

Consider a "Living Together" Agreement

Retirees living together often are even in a relatively tenuous financially situation. They may have limited monthly incomes and be relying on having both parties' financial contributions to pay the rent or cover the monthly bills, says Lois Liberman, a matrimonial attorney at Blank Rome.

If they break up, if one partner gives his children power of attorney over his finances, or if one of them dies, and that person's monthly contribution is no longer coming in, the other retiree may no longer be able to afford their apartment or home, she says.

Avoid this nightmare. Liberman recommends putting in place a "living together agreement" outlining what would happen financially should you two separate.

HomeDon't Leave the House Up for Grabs

You want to know too, what the deal will be if one of you owns the home you're both living in, and that partner passes. "You don't want to be thrown out by the deceased's children," says Liberman.

In 10 states, you may give a beneficiary the right to live in your home when you die. It is called an Enhanced Death Deed. So if you are with a partner to whom you are not married, and you don't want them to get kicked out of your home by your heirs when you die, you can provide the security of a life estate to your partner, says Jean Dorrell, founder of Senior Financial Security.

"I have heard all too many horror stories of the non-spouse partner being removed from the home immediately after mom or dad's dying. The kids come along, they want their inheritance, they want the partner out and they get their way, legally," she warns.

A Life Estate allows whomever you name to continue living in your home as long as they are alive or as long as they wish. No one can kick them out, she says.

Get Your Estate Documents in Order

Partners in an elderly cohabiting couple absolutely need to have wills to take the guesswork out of dealing with what will happen after they're gone.

However, the things unmarried partners leave to each other will be subject to estate taxes, which wouldn't be the case if they were married, adds Richard Barrington, a personal finance expert with MoneyRates.com. "You may want to look at methods of property transfers prior to death to reduce the exposure to estate taxes," he says.

And when it comes to estate planning, you need more than just a will. Much as you might not want to think about being sick when you're supposed to finally be having fun, illness happens. "Whom do you trust to make decisions for you when you are unable to do so, and do you have the required documents in place to allow that person or persons to make those decisions on your behalf?" asks certified financial planner Jim Oliver of Jim Oliver & Associates.

You'll need a litany of documents: a durable power of attorney for managing financial affairs; medical power of attorney for managing health issues; (without proper documentation, you have no legal right to make health care decisions for your partner), a HIPAA release for accessing health information; a directive to physicians regarding end-of-life decisions; and possibly a revocable living trust for management of assets while alive and avoiding probate for disposition of assets after death, says Oliver. You can also hold assets jointly with your partner in order to have them transfer automatically to them when you die.

Make sure all those documents are up to date. Are the right people listed as beneficiaries on your life insurance policy, retirement accounts and other assets?

Don't Share Everything

How to co-mingle assets is a biggie. It's important for non-married couples to keep certain assets separate to avoid property disputes later. Some advisers recommend keeping separate checking accounts.

"Never contribute money to the purchase of a major asset such as a car or house that is held solely in the name of your partner," says Anthony Sandonato, a certified public accountant and attorney with Mengel Metzger Barr & Co. "If both partners contribute to a major asset purchase, it should be in both of their names."

Figure Out the Tax Implications

Single people often make out better from an income tax perspective because of the so-called marriage penalty, which can result in married couples owing more tax overall than two single people.

A person living with an unmarried partner may be able to claim head-of-household status if he or she supports a dependent. The head-of-household tax rates are more favorable than the single rates, says Sandonato.

Senior woman and childrenDon't Forget the Children

Then there's the matter of the children. "One of the biggest issues I see is within the family dynamic," says Debra Neiman, a certified financial planner and co-author of Money Without Matrimony: The Unmarried Couple's Guide to Financial Security.
"Children don't want to feel cut out of the picture, regardless if mom or dad remarries or shacks up."

Have a family sit-down with your children. "Explain the situation and reassure the kids that assets, beneficiary designations and other legal documentation is in place to take care of them," she says.

