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Does a Family Loan Make Sense for You?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 16, 2009 Comment (23)
Banks may not be lending money these days but friends-and-family loans might just be a recessionary growth industry. Such loans, formally structured and documented like bank financing, also can be a flexible tool to allow older homeowners to work with children to tap equity in homes they do not want to sell at today's depressed prices. Interest rates and fees can be sharply lower than loans arranged through a bank or other financial institution. And terms can be customized. Want an 11-year mortgage? No problem here.
Wealthy households have long used lawyers or accountants to fashion these deals. Now, the internet has spawned online services providing comparable packages for families of more modest means. Virgin Money, generally seen as the leading provider of such loans, began life early this decade as Circle Lending, and was relaunched in its current form in 2007 after British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson bought a majority of the company. It's done about $400 million in inter-family and other "social" lending to date, with half of that during the past two years. -
Do You Know Social Security Earnings Rules?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 14, 2009 Comment (76)If you've joined the millions of retired folks forced to seek extra income, make sure you're aware of the Social Security rules that can affect your benefits if you have outside income. Depending on your age, outside earnings can sharply reduce your current Social Security benefits. However, in a future adjustment, Social Security will later raise your benefits to restore part or perhaps all of what you lose, depending on how long you live.
Here's how it works, according to a Social Security spokeswoman. If you begin receiving Social Security benefits before what's called your "full retirement age" (that's 65 to 67 for most people) Social Security will deduct $1 from your benefit payments for every $2 in outside wage earnings above an annual threshold, which in 2009 is $14,160. In the year you reach the full retirement age, the agency deducts $1 for every $3 you earn but only for the months before the month of your birthday. The earnings threshold, just for those months, is $37,680 in 2009. Once you've reached full retirement age, there is no reduction in Social Security benefits for outside earnings. Also at that time, if you've had your benefits reduced because of outside income, Social Security will raise them beyond what they were when you first began receiving benefits.
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Boomerater™ Report: Switching From Brand Name Products to Generics
Tweet Share on Facebook April 13, 2009 Comment (4)The Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is an online resource for Baby Boomers which covers topics such as finding a financial advisor and retirement communities. The site also contains forums in which Boomers can ask questions and exchange first-hand knowledge with each other.
In our weekly report, we post a Best Life question of the week on Boomerater for which we are looking to hear your advice and tips. This week, we would like to hear from readers who have bought or are considering buying a hybrid car. What are the advantages and disadvantages? Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report we will feature some of the best responses.
Last week, we asked readers to tell us about their shopping experiences after switching from brand-name products to generics, and if there were any bargains or cautionary tales they encountered. Here are some responses:
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5 Questions to Test Your Financial IQ
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2009 Comment (15)Massive declines in investments and housing prices have hit Americans with trillions of dollars in losses over the past 18 months. But there's another financial drain lurking below the surface that's costing consumers hundreds of billions dollars more: financial illiteracy.
Much of it has to do with high credit card fees and loan rates. "We find a strong relationship between debt literacy and both financial experiences and debt loads," says Dartmouth economist Annamaria Lusardi, who champions improved consumer education in her current book, Overcoming the Saving Slump. Consumers short on financial know-how tend to make bad decisions that result in higher fees and loan charges, she says in a recent research paper co-authored with Harvard economist Peter Tufano. "We estimate that as much as one-third of the [credit-card] charges and fees paid by less knowledgeable individuals can be attributed to ignorance," she says. "The less knowledgeable also report that their debt loads are excessive or that they are unable to judge their debt position."
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Local Needs Demand Senior Activists
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2009 Comment (1)Of all the aging statistics that get tossed around these days, the one that has me quaking is that the population of people aged 65 and older will rise by 36 percent between 2010 (that’s next year, folks) and 2020. This is not a guess. These people have been alive for a long time and their survival rates are well known. However, don’t be surprised when the reality of all these aging people becomes yet another crisis that’s been hiding in plain sight.
Another nearly ironclad number is that people overwhelmingly prefer to stay in their own homes as they get older. The surveys show this preference at nearly 90 percent and it tends not to change much over time. So, while there is always going to be interest in the next new hot retirement spot, most people will retire right where they are, and try to stay there.
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Boomerater™ Report: Obama’s Stimulus Package a Success?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 6, 2009 Comment (1)The Boomerater™ Report is our weekly collaboration with Boomerater. Boomerater is an online advice network for baby boomers, covering everything from finding financial planners to senior housing facilities. The site also contains forums where boomers can ask questions and exchange first-hand experiences with each other.
