Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Retirement

Steps to Take to Avoid Retiring in Debt

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National debt is a massive problem in our country and there’s no shortage of advertising reminding us that we need to pay off our personal debts. Sadly, statistics clearly indicate that the numbers of individuals who are retiring in debt are on the increase, so much so that over half of those who retire are in the red.

Earlier this year Newsweek reported that the golden years have been severely tarnished with mounting medical expenses, rising credit card debt, and little or no savings.  Newsweek stated that a law professor at the University of Michigan found that individuals over the age of 55 now account for more than 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the U.S.  CESI Debt Solutions, a nonprofit personal-finance firm, conducted a study and discovered that 56 percent of retirees carried outstanding debts with them as they left the workforce.
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IRA Maximum Contribution Limits – Roth and Traditional

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An IRA can be a great tool to help you save for retirement and the traditional and Roth both have interesting tax advantages. But the amount you can contribute every year is limited.  The Federal government imposes limits as to how much money can be contributed to both the Roth IRA and the traditional IRA accounts.  An account holder’s age (and income) is also a factor in how much s/he can contribute per year.

The investors who are 49 years old or younger have had maximum limits that are $1,000 less that those investors who are 50 years old or older since the 2006-2007 investment year.

The nature of this investment fund demands that an investor contributes the maximum amount of contribution allowed every year in order to enjoy maximum yield.  For example, the contribution amount for a person 49 years of age or younger in 2010 was $5,000.  If he only invests $3,000 in 2010 he can’t add the $2,000 deficit to the $5,000 contribution allowed in 2011.  The IRA is a “use it or lose it” investment fund which means any money not invested into an IRA is lost forever. [Read more…] about IRA Maximum Contribution Limits – Roth and Traditional

Best Retirement Plans For The Self Employed or Small Business Owner

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This is a guest post by Jeff Rose. Jeff Rose is an Illinois Certified Financial Planner and co-founder of Alliance Investment Planning Group.  He is also the author of Good Financial Cents, a financial planning and investment blog and he is currently working on his first book entitled Soldier of Finance.  You can see more about his mission at the same titled blog Soldier of Finance.com.
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An Against the Grain Approach to Prioritizing Your Savings

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Frequent readers of personal finance blogs are familiar with the importance of getting out of debt and staying out of debt. The reasons for avoiding debt are both economic and emotional, and they are so well known that we can call “staying out of debt” Personal Finance Truism #1.  Let’s briefly review the reasons behind Personal Finance Truism #1:
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