Communicate to your close family members what you have agreed upon. If you aren't comfortable discussing post-death financial matters, consider making a video expressing your wishes, recommends Scott Halliwell, a certified financial planner with USAA.

Coordinate Investments

Be sure your right hand knows what your left is doing: If partners don't coordinate their investments, it's possible that a couple may be over-allocated in one company, industry or other type of investment. "Make sure that your investments are not only diversified when looked at separately, but also when looked at in the aggregate," says Rebecca Pavese, director of the tax practice at Palisades Hudson Financial Group.

Get the Lowdown on Social Security

Unmarried couples who are receiving Social Security retirement benefits based on their own earnings records can continue to collect their full retirement benefits, even after the other dies.

However, if one partner dies, the other is left with only their own benefit, which can create severe cash flow problems if it's not planned for, warns Gary Sancilio a financial adviser with MassMutual. Other Social Security rules can come into play if one partner is receiving a spousal benefit based on the earnings of a former spouse. "We recommend a thorough review of Social Security benefits for cash flow purposes," he says.

Unmarried partners will likely need to provide for their own medical benefits. Most company plans don't consider cohabiting retirees as "dependents" of each other, meaning one would be unable to enroll their partner in a company plan. Similarly, each person would need to qualify for Medicare Part A coverage on their own earnings record, adds Sancilio.

Avoid Inaction

Doing nothing is a huge mistake. "This happens a lot of time when you enter a new relationship. Possibly you were in a traditional marriage for many years, your spouse then died. You have met the new 'love of your life' and you are in the honeymoon stage. Who wants to be a Debbie Downer and bring up death and incapacitation?" asks Dorrell.

But in retirement years, you need to start planning for your mortality and consider how it will affect your estate, your partner and your family members, she adds.

Talk and Plan Early

Talk over these issues with your partner sooner rather than later. Come up with a plan about what you want, and put everything in writing. Get a lawyer to help you draw up the documents.

"In a way, being unmarried gives you an excuse to talk directly about some not so pleasant financial situations because unmarried couples don't have the legal safety net of knowing that assets will be directly passed onto them or that they have rights to the other's assets," says Liu.

Expect Some Resistance

It's not only your children who may be concerned about someone coming into your life late and making off with your hard-earned money, or possibly breaking your heart. There are other places your arrangement may not be welcome.

"You might join a club and find that only spouses are allowed to join with you, or you may find that you don't qualify for certain benefits because you're both unmarried," says Liu. "That's the reality. It almost always takes years for the institutional thinking to catch up with what's happening on the ground, but eventually, things catch up."

If you plan with your head instead of your heart, the hardest issues can be mitigated or completely avoided, and you two can just enjoy the good life in your golden years. "It's a great thing to have more options when you retire and not be boxed in to what traditionally is seen as retirement," says Liu.

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/06/25/how-to-shack-up-successfully-in-your-senior-years/

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Cool Websites and Tools [June 26th]


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CraftRoulette – If you are enthusiastic about creating nifty things with your hands, then the Internet has countless how-to guides available for creating a variety of things. But instead of finding these guides on Google, a better choice would be visiting a site called CraftRoulette, a website that lets you randomly search for crafty things you can create with your hands. Read more: CraftRoulette: Find Crafty Things To Do & Get Instructions On How To Create Them

 

MyGarden – The Internet has a wide variety of social networks on offer that focus on various interests. If your interest is gardening, then the best social network to join is MyGarden, a website that offers numerous valuable tools to gardeners and gardening enthusiasts. The site combines gardening tasks with interaction with other site members. Read more: MyGarden: Social Networking For Gardeners

 

 

ePubReader – ePub is a popular file format for e-books that are published online. Usually, you have to download these books to your computer before you can read them, ePubReader is a Firefox extension that makes reading ePub books easier by opening them right in your browser window. With ePubReader you don?t have to download the e-book to your computer. Read more: ePubReader: Read ePub eBooks Right In Your Browser [Firefox]

 

 

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Tim Hudson's Effort Isn't Enough To Stop The Padres Hot Play


Tim Hudson

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The crowd got edgy when Will Venable popped up a bunt to Atlanta reliever Jonny Venters for the second out of the eighth inning with the bases loaded and the San Diego Padres trailing 1-0

Something remarkable happened next. The Padres got some timely hitting, enough to stun Venters and the Braves with a rally that carried them to a 4-1 win on Sunday. Cory Luebke, making his first start of the season for the Padres, combined with four relievers on a two-hitter and San Diego took two of three from the Braves.

