Why Generation X has the Highest Debt Rate

Wipe our Debt (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

While baby boomers are now aging, the world is now looking at Generation X, not like the main working force of the nation but as the generation peaking the highest debt rate in the story of the United States and other countries. Though many people define Generation X as the people who were born from 1961-1965 and then from 1979-1984 the true fact is that the name of the generation makes no difference to their reality; the need to downgrade their lifestyles in order to cope with a debt that seems to be a snow balling down hill and seeming that there is no way to stop it.

Gen X, A Better Generation?

Studies conducted by the Urban Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation among others, state that every new generation is expected to be better than the preceding generation. However, when it comes to finances, the increasing demand for better living standards make it harder for this generation to go alongside with them. People who range actually between the 30 and the 50 years of age seem life is harder than people of the same age during the baby boomer era.

It All Starts at College

Although, Generation X is characterized by a larger number of graduated and undergraduate students compared with the generation that preceded them, financial problems seems to start with college enrollment. However, most of these students are still carrying a debt resulting from private students loans and federal student loans that they have not yet been repaid and seems far the day to get out of this debt. For some of them the problem increases as they obtained online payday loans to finance student expenses while at the campus, propitiating that the high interest rate of these loans asphyxiated their finances.

The Highest Entrepreneurship Rate

Another characteristic of Generation X is the number of individuals that have started their own business or an entrepreneurial project rather than just being employees. While this can be noted as a great achievement, the problem is that in order to achieve their goals, these entrepreneurs have to take out loans or other types of debt that are literally burying them today, making many business fail within the first year of operation.

Being Gen X Might be Disadvantageous

By age, people falling within Generation X are individuals that seem too young to perform certain activities or too old for others. Most of the time, age makes a difference for them when it comes to improving their personal finances, trying to negotiate their debt, and even when they try to reincorporate themselves into the workforce after a failed entrepreneurial project.

Generation X Real Facts

After America's economy collapsed in 2001, Generation X has lost 45% of their wealth and being less financially secure than their predecessors, most of them do not expect to retire, only 41% are aware of the money they would need to do it, but cannot contribute with any retirement plan, nor own a home, and much less a debt that keeps increasing.

Should You Purchase a Home After Retirement?

Most people make some major changes to their lifestyle after retiring. Some retirees spent years living in a community they hated and want to move away. They may want to consider buying a home, but aren’t sure whether they can afford to do so while they are no longer working. However, it may still be possible to purchase a home.
What to Consider Before Buying a House in Your Golden Years

You will want to make sure that you make an informed decision. There are a number of things that you will need to consider before buying a home during retirement:

Understand Your Budget

Most retirees are living on a tighter budget after they retire. You will need to know how much money you have on hand to spend when looking at homes for sale in Atlanta Georgia.

Cost of Renting Versus Buying

Many people rent houses after retiring because they believe that is all they can afford. There is nothing wrong with being thrifty, but you will need to know what the actual costs are before making a decision. Trulia conducted a study which found that it is actually cheaper to buy a house in the 100 largest cities in the country. That study also found that the savings are at least 40% in 85% of these cities.

Interest Rates

Interest rates are another important factor to take into consideration. The banks have offered record low interest rates, which mean this may be a perfect time to buy. Some people are still worried that they may not be able to secure a mortgage in the future, because the Federal Reserve has said that it may taper its stimulus plan. However, the stimulus will probably run in the foreseeable future. Mortgage rates have actually continued to drop as the Fed announced that it will continue its monetary easing policies.

Stability of Income

You will also need to consider how stable your income is before deciding whether to buy or rent. Buying a house is a long-term commitment. You may need to think twice if you think your income will drop in the future. This may be a problem if you have a temporary structured settlement or other windfall that won’t last forever. You will also need to consider it if you are going to be working part-time after retiring from your main job, because you probably won’t work forever. You definitely don’t want to use up your entire savings trying to pay for a new house if you won’t have much income in the future.

Ability to Get a Down Payment

You will also need to have a down payment to buy your house. You may not have a lot of money on hand. However, you may be able to borrow money from your 401K to use. According to Ben Barzideh, a financial wealth consultant, you can borrow up to $50,000 or half the value of your portfolio. This could be a great way to come up with a down payment for your new house.

About the author: Kalen writes about real estate financing and investing. He hopes to invest in some rental properties later this year.

Life Insurance is Cooked Separately.

Universal Life Insurance Company (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

Buying and / or selling individual life insurance can be relatively simple or can become very complicated. It depends on the agent that attempts to explain it and this is the result of the type of training received and of the seriousness with which the agent took this training. There is the assumption that training life insurance agents and sales generic training is the same which is why life insurance is cooked separately. Many times it turns out that people say another agent explained it to them or they read about life insurance for 50 plus and they do not care. We identified that this type of response is given by people who have already been vaccinated against life insurance agents.

What life insurance does is pay the Sum Insured to the beneficiaries for the death of the insured. We conclude that any person who has dependents needs life insurance or rather he does not need life insurance. Dependents are those who need him to have a life insurance because if he died they shall receive that money. So the life insurance agent is at this point in the interview. As in most cases the dependents are the spouse and children who remain as beneficiaries.

