financial_matters

Articles on Financial Matters:

Love, Marriage & Money

The f-word. Finances. Combining love and money may be the biggest stumbling block on the path of true love, creating more rifts in relationships than in-laws, drug and alcohol addiction, or infidelity.

Financial power struggles challenge even the most solid partnership. Unfortunately, money too often equates to control in a relationship. The delicate balance of power between you is dependent on the successful combination of love and money.

In the majority of relationships today, both members contribute financial resources. Despite the strides women have made toward financial equality on the job, though, men still have greater earning power. In general, with more disposable income, men invest more money and take greater risks than women. Women as a whole are more conservative in their investments because it takes them longer to earn the money. Money attitudes are also influenced by age, family upbringing, religion, and each person's own unique financial trials and errors.

Everyone has opened a bank account, paid the rent or mortgage, kept the telephone and electricity turned on. When you make the decision to share your life with someone, though, such mundane issues suddenly become complicated.

Do you keep separate bank accounts or do you put all the money in one account? How do you split monthly expenses? Do you each pay a portion or do you pay bills out of a joint account? Should you be able to sign on your partner's bank account? Did one of you bring assets to the relationship that the other uses, such as a car or a home, for which expenses should be shared?

Financial advice for couples over fifty varies significantly depending on age, economic status and dependents. Every situation is different, but the following is general advice for everyone.

Many modern couples keep their finances separate, while others opt to pool all their funds. Making the decision on the day-to-day handling of what was formerly “his” and “her” money can be a tough one.

There are benefits to keeping separate property funds separate and maintaining certain assets in one name only, which we'll explain in more detail in the next chapter. Keeping other monies separate may create logistical problems, though, along with a diminished sense of common goals for the future. Combining your funds also gives a couple greater borrowing and investment power.

Determining a financial plan that works might take months; many couples struggle for years before reaching a balance. Defining and discussing your money styles is the first step, setting goals is the second.

Review your financial picture. Are you both satisfied with your knowledge and control of “your” money and “our” money? Are you both knowledgeable about banking, insurance, investments, credit cards?
The routine business of a new life together should include the following:

- Reevaluation of life, health, auto and other insurance coverage
- A change of beneficiary on insurance policies and company pension plans
- Notification to social security of your marriage to ensure eligibility for your spouse's benefits and change of W-4 withholding
- An assessment of the impact of remarriage on alimony or pension/retirement benefits from a prior marriage
- A consultation with an accountant to learn the impact your marital status will have on your federal or state income tax obligations

In a remarriage, be aware that the income of a new spouse may impact eligibility for financial aid of college-age children from a prior marriage.

You may need to consult your banker, your employer, your insurance agent, your accountant, your attorney or other professionals to accomplish these tasks.

Your goal in tying the fiscal knot is to protect your spousal rights and save money. Begin your research before the wedding and make sure you follow through. Loveandthelaw.com should be your first stop - it’s an easy and inexpensive way to stay informed.

Johnette Duff
20 Mar 2007

Johnette Duff is the author of The Spousal Equivalent Handbook: a legal and financial guide to living together, The Marriage Handbook: a legal and financial guide to your spousal rights, and Love After 50: the complete legal and financial guide. Nationally, she has appeared on Today, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and in The Wall Street Journal, Self, Smart Money, New Woman and Modern Maturity promoting information on love and the law. Ms. Duff has recently opened a web site titled, love and the law.

rauspitz44@comcast.net

Prepare For Your Retirement Lifestyle At Least 10 Years Before

Work of some sort as opposed to total retirement seems like the easy way to explain away retirement woes, but it may be a reality to face and less painful than the alternatives.

Investment managers often advise people approaching retirement age to restructure their investment portfolios towards low-yielding bonds. Then, almost without consideration of the portfolio size, they tell you to reduce your lifestyle and learn to live on much, much less.

Has anyone asked those unrealistic voices to live on half - let anyone asked their partner?

Knowing you are going to have to work to live, while your retirement assets continue to grow, is a threshold you have to cross before you can come to grips with how to reduce costs going forward.

This is a whole new phase in your retirement planning process.

Social psychologists who study retirement say the transition into retirement requires a plan. I advocate addressing this plan at least 10 years before retirement. Given the pension contribution limits as they exist today and most importantly, your avilable cash to add to savings, you should know by age 50 or 55 whether you can project enough income to retire at age 65 or 70.

If you don't think you will have enough money to completely retire, keep your mind open to the likelihood of working beyond age 65 or 70. This rebalancing of your perspective is a healthy first step in looking at the future.

