Creating a Will: What Everyone Tends to Overlook

Creating a will is something everyone should do at some point, regardless of the level of financial assets involved. Money, property, and real estate are the common primary considerations when deciding how items should be divided upon an individual's death, but there may be a few other considerations most people do not evaluate. Death can create legal confusion for those left behind, and those who die intestate will have all personal property divided according to the laws of the particular state. A will is a legal method of circumventing that mandated division.

FINANCIAL ASSETS

In most states, all personal property is automatically transferred to the surviving spouse at the time of death. Families that include duly entitled children from previous marriages may need to update personal wills regularly to avoid legal contention after an unexpected death. Financial asset transfer can be assigned by the primary individual during the will process, instead of leaving the courts to make the decision later. A will can be contested in court, but overturning a will is different from suing for entitled assets, and usually more difficult. Savings and investment growth should be considered when making the will, as these financial instruments tend to fluctuate in value. The same is true for real estate property. An intestate court transfer order for financially valued articles can mean a much larger settlement for the plaintiff without a valid will.

EARLY PROPERTY TRANSFER

Transferring property before death is a good way to avoid taxes and ensure your personal property is divided according to your wishes. This can be a crucial financial decision, regardless of financial asset level. The concept of the death tax is real, and normally applies when not addressed in a valid will. This can also include practically any type of property. Wills should be done with careful prior evaluation, and early transfer often gets left out of the equation. It is always important to allow for all options, especially when it means the inheritor maintains as much total value as possible.

GUARDIANSHIP and CHILD CUSTODY

There is more to making a will than merely assigning financial assets. Minor or disabled children are a family asset as well and proper instructions should be left indicating the guardian decedent's wishes on custody. This can include disabled adult children who live at home or with a guardian individual. Do not leave this important issue out when it applies, as the decedent has the legal right to recommend a living situation for either minor children or disabled legal dependents. In addition, this can also apply to the primary will maker with respect to predesignated power of attorney and health care before a health condition could render the primary incompetent. Property is not the only component to a valid will. These dispositions could even include custody of a pet.

SEPARATE WILLS

Married couples should always have independent wills because it leaves clear designation for property that may be later contested, especially when ex-spouses and step-children are involved. Many married couples have there own personal property, as well as community married property, so it is easy to have a complicated situation. Procrastination is not a good idea either, as the most complicated will cases come when the decedent was not prepared and no acceptable personal will can be located. Accidents happen all of the time, so being prepared is always best.

It is not necessary to retain an attorney to prepare a valid will. Even in simple situations, a will can be prepared with one of the many available do-it-yourself will kits, including instructions on notarization of the document. As long as it is properly notarized, it can even be written on scratch paper when acceptable. It may be a good idea to check into purchasing a fire proof safe before or shortly after making the will. If there is only one document, a SafeWorld a division of Dial locksmith may be the safest protection device and it always at the individual's disposal. Fire proof safes from Edmonton are also excellent for protecting other legal instruments and significant amounts of cash, deeds, and ownership documents. Wills should be re-evaluated each year at tax time, and potentially each quarter for those individuals with significant wealth who monitor growth on a daily basis.

Staying Ahead of Financial Problems

In today’s economy, financial stability is far from a given. And as more Boomers approach retirement age, the pinch is being felt. When living on a fixed income, how can you make moves to keep yourself ahead of the game, and not having to go back to work in your retirement years?

Plan Ahead

Take a look at your monthly budget. See how much your bills equal, and how much you have coming in a month. Is it just social security or a pension? Try to put a little bit away whenever you can, and figure out what expenses you can cut out of your spending. Figure out cheap ways to go on vacations or visit your kids. There are lots of ways to cut down on travel expenses on the internet. The important thing to realize is that putting a little forethought into things can save big money in the future.

Stay Within Your Means

If planning ahead is the best way to keep you out of financial trouble, this is the easiest. Don’t spend what you don’t have. It’s just that simple. Only bringing in 500 bucks a month and relying on your savings? Don’t spend 550. Can’t pay for something with cash? Don’t pay for it with a credit card. Of course, things aren’t always so cut and dried. Sure, you’re going to need to over extend every once in a while, a home repair or a car repair. Look for senior or AARP discounts. Just make sure that if you do use credit cards, you’ll be able to pay down the balance in a timely manner.

