How Seniors Can Financially Prep for Healthcare Essentials

If you are a senior citizen, then you must prepare for health problems to avoid additional expenses. Today, people are living longer lives, but they are also living with an assortment of physical and mental health issues. It is especially important to prepare financially for daily or emergency medical problems.

Have Savings to Pay for Your Medical Bills

Make sure to have a saving account that has enough money to pay for medical appointments and medications. You may need to reduce your other expenses such as having cable television or taking vacations in order to have enough money saved for your health care needs. 

Watch for sales on over-the-counter medications such as pain relievers, cough syrup and antihistamines. You can find some of these medications on sale, or you can use coupons to save money. 


Check the expiration dates on medications to buy products that will remain fresh for several months or years.

Do You Qualify for Government-sponsored Medical Programs?

It is possible that you are eligible for government-sponsored insurance or medical programs. Some of these programs are operated at the federal, state or local level, so you should complete the necessary forms to determine if you qualify for any health care assistance. 

Not only should you have a last will and testament that is legally binding in your geographic region, but also, you should have a living will along with a health care proxy. 

You can choose a relative, friend or attorney to oversee your finances and health care when you are unable to make decisions on your own.

Reduce Your Other Debts

To avoid other expenses that will prevent you from paying medical bills, make sure to reduce your debts. Pay your credit card bills so that you aren’t paying high interest rates, and make sure to keep your mortgage payments up-to-date. 

As you get older, you may need in-home health care, so you should verify that your medical insurance includes this type of coverage. 

With in-home health care coverage, like that available from Baywood Home Care, you can hire a professional caregiver so that you can remain in your home while you are recovering from an injury or illness.

Look for a senior care advocate in your city. This professional can provide advice concerning the actions that you should take to protect you financially when you have a health problem that requires medical care.

Portfolio Progress: What You Should Do to Expand Your Wealth

Whether you’re a young person just starting off in your career or someone older who hasn’t yet become financially independent, wealth building is one of the most important things you can possibly do. 

Building your net worth will help you reach financial independence and give you stability for your retirement years. Here are four of the best ways to build your wealth and improve your personal finances.

Increase Your Income

To build serious wealth, you need to have extra money to put into productive investments. If you’re only breaking even between your income and your expenses, you’ll likely never be able to set aside enough to become truly financially independent. 

The first step in building wealth, therefore, should be trying to increase your income. In some cases, this may mean continuing your education so that you can get a higher-paying job. 

In others, you may be able to seek advancement in your company or consider offers from other firms that may pay you more. Whatever your situation is, you should focus on maximizing your income to give yourself the free capital you’ll need for your wealth-building efforts.

Talk to a Financial Advisor

Building wealth isn’t easy, and you’ll probably need some expert advice along the way. This is where a financial advisor comes in. Financial advisors can help with everything from investment advice to estate planning, depending on exactly where you are in the course of your financial life. 

A good advisor will help you understand the implications and benefits of different financial decisions while guiding you along the path to financial independence.

Stop Renting

Over a long period of time, few things are as needlessly expensive as renting the home in which you live. If at all possible, you should buy a home of your own. Some companies, like UBS – The Burish Group, know how important of a decision this can be. 

Not only will this save you money over the long haul, but it will also allow you to build equity in the property. Once it is paid off, your home is an asset that will retain a considerable amount of value. 

If you’re still renting, on the other hand, you’re just putting money into paying off a similar asset for someone else without building any equity in the process.

Create a Diverse Investment Portfolio

Though increasing your income and buying your home will help create the basic framework you need for financial independence, the activity that will produce the best results in the building of wealth is investment. 

You’ll need to create a diversified portfolio of investments that will produce stable returns over many years. If you need help constructing such a portfolio, talk to your financial advisor, as discussed above.

These steps, though seemingly simple, will help you get from where you are now to the realization of your personal financial goals. Remember that time is one of the most important concepts in finance. 

The more time you give yourself, the better off you’ll be. Start the process of building wealth as soon as you can to maximize your personal results.

