4 Smart Investments to Help You Through Your Retirement

To retire with a high standard of living, it’s essential to make the right investment during your working life. While everyone knows about basic investment vehicles like 401(k)s and IRAs, there are other types of investments that can make your retirement smoother and more enjoyable. Here are four of the smartest investments you can make to set yourself up for a good retirement.

Real Estate

It should go without saying that you will need to own your own home by the time you retire. If you want to achieve some extra cash flow after your working years, though, it may also be a good idea to acquire a few other properties to use as rentals. 

Income from rent is mainly passive and will provide you with a steady, predictable flow of cash each month. The equity in your rental properties is also an essential feature of real estate investing since the properties can be liquidated for large amounts of money if you ever find yourself in need of extra capital.

High-dividend Stocks

Investing for long-term equity growth may be the best strategy for a younger person, but as you near retirement, it may be an excellent idea to re-balance your portfolio in favor of stocks that pay high dividend yields. 

Like rent, dividends represent a fairly reliable and predictable income that can help you handle your expenses without touching the principal of your investment. With the right stocks and enough capital invested, dividends can amount to a considerable annual income. Stocks with the highest dividend yields can deliver 4 percent or more annually in cash flow.

Gold

Although it won’t produce any cash flow, gold is a great investment for hedging against inflation and economic downturns. When economic conditions turn negative, investors typically flock to gold, driving up prices until stocks and bonds become sensible investments again. 

If you can find some gold bullion for sale, it’s a great way to protect your investment portfolio against future economic risks.
High-yield bonds

If you prefer bonds to stocks, high-yield bonds may be a good option for your portfolio. Like dividend-paying stocks, these bonds can offer you substantial cash flow due to their reasonably high yield levels. 

Mixing high-yield bonds and dividend-paying stocks can also be a useful strategy for achieving a portfolio with good cash flow that is also properly diversified.

By making some or all of these investments before you retire, you can set yourself up for a higher standard of living after your working life is over. As with any investment, be sure to carefully consider the risks and benefits of each of these assets before putting your money into them.

4 Items to Get Monetary Value out of during Retirement

Retiring can be a fantastic opportunity to do all of the things you’ve always wanted to do. If you retire, you can get the chance to see the world. You can even get the chance to update your living space and turn it into something genuinely impressive. If you want to fund these things, then selling these specific items may be able to help you do so.

Antique Furniture Pieces

If you own any delicate and rare antique items that were given to you by family members or anyone else, then selling them may help you score a bit of money for all of things you long to do. Look around your home. If you come across antique furnishings or decorations, you may want to think about selling them for cash.

Vehicle

Driving to work on a daily basis can be a hassle. It can also call for the assistance of a suitable vehicle. If you’re retired, you no longer have to go to work. That means that you may be able to sell your car and reap the rewards. Retired persons often make the sensible decision to rely on taxis and family members for any and all transportation purposes.

Timeshare

Having a timeshare can be enjoyable for people who like to take it easy in properties that are away from their main homes. If you’re retired, though, you may be ready to move toward much greener pastures. That’s precisely why you may want to think about timeshare selling. 



Selling your timeshare may help you acquire cash that can enable you to do all sorts of other invigorating things. Free time can open you up to all sorts of fantastic opportunities.

Residential Property

It isn’t uncommon at all for newly retired individuals to make the big decision to downsize. If you want to extract financial value out of anything you own, then you should contemplate putting your home up on the real estate market. Selling your home may get you on the track to substantial earnings. 

Don’t forget that money can help you cover all sorts of essential retirement expenses. It can help you cover restaurant visits, foreign getaways, recreational activities, and a whole lot more. Retired people often have minimal living space requirements.

Selling things can make retired life a lot simpler. It can make it a lot more enjoyable as well. Retirement is all about not wasting any precious time.

