Puritan Financial Group: How to Stay Employed as a Senior

If you’re like a large percentage of older workers around the country, you’re probably having trouble planning your retirement because of financial security. Also, you’re likely to plan working longer into your senior years, or postponing retirement indefinitely. Because of these moves, it’s more important that you stay where you currently work (or have an excellent back-up plan) as you’ll find it hard to get work compared to younger applicants. Here are some steps you can take to ensure that job loss doesn’t happen at a time you need employment and money the most:

Learning new skills is important to surviving and remaining in the workplace, whether you’re a recent hire or already up the ranks. Why? This is because employers always value new ideas, innovations, or better and more efficient ways of doing things. What you can do is sign up for any training your company provides, or undergo schooling offered by the employer. This shows that you have the willingness and capability to tackle the increased demands of the workplace and the increased competition in your particular market or industry. For example, you can take a crash course in computer technology and apply it to work. What’s best is if you can make more money for your company using any new skills you’ve acquired.

On top of making money or saving it for your company because of your new talents, make sure that you and your employer know of your profitability. As long as you’re making more for your employer, you are unlikely to be laid off, especially if you’re consistent. Try to document your achievements at work using spreadsheets on your home laptop or desktop, making sure to include details on your contributions, recognitions, and recommendations received from your boss, your customers, or clients. This data is essential should you want to get a raise or insulate yourself from losing your job because of so-called company “restructurings” or “downsizings.”

Puritan Group is an author who specializes in financial topics concerning seniors. Puritan Financial Group specializes in helping seniors achieve their financial goals and get closer to retiring comfortably. For more information about how Puritan Financial Group can help you, please visit our website at http://www.puritanlife.com

Puritan Financial Group: More on Tax Incentives from the Small Businesses Jobs Act

The Small Business Jobs Act has many incentives for the small business, such as the limited exclusion of capital gains from taxation, as long as the said business qualifies by being a “qualified small business,” “qualified trade or business,” and a “C” corporation. Here’s more information on the benefits you and your company may be able to receive from the act.

One of the most important qualifications for tax incentives under the Small Business Jobs Act is the length of the investment’s holding period. Stock usually needs to be held a minimum of five years by an investor to be eligible for the tax breaks. The investment also has to be for buying stock from the stock issuer directly or from an underwriter, as opposed to the purchase of stock that was previously owned by a shareholder for property, cash, or services.

Firms that specialize in venture capital as well as individual investors are just some of the businesses that can use these tax breaks developed for small business. Virtually all investors (who aren’t corporations) should be eligible for tax incentives if they invest in eligible businesses as stated in Section 1202 of the tax code. Gains that pass through partnerships, “S” corporations, LLCs or Limited Liability Companies, and common trusts may qualify for the tax breaks if they have held the investments in question for at least five years, or transfer stock to individuals from the LLC, “S” corporation, or partnership.

There are a number of notable exclusions to these tax incentives. If the stock issuer repurchases some stock before it is issued, he or she may cause disqualification from the tax exclusion on capital gains. Investors may also become ineligible if they hold the same stock in short sale, get the option to sell it at a fixed amount, or reduce investment-holding risk with a transaction.

These incentives and the projected rate increase on capital-gain taxes can push more investors (including seniors) into investing this year. If you’re a retiree or near-retiree with a small business, find out if you can benefit from the tax incentives provided by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 by talking to your tax planner.

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.

Puritan Financial Group: The Effects of Estate Tax Changes in 2011

The expiration of estate tax regulations may seem to be a positive event for many beneficiaries. However, estates of lower value that wouldn’t have been affected by tax laws in 2009 no longer have the benefits of provisions concerning the valuation of capital gains when the associated tax laws expired. Some estates with overall value lower than the exemption level in 2009 permitted the taxpayers to approximate gains with today’s valuations.

This loophole may be solved politically; Washington is currently in discussion involving an option that should allow taxpayers to apply taxes to this year’s transactions if the said calculations are beneficial. Florida, along with a number of other states, are seeking to resolve these tax issues by allowing the courts to consider the abrupt halt of estate taxes when reading wills and formulas for inheritance.

For people with estates valued over $1 million, the recent changes in estate tax laws have concrete implications, especially if estate planning strategies were based on the earlier exemption level. Specifically, people who’ve estimated estate value between $1 million to $3.5 million need to amend their strategies from 2009 earlier. However, the efforts to amend tax strategies should go deeper, as the value of the portions of a person’s estate (which may include real estate properties, businesses or companies, and other investments) are likely to have suffered setbacks in recent years - this makes wealth reassessment important.

If you need to finalize your estate plans or want to check the efficiency of your existing plans, you may want to consult with a probate lawyer specializing in methods to pass on your legacy to your beneficiaries. Legal counsel will also help you get a better grasp of developments concerning powers of attorney, trusts, wills, guardianship, and the like. Working with an experienced probate attorney can also help you settle disputes and work with probate court.

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.

Puritan Financial Group: How to Fast-track Your Retirement Planning

The trouble with saving up for retirement is the fact that you’re putting away money you can spend today. You might find yourself buying things you don’t really need, and rationalize that you’ll make up for the dent in your savings goals sometime soon. Oftentimes, many people procrastinate, even when it comes to really important matters like saving up for retirement.

To speed up building your retirement savings, you have to realize that despite the human tendency to act with the short term in mind, you’ll have to take steps to plan financially for the long-term good. Here are a few things that could help you get over the hump and start putting away money for your nest egg:

There’s a bigger possibility that you’ll do whatever it takes to reach your financial goals for retirement if you keep your goals simple, and set deadlines for these goals. Tell other people, such as close friends and family, what your deadlines are. Statistically, you’ll be in a better mindset to achieve these goals if you commit early on.

