When you’re working, you have a financial strategy that is largely based on one goal: saving money for a comfortable retirement. You’ll likely have to make many adjustments over several decades to ensure that you stay on track saving and investing. But once you retire, a new goal arises — investing so you can remain retired.  To help yourself achieve this goal, you will need to make a number of investment decisions.

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   The last few months have been difficult ones for investors. From early October 2007, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its all-time high, through late August, stocks have fallen almost 20 percent — which is near “bear market” territory. So, at this point, you probably have at least two big questions: What’s causing this market instability? And how should you respond?

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   With many more Americans living past age 80, the need for long-term care (LTC) is rising, and so is the interest in long-term care insurance. Yet, a 2006 AARP study noted that most Americans surveyed were underestimating the rising costs of LTC, and presupposing that government programs would provide adequate assistance.

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   If you’re an investor, you’ve probably been shaking your head in disbelief over the events of the past few weeks. Consider the following:
   On Friday, October 3, Congress passed, and the president signed, the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 to revive the credit markets and restore the flow of credit to the U.S. economy.
   Facing huge losses, big names on Wall Street are selling themselves, in whole or in part, to other companies. 

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   If your parents are getting older, you may have to assist them in various aspects of daily life – one of which may be their investment strategies. And by being “proactive,” you may be able to make things much easier for Mom and Dad in their retirement years.

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   For home improvement professionals, gone are the days of plain old hammers and screwdrivers. For speed and convenience, they rely on power tools.

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   It is that time of year when students across the country are graduating from college. It took a lot of effort to earn those degrees, but it took something else, too – money. It is this financial aspect of college that may concern you if you have children. How can you take some of the stress out of paying the high costs of higher education?

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   You may not be familiar with its formal name – the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 – but you are almost certainly aware of its key outcome: a tax rebate. Now comes the big question: What should you do with it?

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   When you own a small business, you are absorbed in the “here and now.” But you still must think about life after your working years – so you will need to put a good retirement plan in place.

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Sometime in the next few months, you’ll be filing your taxes. And when that happens, you’ll run into one of life’s great questions: Will I have to pay, or will I get a refund? If you owe more taxes, you don’t have much choice about what to do, but if you receive a refund, you’ll have some saving and investment opportunities that are worth considering.

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