Budgeting the Unexpected: How to Financially Recover from Health Emergencies

Times are tough are all over, and when someone in our family has a health emergency, that can stretch our finances so far they break. The best way to fix anything is to be prepared for the worst. 

To better help you and your family recover after a health emergency, we have put together a few handy tips that can help you be better prepared in case something does happen.

Look for Affordable Health Insurance

The best thing you can do to help prepare your family for any health emergencies is to find a health care plan that works for you. Finding the right insurance plan is not an easy task, but there are services and websites that can help you find the coverage that works best for you. 

Depending on your specific situation or needs, there may be ways to receive some sort of aid or assistance from local, state, or federal agencies.

Open a Savings Account

To make sure you can handle a health or personal emergency when it comes up, start saving for that emergency right now. A savings account is not something that everyone may have the luxury of always being able to add to, but if you add to one whenever you can, there is a better chance that you will be able to weather whatever gets thrown at your family.

Set up a Financial Power of Attorney

In the more serious health cases, you or someone in your family may not be able to make certain decisions on their own. In these cases, it is very helpful to legally have a plan set in place to allow someone to handle these decisions for you. 

Power of attorney gives someone that authorization through signed legal documents. This allows that person to handle most financial matters, such as signing some papers and withdrawing money.

Look at Supplemental Insurance or Payment Plans

Many doctors’ offices and dental clinics around the country offer some sort of payment options or sliding scale that can help those that may be having a tough time financially. It never hurts to inquire about options and even ask if they offer any sort of supplemental insurance to help cover costs.

Your family’s health is important, and so is your financial health after a crisis. Be sure you can handle what life has planned for you. Save up and start planning for emergencies today.

Keep Your Credit in Check: 4 Common Credit Killers to Watch Out For

A plummeting credit score could end up costing you thousands in the coming years, and you could have blemishes on your record without even realizing it. If you are tired of struggling with a low credit score, then you might want to keep an eye out for these common issues that will drive that number into the ground.

Constant Credit Checks

You should always ask potential creditor what kind of credit check they are going to carry out before you hand them an application. A soft inquiry won’t impact your credit, but a hard check could drop your score by multiple points. 

In order to carry out a hard check, the third-party must have your consent, and that usually occurs when you apply for a new job or a home loan. If you are shopping for a loan, then all inquiries within 45 days will be counted as one hard check.

Unpaid Tickets

Many people don’t realize that an unpaid ticket could actually impact their credit score. Getting a ticket won’t necessarily show up on your credit report, but it could end up dropping your score if the bill is eventually sent to a collections agency. 



That is why if you feel that you won’t be able to pay a traffic ticket, you must immediately reach out to a traffic ticket lawyer to have it disputed before it can damage your credit score in a severe way.

Loan Increases

When an organization is determining your credit score, they are going to compare your income to your total debt. If your debt increases and your income remains the same, then your credit score might drop by a few points. That being said, paying off your loans will gradually increase your credit score over time.

Canceling Lines of Credit

It is an unfortunate fact that determining an individual’s credit is a relatively complicated process, and many different variables are taken into consideration. That includes how many lines of credit you have open and how long those lines have been active. 

Whenever you cancel a line of credit, your score will most likely dip for at least a month or two. After that time, your score should slowly climb back up.

Once you have your credit score at a decent level, you need to make sure that you check on it at least once every few months. Identity theft is a growing problem, and you must catch that type of crime right away if you want to avoid long-term problems with your credit score.

How to Prevent Extra Car Costs This Winter with Fall Repairs

Your car will operate at peak performance during the winter if you stay on top of its upkeep. Certain repairs shouldn’t be put off until the snowfalls. Instead, these repairs need to be taken care of in the months before the first snows. Here are four repairs and maintenance tasks you need to do on your car before winter.

Get the Oil Changed

Winter’s lower temperatures can wreak havoc on the fluids in your car, including the oil. Changing the oil winterizes your vehicle, which helps it to operate at peak efficiency. This keeps your engine safe. Additionally, the type of oil you use needs to be different. 