Jason Bartlett hit an infield single to bring in the tying run, Orlando Hudson followed with a two-run single and Chase Headley added an RBI hit.

Venters saw his ERA rise from 0.56, the best among big league relievers, to 1.29.

"One of the toughest eighth-inning guys in the big leagues," Hudson said. "First-pitch slider, I think the next pitch was a fastball. I just wanted to put a good swing on it, make something happen."

Before Bartlett's hit, the Padres were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position after going 0 for 7 on Saturday night, when they were routed 10-1.

"It makes any inning better, as long as you can get runners in, man," Hudson said. "It ain't that easy driving runners in. You've got a guy that's cutting it, sinking it, slider, curveball, changeup. I wish it was that easy."

The Padres won 11-2 on Friday night.

"We're playing good baseball," Bartlett said. "It's tough when we're not getting that big hit that we need. We got one tonight, but we definitely could have had a lot more Ws."

The Padres' rally came after the Braves scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth for a 1-0 lead.

San Diego loaded the bases on a walk, an infield single, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk off Venters (4-1) before Venable popped up.

Bartlett hit a grounder that deflected off Venters' glove and rolled to shortstop Alex Gonzalez for an infield single, allowing Chris Denorfia to score the tying run.

"I thought Gonzalez was going to be able to grab it, but I'll take it," Gonzalez said. "O-Dog came up and got another clutch hit. It was a good day for us."

Hudson singled up the middle to bring in two more runs. Chase Headley added an RBI single.

"I just didn't get it done," Venters said. "I didn't make pitches. I blew the game for my team."

Venters had a rough inning overall. He issued a leadoff walk to Denorfia and then was slow to throw the ball after fielding Cameron Maybin's swinging bunt that went for an infield single.

On Bartlett's grounder, "If I don't touch that ball, I don't know if Gonzo gets to it or not. It was just a reaction thing there. I've got to make that play."

The Padres, last in the NL West, won two of three at Boston and then took two of three against the Braves.

"I think playing in Boston, that atmosphere, kind of woke some guys up, including myself," Bartlett said. "We're out there playing hard. We're trying to win. We're doing little things."

Mike Adams (3-1) pitched the eighth for the win. Heath Bell pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 21 chances.

Atlanta's Eric Hinske reached when the Padres couldn't turn a double play on his grounder to second in the eighth. Jordan Schafer doubled to the gap in right-center and Venable fielded the ball but dropped it when he reached into his glove. That allowed Hinske to score and Schafer to take third. Jason Heyward struck out on a checked-swing.

Both starters pitched well.

Luebke struck out six and allowed one hit and two walks in five scoreless innings. He struck out the side in the first inning on 10 pitches and retired his first seven batters before allowing a double to center by Nate McLouth.

Atlanta's Tim Hudson struck out eight in six scoreless innings while allowing six hits and three walks.

Pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman had a leadoff double in the seventh and the Padres eventually loaded the bases with two outs before pinch-hitter Ryan Ludwick hit into a force play to end the threat.

NOTES: Padres 3B Headley returned after missing two games with a shoulder injury. ... Aussie reliever Josh Spence, who made his big league debut for the Padres on Friday night, retired four straight batters and has retired all 10 batters he's faced in three appearances.

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Tigers Plate Seven In The Eighth Inning To Help Defeat The Diamondbacks


miguel cabrera

DETROIT (AP) — Don Kelly entered the game as a pinch-hitter and batted twice before the inning was over.

It was an unusual experience for the Detroit utilityman — and a sign that the Tigers' offense is beginning to live up to its potential.