Many retirement plans include “to-do” lists, which may include items such as portfolio re-balancing and checking your income and spending figures against retirement calculators to see if adjustments are necessary, or looking at other viable sources of lifetime income. Assigning your spouse or a close friend the responsibility of checking on what you’re doing can help push you into action, and hopefully, help you take concrete action towards building your nest egg according to a schedule.

Retirement planning goals can be difficult to reach, especially as a lot of people would rather procrastinate and claim that they’ll make up for the financial shortfall sometime soon. Setting financial planning goals and letting a friend or family member monitor what you’ve been doing (and hold you accountable for any delays) can increase your efficiency by leaps and bounds.

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.

Puritan Financial Group: Retirement Planning Obstacles Women Encounter

Many female workers and retirees feel that the financial service industry isn’t doing them justice. Many feel ignored by their investment planners, while others aren’t happy with the advice or aid they get, based on findings from a survey by The Boston Consulting Group. As investors, a number of women even feel that the entire industry is an obstacle, and not a clear path, to good investment advice that will hopefully result in a stable nest egg. Aside from the services provided by financial firms, experts also found that women are unhappy with the industry due to problems with financial products, as well as managing one’s finances with the “married” mentality.

Experts say that the financial services industry may force retirement strategies and formula developed for men onto women clients. The issues of life expectancy and income come into play here: on average, women earn less and live longer. This can become a problem if an aggressive strategy or product meant to augment a nest egg to last two decades of a male client’s retirement is used in the financial plans of a female client who may live beyond that. To this issue, advisers focused on women’s finances recommend higher-risk investments while the clients are young.

As a female investor ages, lower-risk or conservative investments must become a larger part of one’s portfolio. The problem is, financial planners or investment advisors may fail to offer annuities and long-term health care coverage – products that can prove to be useful to women retirees. Experts recommend that female investors look into conservative products meant for the longer term if they’re nearing retirement.

Many investment planners also quip that most married women bank on the savings of their partners to bear the brunt of their retirement expenses – this can be a problem down the road, as statistically, women have a bigger chance of flying solo in retirement, making a personal investment plan even more important. To this, professionals recommend automatic deposits into personal brokerage accounts or retirement plans, instead of mainly focusing on plans shared with partners.

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.

Puritan Financial Group: Social Security and the Great American Retirement Plan

Studies show that workers at the two lowest income quartiles bank on Social Security to give them almost 85% of their retirement income. At the other end, the second highest quartile in terms of income relies on Social Security to make up more than half of their retirement funds. The highest quartile still relies on their pension payouts, although not as considerably as the other three quartiles.

It’s not that Social Security, as a government program, has insufficient funds to distribute to workers who’ve come of retirement age. Financially, the program stands on solid ground, as Congress forecasts that Social Security will be able to cover all benefits, which will be taken from its tax revenue income, up to a minimum duration of thirty years.

Although the program can theoretically afford all payouts for a few more decades, these very payouts are small (which may be why projections say that these payouts are feasible). This is a significant concern for many retirees as Social Security is typically the worker’s go-to plan. As of now, payouts only replace thirty to forty percent of the worker’s average salary from the year before actual retirement. This figure won’t be enough to fund retirement if it is the primary source of income, or more unfortunately, the only revenue stream.

The New America Foundation proposal seeks to implement “Social Security Plus,” a program to double payouts upon retirement to support seniors in their golden years. This new spin on the old Social Security program seeks to improve the financial situation and quality of life of United States retirees by doubling individual payouts, which will cost approximately $650B per year for more than fifty million Americans at the receiving end. While the possible benefits to society are quite impressive, the concept still seems far away – how will this program get funds?

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.

Puritan Financial Group: Game Educates Seniors on Fraud and Scams

A number of New York City departments have taken a step forward in helping its senior citizens avoid investment fraud and other scams. The creation of the interactive video game “It’s My Money” is a fresh approach to educating retirees and other members of the populace about how to identify and stay away from potentially fraudulent investments.

The game stars I.M. Money, a character who goes through daily occurrences such as talking on the phone and checking electronic and snail mail. Aside from the chapter “Senior Scams Prevention,” which is targeted towards individuals planning their retirement, it also contains a portion dedicated to preventing identity theft. The two chapters focus on investment opportunities the central character encounters within his home. Each chapter has four parts, wherein the player has to answer questions based on his or her understanding of the presented story and a point-by-point summary.

A representative from the Department for the Aging states that this new approach to learning about fraud and theft prevention is a more effective way for seniors to identify financial scams and examine potential investments before putting in their money. With scams and financial abuse towards retirees on the rise, the free program is recommended for seniors, their families, and caregivers to prevent further senior scams.

The game can be obtained through a downloading link, with a user-friendly installation and in-game interface designed to be played by even the most technologically-inexperienced seniors. The educational value contained in “It’s My Money” is already apparent in the first few minutes that you play the game. It can be played solo, although playing in a group is recommended due to the ideas and discussion it is likely to generate.

Senior citizens are often targeted by insurance and investment scammers. “It’s My Money” can be a valuable tool to help retirees weed out good investments from bad, and protect their nest egg for their retirement. To know more about how you can avoid financial scams, play the game after downloading it at http://www.anyf.org/immoney.

This review was brought to you by Puritan Financial Group. Puritan Financial Group is owned by Puritan Financial Companies, based in Dallas TX. Puritan Financial Group is a leading provider of financial solutions for clients beginning in their peak earning years and continuing through retirement, helping them to accumulate, protect and transfer wealth.