Take a Look at Your Assets

Do you have stocks? Maybe an old 401(k)? Or a structured settlement from an accident? Keeping an eye on these assets can be a good way to stay ahead when financial instability comes nipping at your heels. Stocks are easy to sell, call a stock broker. 401(k)s have a few more rules. There are two kinds, the traditional 401(k) and the Roth 401(k). Each has different withdrawal rules. With a traditional, there are penalties if you withdraw your money too early. There are no penalties with a Roth, but you can’t withdraw until you’ve had the account for five years. If you have one, selling a structured settlement or a portion of it may be the way to go. 

 Instead of receiving your money in timed payouts, you can receive a lump sum to help you out of any financial difficulties you may find yourself in. By selling only a portion of the structured settlement, even a portion of the timed payouts, you can continue to have checks come in while also receiveing the lump sum. In retirement, every bit of income counts. Companies can help you sell your structured settlement quickly and painlessly, and all costs can come out of what ever the lump sum ends up being, so nothing has to come out of pocket. 

Just Pay Attention

This may seem like a simplified way of summing up the above points, but it cannot be overstated. Pay attention to what’s going on in your finances. If something looks out of the ordinary, follow up on it. If you see something on your bank or credit card statements doesn’t belong there, make a phone call. It’s up to you to make sure that you know what’s going on with your money. Talk to a financial manager, take time to go over your finances monthly, and you should be able to stay ahead of the game.

7 Considerations for Seniors When Renting a Car for Holidays

Simon Rents (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

Today, seniors represent a booming segment of the population, and they’re doing more travelling than ever before. This has bolstered demand for hire cars among senior populations. With that in mind, we’re going to look at seven considerations for seniors renting a car on holiday: 

1. It’s worth shopping around.

Rates vary considerably from one location to the next, as well as from one hire firm to the next. Shopping around online ensures that you know what’s really available to you before you lock in on a particular rate. 

2. Some car hire firms have upper age limits.

Most people are well aware that there is a minimum age restriction for hiring a car. However, relatively few are aware of the upper limits. Many car hire firms cannot allow people over a certain age (often 70 to 75) drive one their vehicles. This has to do with the insurer that covers their fleet and does not necessarily reflect the sentiments of those at the car hire depot. This is nothing new, either—though it has become more of an issue as more seniors are travelling than ever before. Enquire about any age restrictions when placing the booking to avoid disappointment. 

3. Know what documents you will need.

If you are travelling in your home country, all you will probably need is a valid driver’s license. If, on the other hand, you’re headed overseas, you may need a passport and international driver’s license. Look into this early to avoid any last-minute hang-ups. 

 

4. Be open to lesser-known brands.

This is just a means of saving a few quid on your next rental and applies to renters of any age. It’s easy to get hung up on the big names in the car hire industry, if only because we constantly encounter their brand messages when making travel arrangements. However, it’s worth mentioning that smaller firms and lesser-known can often manage lower operating costs, and this translates into customer savings. Furthermore, they all offer the same basic vehicle makes and models. With that in mind, check in with websites such as www.leasingoptions.co.uk and similar hire firms to see if they can offer you steeper discounts. 

5. Airport rentals are usually going to cost more.

Hiring a car from an airport is more convenient than, say, hopping in a taxi or boarding an airport shuttle, transferring to an off-site location and completing your booking there. It also usually costs upwards of 30 per cent more. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with paying for a convenience, just bear in mind that you’ll be paying for that convenience every day for the life of the rental contract (i.e. not just the day that you pick it up). 

6. You may qualify for a senior discount.

There are all kinds of ways to secure discounts on car hire. Earlier we mentioned that many agencies are forced by their insurers to put upper age limits on who can drive a rental car. However, it’s not all bad news for seniors, as many agencies also offer discounts to drivers over a certain age. Even if the hire firm doesn’t explicitly offer a senior discount, many offer preferential rates to members of retirement associations such as AARP. Bear in mind, senior discounts are usually not advertised and usually require you to enter a promotional code that you picked up from a third party. 

7. Chauffeured hire cars may cost less than you assume.

This, of course, depends to a great extent on where you’re travelling. Outside of the West, it’s much more common for cars and drivers to come as package deals. This can be especially convenient in countries with lower development standards, where the roads and traffic conditions may be a bit chaotic.

Author: Leasing Options is a company that offers more than 30 different manufacturers for customers to choose from on their website, www.leasingoptions.co.uk. Between these brands, they have over 8000 different models that can be ordered online.

The Best Budgeting Tools You Need To Be Using

A budget is more than just another headache that eats up your spare time. Budgets help you to live within your means, save for the future, and pay down your debt. Of course, building a budget isn’t always easy. If math and organization aren’t your strong suits, here are 4 budgeting tools you need to be using.

