5 Websites Geared Toward Helping You Manage Your Retirement

Retirement (Photo credit: Tax Credits)Retirement planning and management is a task for many in the baby boomer generation. If you are at a time in your life and need to consider retirement, then various websites can be used to help manage the process.

SocialSecurity.gov

Social Security income will be included in any type of retirement plan. You will need to understand the payment structure and options provided by Social Security. This is an important part for any retirement plan. Visit the site to review information for how to apply and how to calculate the amount you will be potentially receiving. This will be based on the age you start collecting. This can be anywhere between age 62 and age 70.

AARP Money

The website for the American Association of Retired Persons has a section for money. Many articles on the site are useful for current retirees and future retirees. You can find information about what to do if a retirement choice needs to be considered and how to save money. One article that is on the site is 10 Steps to Get You Ready for Retirement. Review information on the site to find various ways that you are able to manage your retirement successfully.

Kiplinger Retirement

This site offers a variety of informational materials for managing your retirement. You can read various articles and view slideshows. One of the slideshows is 10 Great Cities for Retirees. Tools are available to create a plan for your retirement. They also have a separate area about Saving for Retirement and Spending in Retirement. A calculator at the bottom of the page can be used to determine if your savings will provide you with sufficient income during your retirement.

Retirementrevised.com

Individuals that are close to retirement can use this site for planning and management. They have many videos to view about retirement planning, download various guides, and a newsletter. RR guides on the site include retirement planning, retirement jobs, retirement benefits, and retirement saving & investing strategies.

Choose to Save

The Choose to Save website is useful for learning about the importance of planning for retirement and your financial future. Visitors to the site use the Ballpark Estimate calculator to find out an amount that needs to be saved for ensure reliable retirement income. You can use an interactive calculator or print a PDF file to use offline. A section for savings tips is also available on the site. Information for budgeting and managing your debt is also available to users.

Dan is a financial blogger who writes about different forms of insurance, his specialty is contents insurance. Click here to find out about home contents insurance. In Dan’s free time he is a self-proclaimed social media junkie.

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Tips For Saving Money on a Las Vegas Vacation

English: The Golden Nugget Las Vegas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Summer time is over and it's back to school for the kids. Many family's have taken their yearly summer vacation to the usual destinations and family parks. But to change it up a little we recently took a great vacation to Las Vegas. Las Vegas has always been known for the cheap vacation in the past until the mega hotels took over and ran up all the prices. But if you look hard enough and prepare you can still find some great deals. You don't have to play online slots anymore you can play the real ones

Traveling to Las Vegas

Don’t procrastinate this year, a key factor in finding a better deal  is starting early, airlines typically start to release their cheapest seats for domestic routes about 3 1/2 months before departure. This is when they start to actively manage the cheaper price points on flights.

The cheapest days to fly to Las Vegas are Tuesday, Wednesday (the cheapest) and Saturday. Generally, for the best deals – shop for airfare Tuesdays at 3pm. Shop for your Las Vegas airline tickets one passenger at a time. This has to do with a quirk in the way airline reservations systems are set up; if there is only a single seat available at the lowest price, but you’re shopping for two tickets – the system automatically kicks your order up to the next highest tier where there are two “same price” tickets. So buy one at a time, even though it means doing two separate transactions, and you could save big on at least one of those tickets.

When planning a trip to Las Vegas, keep your dates as flexible as possible for your airfare. Or at least recognize that you will pay more, if you have to be in Vegas during peak party season.

Avoid dates around the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, and New Year’s. Historically, this is when airlines and hotels cash-in on the lure of Sin City (or the Wedding Chapel Capital of the World, on Valentine’s Day).

Use Twitter and Facebook for exclusive airline and hotel deals. Social media is all the rage in corporate America, and airlines are no exception as they have become pretty active on Twitter and Facebook, and you should be too. That’s because sometimes they’ll offer deals exclusively to their social media followers – as will other Vegas entities.

For example, look for deals on the Las Vegas tourism website and on its Twitter account (@Vegas), along with hotels like the Luxor (@LuxorLV) and Wynn (@WynnLasVegas) to name just a few.

Best Tip: Sign Up for Alerts – For Las Vegas Airline Ticket Price Drops

A great way to save year round: sign up for real-time email airfare alerts as well as Twitter airfare alerts, and you’ll know when prices drop, in real time.

Bottom Line for Deals to Vegas. Shop smart, be flexible, and stay alert to Vegas deals – and you will save on your next trip .

Thanks to farecompare.com for all the great tips.

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A Business Loses Money By Not Doing This One Thing

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)If you are a small business owner, you can’t act like a Mom and Pop store in a worldwide economy. Some of us over 50 business owners, with established businesses or starting second businesses are learning the importance of accepting credit and debit card payments. Today the pockets of today’s consumers are filled with more plastic than paper. How many times have you walked into a small business and saw a sign that read “We only accept cash or checks”, Did you walk out without purchasing anything? 