You want to choose an oil with a lower viscosity because the oil thickens in the winter. Do be aware, however, that if you change the type of oil, you use in the winter, you don’t want to mix oil types. Have an oil change before you do this.

Repair the Windscreen

The constant freezing and thawing cycle that happens during the winter will weaken spots on your windscreens where you have cracks or chips. Eventually, this process negatively affects the structure of your windshield, and if it happens often enough, the windshield will break. 

Therefore, if a chipped windscreen replacement isn’t in your budget before winter, it should be.

Replace Brake Pads

The time to replace your brake pads isn’t months after they’ve started to squeal. The squeal indicates that they’re starting to wear out, and in the winter, you don’t want worn-out brakes. Ideally, you’ve already looked at your car’s owner’s manual and have had your brake pads changed according to the schedule provided by your car’s manufacturer. 

Doing this keeps you safe year-round because you’re not waiting until you hear the signs of wear on your brakes. You’ve changed them before that time comes.

Check the Battery

Your car’s battery can become an “out of sight, out of mind” kind of thing until it goes out, and chances of it going out are higher in colder months. Your car’s battery just likes warm climates best. When you can’t give your car’s battery a tropical climate, then do the next best thing. Have it looked at and/ or changed before the winter comes.

Taking care of your car’s maintenance before the snows arrive means that when they do, your vehicle will take care of you. Tasks like oil changes, windscreen repairs, and the like cut down on the number of unexpected issues you have with your vehicle come winter.

Investing in 2020: Forex or Bitcoin?

Just as any investment plan goes, there is no exact answer as to where your cash should be injected. In fact, it’s a gamble. Either you are lucky or you’re not. But there are means of improving the investment choice you make. One of the most obvious ways to improve investment returns is to know more about what you are investing in and what the market looks like.

Come 2020 there are bound to be many more investment opportunities. We take a look at where your money would best be invested, Bitcoin or Forex. Anything far and in-between is up to you, naturally.

While a number of online businesses are adopting Bitcoin as a payment option and other sites like novibet.co.uk evolving to make Bitcoin more mainstream, it's natural to wonder which would be a better investment.

But with two of the biggest markets in competition, if you had to choose, where would you invest your hard-earned cash? According to financial evaluators, either or bears their own risks but here is what we know so far.

Forex Trading Advantages

The advantages to Forex Trading, according to professional analysts, is that the market is an open one. It is easy to access and opposed to Bitcoin, investors, and trade through their brokers on a ledger where transactions are recorded and tracked. Being recognized globally far longer than Bitcoin also works in favour of Forex trading. 



For those unfamiliar with Bitcoin, Forex seems like a safer investment, which in some ways puts Forex in an advantageous position. Forex, unlike Bitcoin, is liquid and can be accessed immediately without any need of wallets or middle ground. Investors can freely move cash from one account to the other.

Bitcoin Trading Advantages

If we reflect on the history of Bitcoin, in its short its existence, the cryptocurrency has had a quick claim to fame, fallen just as fast as it rises, and has made a steady recovery. 

Nevertheless, people have been wondering how 2020 looks in terms of investing in the coin and despite negative feedback from less than 30 percent of users, it would appear Bitcoin has restored its reputation and investors are siding with Bitcoin investment.

If you needed proof, you could say the proof is in the pudding. Most of the new online companies dealing with merchant vendors and peer to peer sales are adopting Bitcoin as a payment option. 

In fact, there have been a number of online companies based solely on Bitcoin transactions to have been developed in 2019. With this being said, we can see and feel the strong presence of the crypto, leading us to believe that come 2020, Bitcoin will be as strong as ever.

While both trades have their pros and cons, the future of trading and investing may just be in favour of Bitcoin. But for now, it remains a gamble, Forex being as popular as ever and Bitcoin drawing in admirers from around the globe. All that remains to be seen is which of the two will be a better investment in 2020.