Automatic Savings Deposits

Automatic deposits into your savings account can go a long way toward helping you stay on budget. If the money goes directly into savings, it limits the temptation to view it as disposable income. Most banks provide you with options to designate a fixed amount or percentage of direct deposits to be diverted into savings. If you don’t get direct deposits, you can typically set up a transfer from checking into savings for a fixed amount on a fixed day. 

Credit Card Repayment Calculators

Credit cards make it easy to buy now and fret later. The more credit cards you have, the more fretting you’re likely to do in the long run. Abakhan & Associates Inc., a company that assists with debt consolidation in Vernon, recommends consolidating credit card debt from higher interest cards onto lower interest cards. A repayment calculator shows you how long it will take to pay off the consolidated debt, but you can also use them to compare how much you’ll pay if you leave balances on the higher interest cards. 

Mint.com

Mint.com is a very useful tool for those who go bleary eyed at a page full of numbers. It’s free, online budgeting tool provided by the makers of Quickbooks. It’s visually based, defaulting to charts, and brings most of your financial information together in a single place. In additional to allowing you to track your available money over time, it also lets you set up reminders about bills, track investments and set goals for future purchases. 

BillCutterz

Billcutterz is a money management tool that helps you save money. What you do is send them your monthly bills and they will contact your providers and negotiate a large discount without you having to sacrifice your service or switching providers potentially saving you hundreds a year. 

Wave

If you are looking for an app designed for small businesses and freelancers but also has a personal fiance section Wave may be the answer. They also have an accounting portion that works great if you want details about your finances. Wave connects your online accounts such as mint and manilla and downloads your transactions. The app will learn your habits and automatically categorize your transactions so you don't have to. 

BudgetPulse

BudgetPulse doesn't make you give them your banking account information for tracking, they let users manually enter or import banking data from their files. Using social media they let you post your financial goals and have friends and family help you meet those goals through Paypal. 

Software

If the idea of linking all of your financial data to a web-based application makes you nervous, you can also invest in budgeting software to use at home. Some of the best paid software options are Quicken Starter Edition and AceMoney. If paid software isn’t feasible, free software options include Buddi and AceMoney Lite. Free software often comes with limited features, but is far preferable to having no budgeting tools.

As with other tools, budgeting tools take some work to set up initially. For example, you need to link accounts, enter transactions, or set up categories. Over the long haul, however, they simplify your life and help you to take control of your finances.

Items Your Car Insurance May Cover That Saves You Money

Car insurance is more than just a requirement, it is also a financial product that can save you quite of bit of money when you have the right coverage. As you are comparing auto insurance quotes, it is important to compare all of the coverage options so that you build a policy that does more than just satisfy state requirements. If you are a wise consumer, you can build a policy that saves you money in several different areas of car ownership. Here are five ways that you can save with a comprehensive policy: 

Rental Car Costs

If you are involved in an accident and your vehicle is disabled for 1 or more days, the cost of renting a car while your vehicle is being repaired can break the bank. Insurers offer loss of use, otherwise known as rental car cover, which will pay for a rental up to a specified amount per day. This can save you quite a bit when you need a replacement vehicle to commute or run errands. 

Windshield Repairs and Replacements

Windshields are made of glass, and from time to time glass will break or crack. Because a crack is an obstruction that can affect visibility, insurers will cover the cost to replace windshields minus the policy's comprehensive deductible. As long as you get repairs done through an approved glass company, you can have the claims payment sent directly to the glass company. For example, All-West Glass Ltd., a company offering windshield repair in Edmonton, will file glass claims for their customers to make the process as easy as possible. 

Body Damage Repair

There is nothing worse than being at-fault for a fender bender and not having collision coverage. If you have collision coverage, you will have peace of mind in knowing that the cost to replace body parts and repaint your vehicle will be covered. You may have to pay a deductible, but this is a far cry from having to pay for the entire bill. 

Towing and Roadside Assistance

You do not have to sign up for the CAA just to be safe when stranded on the side of the road. If you need a tire changes, gas delivered or a tow, having Roadside Assistance cover on your policy is a blessing. By calling a designated number, you will have a covered service call that will not cost you a pretty penny. 

Personal Injury

Personal Injury Protection or PIP, is something you can add to your car insurance that covers medical expenses and many times, lost wages. Having Personal Injury Protection insurance helps you receive maximum benefits whether or not the accident was your fault. Personal Injury Protection can also cover medical transportation. 13 states in the US make it mandatory to have Personal Injury Protection insurance: The District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Utah. 

Help Pay Your Loan/Lease

If you have financed or leased a car and the amount you owe is greater then its worth, Loan/Lease Pay-Off coverage will help pay the difference if you car is totaled. This makes it easier for you to buy a new car and have more money in your pocket.

