Millions of people use life insurance as a safety net that will allow family members to pay bills, go to college, or support a business in case of the insured’s untimely death. Ultimately, the thinking is if you’re the beneficiary on a life insurance policy, you have some degree of protection for your financial future. Life insurance is a topic that you may feel you know at least a little bit about, but if you’re like many people, once you dig a bit below the surface, you can encounter … [Read more...] about Life Insurance Basics You Should Know
Barbara Clark Stevenson
Retirement Planning: The Big Picture
As a future or current retiree, it is important for you to take into consideration the big picture of your retirement planning. Once you have the full picture, it helps you make more detailed and necessary decisions to achieve the retirement for which you have worked your whole life. One of the first steps to take when planning your retirement is to find a financial professional who puts your needs and interests first. At American Financial Security, we take your whole financial and tax … [Read more...] about Retirement Planning: The Big Picture
Using COVID-19 to Benefit Your Retirement Strategy
Everywhere you turn, there’s someone talking about COVID-19, and it can honestly get a little overwhelming. We’ve all felt that way at one point or another. One thing you may not have heard, though, is how you can use the COVID-19 crisis to do something besides worry. Instead of it being a doom-and-gloom conversation, you can think of a few ideas on how to react. We all know the global markets took a hit in the first quarter of 2020. The numbers go up and they go down — rapid changes … [Read more...] about Using COVID-19 to Benefit Your Retirement Strategy
Building Wealth Might Be Simpler Than You Think
Wealth building isn’t about get-rich-quick schemes or chasing the trends in the stock market. Often, it just comes down to making the right financial decisions, big and small, over an extended period of time. Recently, we came across an Investopedia.com article from May 2019 entitled, “3 Simple Steps to Building Wealth.” We thought these steps were worth sharing. Sometimes, it can seem like the secret to wealth building is a mystery, when in fact it can be simpler than you think. Don’t get … [Read more...] about Building Wealth Might Be Simpler Than You Think
Understanding the Number One Concern for Pre-Retirees
Baby Boomers are retiring at astonishing rates and are looking for ways to replace their steady paycheck. They are worried about the potential of Social Security diminishing and what might happen to their retirement if it does. At American Financial Security, we believe that the No. 1 concern for most pre-retirees and retirees is outliving their money. It is important to safeguard your retirement so you do not have to worry about outliving your retirement income. At American Financial … [Read more...] about Understanding the Number One Concern for Pre-Retirees
Are You Prepared for a Bear Market?
If you’ve ever visited New York City, you may have seen the famous bull statue in the Financial District. That bull is considered a sign of optimism, indicative of what’s known as a bull market. A bull market generally refers to a time when the stock market is rising and expected to continue to rise, but it can refer to any group of securities in which that is the case. The flip side is a bear market. A bear market is generally a period marked by pessimism and potentially falling prices in … [Read more...] about Are You Prepared for a Bear Market?
Three Drawbacks to Early Retirement
Being early can be considered a virtue. Just think of some of the proverbs that we’ve all heard hundreds of times over the years: “The early bird gets the worm.” “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” There are many situations where being early can be a good thing. But when it comes to retirement, going too early can actually have drawbacks. That’s certainly not the case for everyone, but you’ll want to carefully evaluate your situation before … [Read more...] about Three Drawbacks to Early Retirement
Encouraging All to Save for Retirement
More people are saving more money for retirement than they have in the past few decades, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. That’s great news! Now, for the not-so-great news. The report, titled “Retirement Security: Income and Wealth Disparities Continue through Old Age,” found that there’s still a lot of ground to cover to get retirement savings where they may need to be. The report found that 30 years ago, in 1989, about 4% of low-income … [Read more...] about Encouraging All to Save for Retirement
Are You Prepared for a Bear Market?
If you’ve ever visited New York City, you may have seen the famous bull statue in the Financial District. That bull is considered a sign of optimism, indicative of what’s known as a bull market. A bull market generally refers to a time when the stock market is rising and is expected to continue to rise, but it can refer to any group of securities in which that is the case. The flip side is a bear market. A bear market is generally a period marked by pessimism and potentially falling prices … [Read more...] about Are You Prepared for a Bear Market?
Creating Your Own Retirement Plan
Saving for retirement has become much more simple with automated savings for accounts like 401(k)s, but what do you do if you’re self-employed or work at a company that doesn’t offer a retirement plan? According to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, fewer than half of American workers participate in an employment-based retirement plan. Whether you work for a small company that doesn’t offer retirement options, you’re a part-time employee that is ineligible for benefits, or … [Read more...] about Creating Your Own Retirement Plan