Hobbies to Pick Up in Retirement

For many Americans, one of the ultimate chapters to reach in life is retirement. That’s a crucial part of the American dream, right? To reach the point where we’ve worked enough that we’re set to spend the rest of our lives doing whatever we please! 

Well, sometimes it’s not quite that simple. For many people who reach retirement, the sudden influx of free time can actually be quite shocking. Indeed, there are studies that show this might be reason that alcoholism rates tend to increase at the retirement age. 

The truth is that, like with most things in life, retirement should be approached with a plan of what it is that you want out of it. Here are some potential hobbies that people pick up in their retirement...

Landscaping and gardening

If you have a home that you’ve spent so long building up throughout your career, then there’s a good chance that you’re going to be thrilled to finally spend some time in it. For this reason, one homebound hobby that many retirees get into is landscaping, or gardening. 

This is a great way to improve on your home, and to get yourself outdoors doing something that you love. Sometimes, just finding the right way to perfect your backyard is an incredibly fulfilling hobby that will keep you busy for weeks or months!

Take your cooking up a level

Another great home activity that you can do in retirement is cook; not just cook to take care of your meals for the day, but actually cook for joy and flavor. If you’re a person who loves to cook, then retirement is a terrific opportunity to update your kitchen and spend some more time in it. 

Try making recipes that you always thought sounded good. Or, try bringing the food from another culture into your own kitchen and see how you fare at making it. This isn’t likely to be your only hobby, but it can be a delightful and useful one to take up in retirement.

Traveling

For many people, traveling is something that they’ve always wanted to do, but something always seems to get in the way, whether that be family, their career, or a substantial amount of debt. 

Well, retirement is the perfect opportunity to finally get out there and see the world. After all, you’ve already spent a good portion of your life in the home you had to have so you could go to work. Why would you want to spend the rest of it there? Instead, buy a plane ticket or load up your car and head out to see some places that you’ve always wanted to go and experience.

Serving others

Retirees are often some of the most charitable people, simply by virtue of them having the time and resources to figure out what they want to donate towards. Well, there’s a lot more you can donate than money. 

Giving your time to your community to help with the problems that face it is a terrific and fulfilling way to spend your retirement. 

Giving back to the community is a great way to refocus your work from your career, but to still have a purpose that makes you feel useful.

Active living

Good health isn’t just for the young. When you are older, it becomes more important to engage in healthy activities that keep you feeling great for years. Now that you’re retired, take up some of the physical activities you’d always wished you had more time for. 

Take a morning and hike up a mountain nearby, or simply go for a swim at a local spot. You’ve spent all this time getting to retirement, don’t you want to enjoy it for as long as you can?

Joining clubs of similar interests

There are an immeasurable amount of hobbies that you can take up after you retire, and virtually all of them will be more fun if you are able to enjoy them with likeminded people. 

No matter what your hobby is, take a look at local groups that share the same interests, so you can meet new people and make fulfilling friendships to give your retirement a social scene that encourages you to do the things that you love.

Health Insurance For Senior Citizens – A Quick Take

You will be surprised to know that most of the health insurance service providers prefer to provide health insurance coverage to younger customers. They do it because of the risk of coverage for younger clients are lower.

After having said that, more than younger customers, it is senior citizens or your aged parents which needs more coverage. Thus, to avoid the catch 22 situation, it is better to buy health insurance plan when you are still young.

However, if you are looking for some vital aspects to consider before availing a best health insurance policy for senior citizens, this is the blog for you.

What is The Need For Health Insurance For Senior Citizens?

Before you avail health insurance for senior citizens, you should first need to understand the need for such a plan for them. 

• As people grow old, they become prone to illness. Senior citizens survive on a pension and interest income earned on savings. But, medical expenses can easily consume their savings and hence, it is a must to avail a health insurance plan. 
• Illness and ageing go hand in hand. We are not saying that someone who is aged will fall ill, however, the chances are always on a higher side. Thus, when you have health insurance to pay off your medical bills, it removes the worry. Hence, a health insurance lets a senior citizen live a hassle-free life. 
• Another basic need of health insurance is that a medical emergency can happen anytime in life. And those expenses could be high. You could see many families in debts due to a history of medical expenses. Hence, if you have health insurance scheme in action, you could avoid the situation and manage funds easily. 