Due to many rumors we need to clarify some things as it is worth to also check cancer insurance by PINNACLE LIFE NZ. Life insurance is intended to replace the economic value of the person and this is the basis for that, once the prospect accepts the need for life insurance to make money after his death for his beneficiaries. Determining how much assured sum should he hire is the second step. Now we have to make some simple numbers to establish together with the prospectus, the appropriate amount required for the insured sum. Let’s suppose that you’re the prospect and for work purposes have to leave home for a month. How much money would you leave your wife to meet the expenses of your family during that month?

Now, suppose you have sufficient resources to be out for not a month, but for a year. If you have sufficient resources how much money would you have to leave your wife to make the necessary payments during that year? What if you do not come back? How much money will your wife need to bring up the family? We call this prospectus kill slowly. Not done yet. To this must be added the cost of a funeral and any other debts that have not been settled before the death. Well you also have to consider that family expenses are going to be growing every year, not only because of inflation but as your children grow older costs rise such as education, food, clothing, medicine, automobile, services, etc.

Based on the above it is natural that more money will be needed to address this contingency and without life insurance it would be a catastrophic situation for the widow and orphans. It is now necessary to consider the cost of meeting this need and there are two options; Buy temporary insurance or endowment insurance. There are only two types of life insurance. The Temporary only covers death and the endowment covers survival besides death. In both there are different terms or duration of insurance. The Temporary advantage is that it is cheaper. The advantage of the Endowment is that over the years not only will you recover the amount paid but will make even more than what was provided and then it is used as a savings plan.

Finally there is the alternative management type insurance reserves if warranted where everything is fixed, nothing changes and no surprises which is the same as investment funds that are used in the management of reservation but this is more an investment than savings. To conclude the beneficiary designation is where alternatives are considered to leave payment in a single installment or include a trust that is the administration of the sum insured.

Wine Investment is Risky But Can Produce High Returns

Most people who want to make an investment think twice before turning their attention to the wine market. Such investments should be about getting your money back at some point, so that’s why we’re wondering: is wine worth taking the risk? Wealthy wine enthusiasts know how to appreciate a bottle of wine, and since money is not a problem for them, they usually choose only the best wines on the market. For example, if you love wines and your budget is unlimited, no one can stop you from paying $120,000 for a single bottle. This may sound crazy, but there are many people who do this. 

A 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon is worth a high price but only a real connoisseur can know its exact value. This type of people knows what to expect, and most of them can tell from the start whether they will get their money back. Even if finding these types of bottles is very hard, you will definitely benefit from their amazing characteristics. However, everybody knows that the easiest way of generating profit is through buying low and selling high. That being said, it becomes obvious that very expensive bottles of wine will never be considered a profitable choice. 

Invest in quality wine

If you’re willing to make this type of investment in the future, it would be a good idea to look for a good wine and sit on it for at least 30 years. As long as you know its aging potential, nothing will stop you from achieving your goals (some wines should stay in a cellar for a long period of time so that they can become comestible, while others can be drunk immediately).

Bear in mind that winemaking was totally different two hundreds of years ago, and this difference can also be seen in price. For example, the New World has been invaded with fruity and high-alcoholic wines. These types of wines don’t age too well, and they have nothing in common with expensive wines. Even though there are several vintners and wineries did their best to keep their old strategies, many of them find themselves in a tricky situation: they’re forced to provide people with they want.

The maturation process of wine demands time

Wines don’t mature overnight and most of them require several years of storage before being sold for an impressive price. The problem is that not many people know how long they should wait in order to sell the wine they have invested in. The maturing process is usually influenced by aspects such as acidity, tannin, and phenol.

Besides, you should also take into account that there are plenty of wines who don’t mature as quickly as you have expected. Once the wine is placed in the bottle, specialists re-rate it. If the quality is lower than the expected one, the final price of the bottle will drop. This means that wine investments are risky, and that all the merchants run the risk of going bankrupt. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, since the wine market is crowded with fraudsters which specialize in methods of attracting all the cash invested by investors.

Unfortunately, wine investments will remain risky until specialists come up with an accurate aging forecast tool for wine. You can always hire professionals in order to test your wine, such as sommeliers. However, the best idea would be to purchase up to two cases of the wine you expect to age beautifully (when it comes to aging, the best ones are those with low acid, high tannin, and higher alcohol). If you’re not specialized in wines, a local sommelier can taste the wine and tell you whether it’s worth the investment or not.


As previously mentioned, wine investments are challenging but they can bring high return. That’s one of the main reasons why investors think twice before throwing their money on random cases of wine. The best idea would be that of starting a personal wine collection first, and invest more if you notice that things are going according to plan. Never expect to become a millionaire by investing in cheap wine. Instead of purchasing dozens of cheap wine cases, you should rather purchase two cases with bottles of high-end wine. If you’re a wine enthusiast, chances are you will never experience failure, because you’ll never regret not having sold your wine.