No matter if you’re a small or large business you need some type of credit card processing so that you don’t lose customers to your competitors, who are more prepared to handle all kinds of transactions with credit card machines.

Start a with a merchant account and see your business grow.

If you are looking for ways to grow your business, you need to consider a merchant account from a reputable credit card processing company. The ability to handle various transactions shows your clients that you mean business, that your payment options go beyond “cash or checks,” which can help build a customer base that will keep patronizing your goods and services for years to come. With a merchant account, you can easily accept most major credit cards.

Portability of credit card processing.

You may be on the road a lot, attending conferences, seminars and trade shows to promote your products. Just because you aren't in your store it doesn’t mean you should lose out on a sale. With mobile or wireless credit card processing, you can accept plastic at a kiosk or vendor booth. A reputable credit card processing company will provide merchant support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in addition to electronic billing and account management.

Know who your dealing with.

It makes good financial sense to research credit card processing companies to ensure that you’re getting the best rates. A credit card company’s fee structure, including how long you’ve been in business, the percentage of wireless sales you make each month, the type of business you have and your credit score all determines the fees you pay. It makes sense to shop around. Other things to consider when securing a merchant account is whether or not the processing company offers encryption and secure payment gateways. You need to partner with an enterprise that will keep your information safe.

If you are not accepting credit or debit payments you are losing out. Your customers are leaving you for businesses that have credit card acceptance. Most of these virtual terminals pay for themselves in the long run. Grow your customer base and make money by setting up your account today.

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How to Choose a Residential Care Home

 (Photo credit: schnaars)

Today, many the of the baby boomers are being called the sandwich generation because we are still raising our children but also having to care for our elderly parents. The costs and responsibilities of taking care of the previous and next generation can take its toll. Thanks to the advances of medicine, people are living well into their 80's and 90's. 

There can come a time when elderly parents may choose to live in residential care homes. This can be a stressful time for all concerned. Choosing a quality care home can be a difficult decision. But for many it is their first time learning about how to pick a good care home. I have listed a few ideas to keep in mind when looking for a care home.

Paying for a care home

It may seem an insurmountable task to pay for a good care home but with a little planning it can be done. Preparing ahead of time can make a comfortable care home possible. If a person is leaving a personal home for a care home it is possible to sell the home for cash or go with a reverse mortgage. The reverse mortgage will provide you with a steady stream of money to make care home payments.

The Veterans Association can provide benefits for a care home. If you have been keeping a long term care policy it has the ability to pay for expenses. If there is a retirement pension or Social Security, these can help with monthly fees.

What are the different types of care homes?

1. A residential care home
2. A nursing care home
3. A residential care home for the mentally ill
4. A nursing care home for the mentally ill

Eventually you will want to visit some perspective nursing homes but before you do you can review many care homes on the Internet. You may know some friends and families already familiar with care homes. Their advice and recommendations can point you in the right direction. 

After you have narrowed down your selection to just a few good places you need to set up appointments for a visit. A good residential care home has a mission statement or service guide that should describe their philosophy and services offered to residents. In this document you can see how serious the caretakers view their work. The owners dedication to providing a safe, clean, and caring facility is paramount in your selection process. 

A superior care home has individual care plans for each resident. Viewing a sample plan will show you how your family member will be cared for at the care home. The amount of detailed planning that goes into the care plan shows you exactly how a resident will be cared for. 

Besides the quality of the facilities you also have to examine the quality of the staff. The staff should be well trained with a long history of good care home service. There should always be personal on hand 24 hours a day and an on-call registered nurse. 

When making your selection for a care home get all the details about what's included with the monthly cost. Ask for any extra charges that can be added if there is any extra services needed. 

Visiting the care home unannounced as a surprise visit will reveal the true state of the facilities and the staff.

There are still many things to consider. Taking the time and choosing the best care home will pay off for many years to come.

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Dollar Store Shopping Tips

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dollar stores once had the reputation of selling poor quality junk. You used to find watered down soaps and very off brand home goods. Whatever you bought maybe worked once and then you threw it away. The reputation was for extremely low quality products. But is that still the case today?

Two chain stores, Dollar General and Dollar Tree, have managed to change the perception of dollar store quality by selling a wide array of decent quality products. These stores offer a wide array of merchandise for low prices (often more than a buck though) on everything from groceries to personal-care items. Smart Shopper Magazines recent poll revealed three out of four women polled said they've shopped in a dollar store at least once this year. But what should you buy? What should you avoid? Here are some tips for shopping the reinvented dollar store:

It's not just a dollar. The name can be deceiving. While some outlets do only sell products for a dollar, the larger chain stores sell a wide variety of items on discount. Much of the time, you're going to pay more than a dollar for products, but the variety of prices means you'll get a wider array of goods.