Senior Citizens Health Insurance Benefits At a Glance

Here are some of the vital health insurance benefits of availing a health insurance plan for senior citizens as compared to no health insurance for them such as:

• Flexibility to choose the assured sum as per your preferences and needs 
• Yes, the policy will cover your parents or any other dependent senior citizen, you will also get some tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act
• You can always return your policy in case you don’t find it good enough and match your profile or risk appetite. Yes, every policy has a risk-free period extended to a few days which starts after you have received your policy. You can always cancel it and get a full refund of the insurance premium. 
• Senior citizen’s insurance policy also covers day care expenses for procedures requiring a day’s time such as chemotherapy, dialysis and more. 
• An insured person can also take the benefit of yearly health check-ups via a health insurance policy. 
• If a senior citizen is hospitalized for more than 24 hours, he/she can utilize cashless hospitalization facilities. Consultation fees, room charges, medical bills and more are covered under the health insurance scheme. 
• Ambulance services are also included in the schemes, sometimes. 
• Pre and post hospitalization costs are also covered under a health insurance policy. 

The Bottom Line

Now that you are well-versed with the need for health insurance for senior citizens, advantages of such policies and more, you can apply for one online these days.

Assess the needs of your aged-parents and more senior dependents and apply for the best health insurance policy for senior citizen online and secure their health effectively.

Tips to Save Your Business Money

Retirement may be closing in, but that's no reason to ignore the changing tech that will save your business money and keep you up to date in the ever-changing, fast-moving world. 

You may have spent a few decades building your business from scratch, but a lot of the habits that you’ve grown into may be costing you more than you think. When it comes to using technology, it’s often easier to fall into the mindset of deciding it’s for the younger generation, but doing so may end up costing you more than you realize. 

Taking advantage of the technological perks of the modern world may just make your much-anticipated retirement even better.

Social Media

You may have been advertising in your local paper for the last 30 years, and you probably even get a long-term discount. The question that you need to ask yourself is whether or not that money is a business investment or a legacy of the days before social media? 

You may not be an avid user of Twitter, and you might just use Facebook to keep up with the grandkids, but it can be used for so much more than that.

Setting up a business page is quick and easy, and then it’s simply a matter of making an update or two every day, letting customers know about new stock, sharing relevant news articles or just a plain old “Good morning!” 



It may end up reaching more people and costing significantly less than that 30-year-old newspaper ad.

Trust in the technology

You might find that doing accounts on your computer is a lot more intimidating than sending everything off to your accountant, but there are a lot of reasons to feel safe. 

Although we are able to store everything on our devices, from photographs of the grandchildren to your customer’s contact details, there’s always that niggling doubt that technology will eventually fail or criminals will attack you with the latest virus, so that everything you have online or on your phone/laptop/PC will be lost forever. 

Luckily, with the help of your local computer forensics company you’ll find that most data is easily retrievable, especially if a crime has been committed and you need to build a case against them. Whether it has been lost by human error, a computer glitch or a malicious hack, trained Digital Data Forensics experts will protect your business. 

Knowing that your computer files are safe frees you up to use more and more of the online tools available that will help your business not simply save money, but to also grow.

Stay at Home

If yours is the kind of business that doesn’t require a brick and mortar store, then perhaps it’s time to work from home. The days of everyone needing to make the journey into work only to sit in an isolated cubicle from 9-5 are quickly fading. 

These days it is possible (and very easy) to get out of bed, switch on the computer and start work. No travel time, no travel costs. You end up saving money for yourself, your staff and ultimately for your customers. 

Between Facebook, Skype, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, or the vast number of other options available to you, communicating with work colleagues while working from home has never been easier. Just imagine the savings you could make when you no longer need to pay rent on that office space.

If those suggestions have got you thinking, then that’s not even the end of it. If you open your mind to the possibilities of moving everything online, then you might find that the savings and profits will see you enjoying your retirement with even more money in the bank.

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.