Why More and More Retailers are Filing for Bankruptcy

From family-owned businesses to national chain stores, more and more retailers are filing for bankruptcy. Statistics show that retail bankruptcy filings were up more than 30 percent in 2017 from the year prior. 

So, what’s driving this change in the retail landscape, and what can retail business owners do to protect themselves?

The Transition from Offline to Online Shopping

Several factors play a role in the increasing number of retail closings, one of which is the trend of online shopping. It turns out that 51 percent of US Consumers prefer to shop online. Buying goods over the internet is often easier, more convenient and even cheaper. 

As a result, consumers have shifted their shopping habits from local shopping centers and malls to the internet.

Another issue is that supply, in many cases, outweighs demand. Retailers continue to open new stores in hopes of increasing revenue. With consumer demand stagnant, however, this doesn’t happen. 



Instead, retailers are left with a surplus of goods and high overhead costs. Retail business owners who want to survive must learn to adapt to market changes while providing a valuable service for consumers.

Major Retailers Filing for Bankruptcy

Even major retailers aren’t immune from these market changes. In September 2017, just months away from the holiday shopping season, Toys ‘R’ Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This prompted the national kids’ toy retailer to close some 200 stores.

Payless ShoeSource also fell into hard times last year. In April, the shoe store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, announcing the closure of approximately 800 stores.

Other retailers that have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent months include HHGregg, RadioShack, Eastern Outfitters, Gander Mountain, Gormans, Wet Seal and Aéropostale.

How Bankruptcy Protection Can Help

Filing bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean the retail business will close. On the contrary, many retailers file it to keep their business alive during periods of financial hardship. 

When a retail business owner cannot pay his or her bills, bankruptcy offers a second change. As a business owner, you can keep a bankruptcy lawyer like the Law Office of Barbara B. Braziel on call.

There are several different types of bankruptcy, including Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13. With Chapter 7, the business’s assets are handed over to a trustee who oversees its liquidation for the purpose of paying off debts. 

Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, however, typically provide retailers with an opportunity to continue their business. The retailer may arrange a reorganize their business structure, liquidating assets and closing stores, and he or she may agree to a repayment plan with creditors.

There’s an undeniable change happening in the retail landscape. However, retailers can overcome financial hardship by consolidating their operations and filing for bankruptcy protection.

Feeling Frugal? 4 Tips to Save Money on Home Repairs

Being a homeowner certainly has its benefits, but one downside of owning compared to renting is that you’ll be responsible for any repairs your home needs. That’s why financial experts recommend that homeowners leave room in their budgets for repair costs each year. 

Still, it’s natural to want the best deal on home repairs, especially when you have several repairs to do. Here are four helpful tips on how you can save some cash on home repairs.

See What You Can Do Yourself

The best way to cut your home repair costs is to do everything you can yourself. Now, whether this is worthwhile for you will depend on how handy you are and how much time it takes you to do the repairs. 

You don’t want to spend days on a simple repair or end up making your problem worse. But with all the tutorial videos out there, you can absolutely learn how to do some basic repairs online.

Find Deals on Materials

Even if you hire contractors for repairs, that doesn’t mean you need them buying the materials. You’re typically better off doing this yourself, because then you can shop for deals. 



Try visiting home improvement stores during their sales or looking for salvage materials. With a little luck and a good eye, you can get materials for much less than they’d usually cost.

Shop around for Contractors

When you know what you need done, it’s easy to call around and get estimates from different contractors like AAA Garage Door, Inc. and similar companies. Then you can compare them all to see who’s offering the best price. 

Just make sure that you look at their reviews, as well. You don’t want to go with the cheapest contractor if they have a bad reputation.

Look up What Labor Should Cost

It’s good to have an idea of how much labor would typically cost on the repair jobs you have, even if you looked around to get the best price on a contractor. 

You want to be knowledgeable of repair costs in case your contractor tells you that it’s actually going to cost more or if they determine that more work needs to be done. 

Understanding what everything should cost helps you avoid getting hustled. It’s smart to anticipate potential home repair costs by setting some money aside whenever you can. But when you do need repairs done, you should also do what you can to get the best bargain.