Take A Second And Just Breathe: What To Do During A Financial Emergency

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

Financial emergencies happen everyday, and not every family is prepared to handle the emergency when it happens. Sometimes you will find that you need help to get through the rough patch and you might feel a little overwhelmed. 

 When you face financial difficulties, the best thing that you can do is take your time, breathe, and approach the problem methodically. When you do that, you will be able to limit the damage and move forward without mortgaging your future.

Step One: Calm Down

The first reaction that you might have when you get into an unexpected emergency is panic. You want to take care of things right away and get on with your life, but the more stressed you get, the more likely you are to make bad decisions. Take an hour or so and just sit back and assess the situation critically. 

 What is the emergency? How long do you have to take care of it? Is it just a monetary issue or are there other things that you need to do as well? Once you know what the situation is, you will be able to make decisions with a clear head and move quickly to the right solution.

Step Two: Communicate

The next thing that you need to do is communicate your issue. If you are married, make sure that you and your spouse are on the same page. If it is something that affects roommates, call a house meeting and let everyone know what is going on. 

 The other person that you need to communicate with is the person who is asking for the money. Utility companies are often willing to work with customers who need an extra day or two to get payments in, and landlords would much rather keep a renter than try to find someone new. 

 Make sure that you let the person know that you are doing what you can to make payment and give them a timetable for when you will be able to get them their money. Do not be vague, or else they might think that you are just trying to stall; the more concrete details that you can provide, the more likely it is that the person you owe money too will work with you.

Step Three: Solve The Problem

The last thing that you need to work on is solving the problem. There are several different ways for you to get the money that you need to take care of a financial emergency. 

 You can go a traditional route and try to get the money from the bank, but if you have poor credit, this is probably not going to work out. If you have some things of value that you can live without for a short period of time, then you can always go to a pawn shop and get a pawn loan for those items. 

 The problem is that you will not get anywhere near what the items are worth in return, and if you cannot pick up your items when the pawn period is over, you will lose them. The best solution is probably going to be a payday loan. With a payday loan you can get a short term cash infusion that will not wreck your future financial security. You will be able to get money based on the amount of money that you can afford to repay on your next payday, and then your commitment is over.

Getting through a financial emergency takes time and patience. You need to approach the situation with a clear head, so that you make the best decisions and you will be able to move forward once the emergency is over. With the right approach, you will be back on track in no time at all.

How to Alter Your Spending Behavior

Let's face it; the dollar isn't as stable as it once was. As you age and retirement approaches, it becomes ever more important to save as much money as possible. There is a definite increase in the need to maximize the buying power of your precious income to avoid struggling with a fixed income. 

Smarter Banking

There's an old saying that you will be older a lot longer than you'll be young and the prospect of living on a fixed income is inevitable for most of us. For this reason, people in their golden years should take proactive steps to ensure their financial independence for the future. Perhaps the most important step seniors can take to secure financial security is to transfer their savings to a bank with high yield interest rates such as as ING Direct. There's an old adage that poor people work for their money and wealthy people make their money work for them so learning to do this is paramount for people approaching retirement. Fortunately, there are other ways to stretch your dollar further.

Online Coupons

Virtually every good or service available on the open market offers some sort of online savings program. Even ordering pizza can yield as much as 50% savings with promotional codes. To achieve the majority of these coupons you simply have to do an online search for them. If you were going to go shopping for a particular brand of paper towels, you could simply enter coupons for 'Bounty' into a search engine and a number of different websites such as retail me not will be delivered to you. Some websites even offer coupons that can be printed out right from your home. Everything from over the counter medicines to car insurance can be found online at discounted rates so be sure to take advantage. 

Stopping the Shopping

If you're over 50, chances are you've got several decades worth of high quality clothing so there's no need to go shopping for more every pay period or even every other pay period. That money would be much better served going into your bank account where it can grow. It seems like people become more susceptible to impulse buying as they age but you should keep your impending retirement in mind and avoid frivolous spending to satisfy an impulse. 

Budgeting Your Money

Your golden years should be the most enjoyable time in your life where you reap the benefits of your decades of hard work. But age is supposed to bring wisdom so budgeting your money wisely should become easier with time. You should make a realistic budget for every month and stick to it. The sacrifices you make now will benefit you greatly in the future. Allow yourself X amount of dollars every month for food, gas and leisure and abide by it. Something as simple as setting the sleep timer on your TV can save you a few dollars a month which become hundreds over the years. This may require you to eat at home more often and substitute ground beef for steak but the peace of mind that securing your financial future can bring is priceless. 

Exhibit Discipline

This is the most important step of all because all the financial planning does nothing if you don't abide by your own rules. Resisting the urge to over spend now will now will reward you very greatly in the future. A penny saved is a penny earned and all those pennies will help to finance your lifestyle in the future so use the wisdom that comes with age when spending money and you should have a happy retirement when the time comes.

Author Bio

Joshua Turner is a writer who creates informative articles in relation to business. In this article, he describes how spending behaviors can be altered and aims to encourage further study with UC Applied Behavior Analysis Masters.