Insurance may be an expense in some ways, but it also an investment in peace of mind. If you ever need to file a claim, you will be happy that you made the choice to carry optional cover that keeps your long-term expenses low.

The FAQs of Currency Trading

Exchange Money Conversion to Foreign Currency (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Trading currency in the foreign exchange market is literally a trillion dollar business. And it used to be only large financial institutions and very wealthy people could take part in the trade. Now, with the advent of the internet, the average person can trade on the market with the click of a button. If you’re interested in getting started in trading currency, here are some frequently asked questions that might help you get going.

What is the Forex?

“Forex” is a moniker for the foreign exchange market. You may also see FX.

What is a liquid market?

You will often hear the Forex referred to as the most liquid market in the world. A liquid market is one filled with liquid assets, or assets that can be sold instantly with almost no loss in value. You car, for example, is not a very liquid asset. Although you could probably sell it very quickly, you would have to lower the price. In order to find a suitable buyer willing to pay a suitable price, you’d likely have to wait a while.

In the Forex, because currency is such a massive asset, it can be traded almost instantly. The sheer size of the Forex (it’s a worldwide market) also means that no key players or institutions, no matter how large, can control the price of currency. This makes the Forex the most stable market in the world.

Who trades in the foreign exchange market?

Like I said, it used to be mostly large financial institutions, central banks, hedge funds, international corporations, and massively wealthy people who traded on the Forex. Now more and more individual people are able to take part. 

How is money traded on the market? Is physical money traded?

No. Most often money is simply traded virtually. In fact, there is no centralized market in the Forex. Trades take place between traders all over the world through the internet. The Forex is open 24 hours a day, five days a week (closed on the weekends), across all time zones. This means that as the market closes in the U.S., it’s opening somewhere else in the world, so the market is active at every point in the day.

How do you make money in the Forex?

Currencies are usually traded in pairs on the Forex. To make money, you basically have to correctly predict which currencies will gain and lose value. For instance, one popular pair of currencies is the U.S. dollar and the euro. Currently, the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro is .73 dollars to one euro. That means it takes about 1.3 dollars to equal one euro. In order to make money in the Forex, you would have to predict when the dollar would reevaluate or when the euro would devaluate, and buy currency accordingly.

What currencies are traded on the market?

Although some retail traders deal in less-known currencies, the most popular currency pairs are:

• EUR/USD (euro/dollar)
• USD/JPY (dollar/Japanese yen)
• GBP/USD (British pound/dollar)
• USD/CHF (dollar/Swiss franc)

As well as the three “commodity pairs.” The commodity pairs are so called because they are from countries that include a large amount of commodities. That means these pairs are highly correlated to changes in commodity prices. They are:

• AUD/USD (Australian dollar/U.S. dollar
• USD/CAD (U.S. dollar/Canadian dollar)
• NZD/USD (New Zealand dollar/U.S. dollar)
• 
  

What is “leverage” in the Forex?

Leverage is using borrowed capital to get a higher return on your investment. Let me unpack that phrase for you. Basically, leverage is borrowing money in order to trade more than you have. If you have a mortgage on your home, you are already leveraged.

In the Forex, there are often many high leverage opportunities, sometimes up to a 100:1 ratio. That means if you had a dollar in the Forex, you’d be able to leverage that dollar to trade one hundred dollars. If you have a thousand dollars, that amount goes up to one hundred thousand. This high leveraging makes it easier to trade large amounts of currency and keep the market moving.

What is carry trading?

To understand carry trading, you have to understand that each central bank determines the interest rate on currencies. Carry trading is all about funding the purchase of a currency with a high interest rate with a currency with a low interest rate.

For example, in 2005, many people bought New Zealand dollars (whose interest rate was 7.25%) with the Japanese yen (whose interest rate was 0%). In this interaction, because there was such a huge difference in the interest rates between the two currencies, carry traders were making money in the trade alone, without having to wait for the money to gain value. 

What does “long” and “short” mean in foreign exchange?

Because currencies are traded in pairs in the Forex, you are often “long” one currency and “short” another. For instance, if a person traded 100,000 dollars for yen, she would be “short” the dollars she just traded, but “long” the yen she received.

This is just the beginning of the Forex! It’s a very complex, but exciting market. If you’re interested in learning more about the trade, I’d visit Investopedia, as they have a lot of great resources about the fundamentals of the Forex.

Mary Kremer writes content for Dinar Daddy, the number one source of information for trading the Iraqi dinar.