Many Americans facing retirement would love to increase their monthly income.

Faced with fixed pensions, rising medical expenses, limited Social Security benefits, and longer life spans, an increasing number of people are actually being forced to lower their standards of living when they retire.

As you approach retirement, one of your major assets is likely to be your house. By the time the average person retires, his or her home is usually worth significantly more than he or she paid for it.

Now there are techniques that will enable you to use your property to finance your lifestyle without the emotional trauma of having to sell your home.



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Long ago, people realized that there is strength in numbers. For hundreds of years, we have been joining forces against all kinds of calamities — including financial troubles.

The concept of insurance is simply that if enough of us can pool our money to form a large enough fund, then together we can handle practically any financial disaster. Our motivation for contributing to this fund is our own eligibility to draw from it in the event of a disaster. One for all and all for one, so to speak.



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The amount of money you will need for retirement is essentially the same amount that you need right now less the expenses that you will no longer have by the time you retire. Most of the time these are long-term expenses such as mortgages, money you’re saving for retirement, etc. This may change as you could decide that you would like to help put the grandkids through college or have another long-term expense that comes up during retirement.



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Planning for retirement is stressful for most people because they aren’t sure what to expect. The plans that a retiree sets in place now actually affect those they love for years to come after their passing. That is why it is important to prioritize and be prepared by answering some important questions. How much will you need to retire? There are many factors that affect this such as the quality of one’s health, the amount of debt one has, the size of one’s house and its upkeep and inflation. If you don’t have enough, it’s probably not a good idea to retire. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.



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The federal estate tax was repealed in 2010, then reinstated by the 2010 Tax Relief Act with new provisions for 2011 and 2012. These provisions include a higher exemption amount and a lower tax rate that could ease or eliminate the tax burden on many estates.



Although the reinstated estate tax may not affect you now, it is scheduled to become more aggressive in 2013 and beyond, potentially affecting many families who might not be considered wealthy.



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The top concern of 86% of retirees is losing their wealth, according to the 2011 March Edition of Financial Planning Magazine. There are many products out there that offer some principal protection such as CDs, SPIAs, FIAs, Bonds (when matured), money markets and basic savings accounts. Looking at the larger picture of products that offer some principal protection, we see a range between solidity and liquidity. Typically, the longer the investment is, the more money it can return.



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With an abundance of market information literally at investors’ fingertips, the price/earnings ratios of publicly traded companies are easier than ever to find but often more difficult to interpret. In fact, knowing the P/E ratio of a single company, a basket of stocks, or the overall market may not be particularly helpful unless you are in a position to make meaningful comparisons.



Put simply, the P/E ratio is calculated by dividing a stock’s current price per share by the company’s earnings per share over a 12-month period. It quantifies what investors may be willing to pay for one dollar of earnings. Thus, a P/E ratio of 10 means that investors would pay $10 for every $1 the company earns. P/E ratios may serve as a better indicator of a stock’s underlying value than the market price alone, but it’s essential for investors to understand what they represent.



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