Work together with your spouse and consciously discard alternatives to narrow your focus, or add those you had not considered. The most obvious is where you will continue to live. Have you considered moving to other communities locally or across the country where housing may be less expensive?

After carefully accounting for all the costs, the money saved could be invested to add to your retirement nest egg.

Begin by listing the things you want to do in retirement, in order to gain clues about balancing your time between work and relaxation. A list of the things you don't want to do is important as well.

Peter Mazonas
27 Mar 2007

Peter Marzonas is a Financial Consultant. This article is an excerpt from Double Your Retirement Income, published by John Wiley and Sons.

Credit Card vs. Debit Card - What Are The Differences?

Ah, the “good old days”. If you are a baby boomer, like me, then you probably remember how important it was to rush to the bank on payday. You had to get there before the teller lanes closed so that you could have your “cash allowance” for the week. Otherwise, if you needed cash you had to write a check, then go to the bank, and “cash” the check for real cash.

Fortunately the days of the mad rush to get cash from the bank are long gone. We now enjoy the convenience of using a nearby automatic teller machine (ATM) or you can even get “cash back” at your local grocery, hardware or convenience store.

The card you use at the ATM is known as a debit card. When debit cards first appeared it was easy to tell them apart from credit cards. Debit cards didn’t have a credit card company logo on them; instead, they usually just had your bank name, your account number and your name.

Today debit cards look exactly like credit cards even carrying the same logos. Both types of cards can be swiped at the checkout counter , used to make purchases on the internet, or to pay for the fill-up at the gas pump.

When you use your debit card to make a purchase, it’s just like using cash. The account that is attached to your debit card, in most cases your checking account, is automatically debited when you use your debit card. The cost of your purchase is deducted from the funds you have in that account.

On the other hand, when you use your credit card to make a purchase you are using someone’s else’s money, specifically the issuer of the credit card, usually a banking institution.

In effect, you agree to pay them back the money you borrowed to make your purchase. In addition you will also pay interest on the money “loaned” to you at the rate which you agreed to when you applied for their credit card. This is known as the annual percentage rate (APR).

While the two cards might act and look alike, the levels of consumer protection that each type of card provides can be different.

Under federal law, if someone steals your credit card you're only responsible to pay the first $50 of unauthorized charges. However, if you notify the credit card issuer before a thief is able to make any charges you may be free from all liability. If the credit card is not physically present when an unauthorized or fraudulent purchase is made, such as over the internet, you’re also free from liability for those charges.

MasterCard and Visa offer zero-liability protection where you won’t pay any charges if someone uses your credit card to make an unauthorized purchase.

The protection offered to debit card fraud is similar but with a few exceptions. For example, your liability under federal law is limited to $50, the same as for a credit card, but only if you notify the issuer within two business days of discovering the card's loss or theft. Your liability for debit card fraud can jump up to $500 if you don’t report the loss or theft within two business days.

And if you are the type of person that gives a passing glance to your monthly bank statement, you could be totally liable for any fraudulent debit card charges if you wait 60 days or more from the time your statement is mailed.

Visa and MasterCard zero-liability protection applies to your debit card but only for transactions that do not involve the use of your PIN (personal identification number).

Additional protection against fraudulent use of your credit or debit cards may be available through your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance. Check your policy or with your agent for more information about your coverage.

Also be aware that you should contact your card issuer by certified letter, return receipt requested, after you’ve contacted them by phone to protect your consumer rights.

As for which card to use for what type of purchase, most experts agree that you should use your debit card for the same type of purchases you’d make as if you were using cash. Therefore, it makes more sense to use your debit card than your credit card at the grocery store or gas station (provided you have sufficient funds to cover these purchases of course).

You should avoid using your debit card for any online purchase or for something which is expensive. Why ? The main reason is that it is much easier to dispute a charge when you use your credit card. If your gold-plated, limited edition, hip-swinging Elvis wall clock arrives broken, your credit card company will remove the charge until the problem is resolved.

With your debit card you are stuck dealing with the merchant directly to resolve any problems with a purchase, even if your banking institution could really use a gold-plated, limited edition, hip-swinging Elvis wall clock of their very own.

© 2003, Your Free Credit Report Now

James H. Dimmitt.
06 Apr 2007

Get your FREE credit report online now and subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter “TO YOUR CREDIT”. Visit http://www.yourfreecreditreportnow.com for more information. jimdim815@aol.com