In our weekly report, we post a Best Life question of the week on Boomerater seeking your advice and tips. This week, we have a shopping question for you: What are the best bargains you’ve found in switching from brand-name products to generics? Any cautionary tales? Go to Boomerater.com to share your thoughts, and in the next report we will feature some of the best responses.
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Population Shifts in the Top 50 Senior Areas
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2009 Comment (2)Here's how the nation's top 50 senior areas fared in population growth last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau reports. There are about 940 metropolitan (urban centers with at least 50,000 people) and micropolitan (urban centers with 10,000 to 50,000 people) areas in the country. The top 50 are those with the highest concentrations of households with at least one member age 65 or older.
Nationally, the Bureau said, the country's 363 metro areas contained 254.2 million people—83.6 percent of the total population. Of these areas, 313 gained and 50 lost population between 2007 and 2008. Overall, 397 of the 577 U.S. micro areas gained and 180 lost population between 2007 and 2008.
Nationally, 12.5 percent of U.S. households contained at least one member 65 years of age or older in 2007, the most recent year for the Census Bureau report on household age.
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Seniors Stay Put in Tough Times
Tweet Share on Facebook April 3, 2009 CommentIn 1984, Bruce Springsteen sang about tough times in "My Home Town":
"Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back . . ."
The response then was to leave town and look for a better future someplace else, usually in the South or West. There was always greener grass somewhere in the vast U.S. of A.
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Rental Rates for Retirement Communities
Tweet Share on Facebook April 1, 2009 Comment (11)Rental Rates in Independent and Assisted-Living Facilities at the End of 2008
Metropolitan Area Average Monthly One Bedroom Independent Living Unit Rate Year-to-Year Change Average Monthly Studio Assisted Living Unit Rate Year-to-Year Change Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA $2,375 -4.9% $2,941 -2.0% Baltimore-Towson, MD $2,939 3.1% $3,489 -3.0% Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH $3,783 4.3% $3,885 2.6% Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI $2,731 3.5% $3,774 4.3% Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN $2,171 4.6% $2,838 3.8% Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH $2,248 5.5% $3,087 4.2% Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX $2,125 6.8% $2,894 10.3% Denver-Aurora, CO $2,341 6.1% $3,031 7.0% Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI $2,093 3.2% $3,263 7.1% Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX $2,343 6.9% $3,214 1.5% Kansas City, MO-KS $2,350 6.2% $3,018 4.0% Las Vegas-Paradise, NV $2,550 10.1% $2,919 16.4% Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA $3,668 4.4% $2,970 4.5% Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL $2,829 1.5% $2,692 -0.1% Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI $1,484 8.4% $2,904 0.8% New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA $4,194 10.0% $3,820 4.7% Orlando-Kissimmee, FL $2,465 3.9% $2,902 -2.4% Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD $2,827 1.1% $3,753 1.8% Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ $2,171 1.0% $2,934 4.0% Pittsburgh, PA $2,457 5.9% $2,771 6.6% Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA $2,243 6.4% $2,777 4.6% Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA $2,585 6.6% $2,788 5.3% Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA $2,539 2.5% $3,454 4.8% San Antonio, TX $2,178 4.8% $2,671 4.9% San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA $3,168 0.4% $3,309 -0.8% San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA $3,302 -2.3% $4,098 1.7% San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA $2,697 9.7% $3,614 0.7% Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA $2,791 6.7% $2,788 3.7% St. Louis, MO-IL $2,261 5.8% $3,006 9.1% Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $2,493 2.5% $2,935 2.9% Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $3,237 0.8% $4,079 6.3%
Source: NIC MAP Data Analysis Service -
The Recession Hits Retirement Communities
Tweet Share on Facebook April 1, 2009 Comment (6)Many older Americans are finding that the economic meltdown has put a big crimp in their plans to move into retirement communities. Aside from cracked nest eggs, falling home prices and weak home-buying demand have also forced many seniors to stay put rather than make the transition. That's because they often pay for retirement-community slots with funds from the sale of their existing homes. Vacancies rose sharply in the nation's retirement communities last year, according to the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing and Care Industry (NIC). Long waiting lists were once the norm, but no more.
The NIC MAP Data Analysis Service tracks business conditions in retirement facilities in the nation's 31 largest metropolitan areas, and includes only professionally managed, market-rate facilities with at least 25 units. It released data on independent living units, assisted living facilities, and continuing care retirement communities, which include both independent and assisted-living units. Information about nursing homes will be released at a later date, a spokesman said.