• Buy dollar-store brands. Shop Smart recommends checking out a store's branded items.
• You can find savings of over 37 percent on items like quick oats and cereal. Sure you may not be getting Quaker, but you're getting a similar product for much less.
• Take your grocery list. Check out the food items at dollar stores, as many of the stores have become substitutes for major grocery chains.
• Check the freezer cases, condiments, packaged foods, soups and spices. They're offering a lot more everyday items than what you find at the grocery store. On packaged foods and single packs, prices are often much better at dollar stores.
• Check expiration dates. While many stores are buying first-run items and national brands, always check expiration dates, whether you're shopping in a big-box store or a discount retailer.
• Be careful when buying electronics, vitamins or any electrical products. You always want to check expiration dates on medications and food.
• Visit the websites. Dollar stores are known for being catch-all shops, but it turns out they've moved online.

One surprise is that you can order some things offline. While you may have to order these items in bulk, it's useful if there's something you go through quickly, like a snack your child loves.

These websites also contain up-to-date information on product recalls and safety information, so if you're unsure about a product, visit the website. They're tracking that information for you.

Fill-in shopping. Dollar stores are looking to become midweek fill-in shops for people who want to navigate a store quickly.

They're great if you need to pick up random things from cereal to garbage bags to a notebook for your child.

Since they tend to be smaller than big-box stores, you can run in and out quickly. But know that in terms of the merchandise, dollar stores tend to sell seasonal goods. And there's no guarantee that the product you bought last week will be there next week. Their inventory changes all the time, so it pays to visit often.

Buy personal care. When it comes to products and personal care items such as cosmetics, hair-care products and hygienic products, you can find a lot of national brands in dollar stores.

As long as packages are not open, there's no reason to be leery of them.

Buy for the party. When ShopSmart asked readers what they like to buy at dollar stores, party supplies were among the most frequently given answers. Dollar stores sell tissue paper, cards and gift bags on the cheap. It's always good to stock up.

Safety first. Like many big-box stores, dollar stores sell kids toys and party favors, and some of those items are choking hazards for kids. Don't forget to take safety precautions when shopping for a bargain.

Dollar stores can be convenient alternatives to big-box stores. And now that dollar stores have e-commerce sites, the savings are even easier to find.

Most retailers can't beat the low-budget dollar-store brands, so consider frequenting the dollar store for necessities. Just remember, if buying food, vitamins or cosmetics: Always check expiration dates!

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Understanding Pay Day Cash Loans

Payday Loan (Photo credit: rinkjustice)It's common to hear people complaining about money matters. As they say, it's a problem that would forever be ingrained in society. But for urgent cash loans, you might as well take advantage of one week payday loans.

How do pay day loans work?

Short-term financing is the common choice for those who have money difficulties. With pay day loans, the borrower enjoys the convenience of getting a particular amount of money through a faster process. One week payday loans need to be settled after a certain period of 15 days, 30 days or even 60 days. Note also that there are cases when lenders allow a 6-month term for loan repayment. This, however, is on a case to case basis?

How do I qualify for payday cash loans?

The reason why many consider these cash loans is that it does not have too many requirements. As a matter of fact, lenders just want a guarantee that you can pay back the loan on time. As such, expect that they would ask about your current employment. Usually, qualified applicants are those who have already been employed for at least 90 days. Proof of steady income for the previous months would also be required if you aren't currently employed. Documents can be sent through fax or email. But, there are also times that lenders do not require such paper works. It's best though to be ready to ensure a faster transaction.

It's also vital that you have an active bank account where the lender would deposit the loan. Lenders prefer to elect bank accounts under the applicant's name. Contrary to popular notion, credit standing has no impact on pay day loans. Should the loan be granted, it would also not affect your future credit rating.

How long is the loan application processing?

Competition among payday loan providers have provided a big edge for borrowers. Majority of UK lenders promise pay day loan approval in less than an hour. Some can even go as extreme as 15 minutes. These ones are what they call guaranteed pay day loans where there is lesser chances for applications to be denied.

Again, it's important to answer the information sheet the lender requires as thoroughly as possible. This would enable the lender to easily assess your loan qualifications.

Why should I choose payday loans?

There are many conveniences when you get one week payday loans. For one, it has a lot easier application process. It's the perfect partner especially if you're not targeting a relatively large sum of money. It doesn't have upfront fees that you would be thinking about. All you need to provide is the information on your finances. You can also choose your application medium. Do it online or by phone and the results would still be the same.

The bottom line is that you won't be tied to a loan that you need to finish in years. You get to solve your problems with credit that won't haunt you back. At the end of the day, pay day loans are really the best options for unplanned cash problems.

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