Miguel Cabrera hit a go-ahead single and the Tigers scored seven runs with two outs in the eighth to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-3 on Sunday. Kelly started the rally with a one-out single with the Tigers down a run. By the time he came to the plate again, Detroit led 7-2.

"It doesn't happen too often, but we like it when it does," Kelly said.

Detroit was playing in front of its third home sellout of the season — the team retired former manager Sparky Anderson's No. 11 before the game. Jhonny Peralta gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the second with his 12th homer, but the Tigers trailed 2-1 until their big eighth inning.

Kelly singled off reliever Aaron Heilman (4-1). After Austin Jackson struck out, Casper Wells drew a walk. David Hernandez then came on and didn't retire any of the four batters he faced.

He walked Magglio Ordonez on four pitches to load the bases for the always-dangerous Cabrera, who appeared to get jammed but managed to line a two-run single to left. Hernandez then gave up RBI singles to Victor Martinez and Peralta.

"We never quit, that's for sure," Martinez said.

And they didn't stop. Brandon Inge hit a two-run single off Bryan Shaw to make it 7-2, and Kelly — batting again — reached on an error, with another run scoring.

Al Albuquerque (5-1) pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief for Detroit.

"We played a tough game, but they've got a great offense and they got everything rolling all at once," Arizona outfielder Chris Young said. "That's why you have to get all 27 outs."

The Tigers are averaging 5.1 runs a game in June. Cabrera, Peralta and Martinez have hit well all season, and Ordonez is showing signs of turning around a poor start.

"We hit some of them good, some of them not so good — but wherever we hit them, they found a gap, found a hole," manager Jim Leyland said. "That was the big thing. Miguel had a big two-out hit, that's golden. That's what he's good at. The other guys kind of picked up on it and we added some insurance and had a good win after what looked like it could be a potentially tough day."

Arizona wasted a fine start by Joe Saunders, who allowed a run and four hits in seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one and has thrown at least six innings in 11 consecutive starts.

Arizona scored twice in the seventh to take a 2-1 lead. Young led off with a double and Miguel Montero followed with a tying single. Detroit starter Brad Penny got the next two outs on popups, but Gerardo Parra hit a single and Ryan Roberts followed with another to put the Diamondbacks ahead.

Roberts was in the starting lineup only because Melvin Mora was a late scratch with a bad back.

Penny went 6 2-3 innings, allowing two runs and eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

"Thank God they took Saunders out," Penny said. "He threw a great game. He was making pitches with everything — pitching in and out, up and down and locating his off-speed stuff."

Alburquerque, who has been outstanding all season, relieved Penny with two on in the seventh. He allowed a walk to load the bases, then struck out Stephen Drew to end the threat.

Alburquerque gave up two hits in the eighth but worked out of that jam, too. He lowered his ERA to 1.95. He has struck out 46 hitters in 27 2-3 innings.

NOTES: Montero and Roberts had three hits each for Arizona, and Peralta had three for the Tigers. ... Detroit 2B Carlos Guillen (left knee) is scheduled to start a rehabilitation assignment with Class-A Lakeland on Monday. ... Jackson struck out twice in the eighth inning and four times in the game.

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The 3 Big Things To Watch In The Week Ahead


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Three stories will likely dominate the business/economic/financial world in the week ahead.

  • Greece. Obvious, yes. The big austerity vote is scheduled for the 29th, Wednesday. Greece needs to pass this in order to receive anymore money from its European peers, and avoid imminent default. The latest tally suggests that PM George Papandreou has a 3-vote 1-vote margin of victory on this, with two four of his fellow PASOK members have voiced their opposition. A question that's worth asking: If Greece doesn't pass the measure, is the rest of Europe really going to withhold the cash, and by implication just sit around for a default? That, too, seems hard to believe, given the fallout that would hit banks holding Greek debt, not to mention the loss of confidence we'd see in Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
  • The US economy. It won't be the heaviest week for data, but there a few notable ones, including Case-Shiller on Tuesday, and the ISM on Friday. Also on Friday are auto sales, which as Calculated Risk notes, could show some nascent signs of sequential improvement, although not all supply chain issues have been worked out yet.
  • The debt ceiling. With the Biden-Cantor talks having failed, the job falls on The President and The Majority Leader to work this out. With any luck, we'll know soon if those two are having any more progress.

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Study: Entrepreneurs First Get Down to Business in the Classroom

Adults classroomEntrepreneurs aren't just born; they're made -- in classrooms.

A new study by Babson College found "overwhelming evidence" that even just a few elective courses in entrepreneurship can inspire students to later launch their own businesses.

Researchers at the Wellesley, Mass., school said the findings should put another dent in the old argument that entrepreneurship cannot be taught. "We now have excellent empirical evidence that it makes a difference," they wrote. "We think that entrepreneurship should be taught not only for the production and training of entrepreneurs but also to help students decide if they have the right stuff to be entrepreneurs before they embark on careers for which they may be ill-suited."

If students want to really light a fire under their unformed dreams to someday launch a startup, three classes are better than two, the researchers added. The extra lesson time apparently further persuades students to become their own bosses. But taking just one class doesn't do the trick, researchers determined. Apparently, some take a single course out of curiosity and decide that running a business isn't for them.

The study also found that taking classes had a greater impact than having parents who were entrepreneurs, and that the number of students who desired to begin a company and later actually began one did not differ between undergraduates and graduate students.

A handful of Babson professors analyzed the career paths of 3,755 Babson graduates from 1985 to 2009. Their conclusion: "We believe that entrepreneurship should be taught to every business student because it is the very origin of all businesses -- after all, there would be no business schools if there had never been any entrepreneurs!"

Note that the findings might not be agenda-free. Babson is a business school, and a good one: Its MBA program was ranked first in entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report in 2010, and its undergraduate program was ranked 17th by Bloomberg Businessweek.

But the point is well-taken: Learning about entrepreneurship can be a smart first step on the road to actually becoming an entrepreneur.

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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/06/26/study-entrepreneurs-first-get-down-to-business-in-the-classroom/

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Debt Consolidation Relieves Debt

Debt consolidation programs, unlike , are good if you are paying on various diverse loans. They can make your life less difficult by giving you 1 monthly payment. Your monthly debt decreases if the plan you use for debt consolidation stretches your payments over a lengthy period of time. Paying much less every month will [...]

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Debt Settlement Vs Credit Counseling

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Debt stricken often find themselves in a muddle, when they fail to decide amongst the debt removal programs that they should take up. Here the concerned article discusses the pros and cons of debt settlement and consumer credit counseling.

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Inflation Expectation and Stock Prices


Earlier, I pointed out a recent study by David Glasner, which found that the correlation between the stock market (S&P 500) and inflation expectation did not exist in the past until 2008.  Since 2008, as inflation expectation rises, stock prices rise too.  On the other hand, if inflation expectation falls, stock prices fall too.

For whatever reasons which made this important change in the relationship between inflation expectation and stock prices (see more discussions by Scott Sumner, Kevin Drum, Paul Krugman, Karl Smith, and Kash), now it is worth pointing out that as the economy is slowing down, inflation expectation is, well, falling somewhat. 

And quite predictably, equities are falling somewhat as well.  The chart between shows the spread between US Treasury 10-year nominal yield and 10-year US Treasury Inflation-protected securities real yield, which is the proxy of market expectation of future inflation (in blue), and the S&P 500 index (in red).

Source: St. Louis Fed

As the economic slowdown continues, even though inflation may be going higher in near-term, the future expectation of inflation is actually falling.  If this trends continue, and if the relationship between equities prices and inflation expectation continues to hold, predictably, stock prices will most likely fall.

This article originally appeared here: Inflation Expectation and Stock Prices
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Debt Settlement Vs Credit Counseling

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Debt stricken often find themselves in a muddle, when they fail to decide amongst the debt removal programs that they should take up. Here the concerned article discusses the pros and cons of debt settlement and consumer credit counseling.

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