Dean Akey's (akey65) Blog

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Services for Real Estate Pros
RECENT BLOG POSTS
Did you know that January is National "Get Organized" month? If one of your New Year's resolutions was to get organized why not start with a home inventory?  Now that the cork's officially been popped on holiday festivities, millions of Americans are eager to get a head start on all those well-in...
01/30/2009
It sounds easy. Debt resolution companies offer to get creditors to settle for far less than you owe. All you have to do is give them a couple of thousand dollars up front and make a reasonable monthly payment after that. But this is what could happen: * They make no payments on credit cards and ...
01/30/2009
As we all age, I sometimes find that the owner of a large life insurance policy no longer wants or needs life insurance. And sometimes the policy premiums have risen to the point where the owner can't comfortably pay them. In either case, an agent for a company that buys life insurance policies w...
01/26/2009
With so many ways to spend your income, it can be difficult to set priorities. Here are a few tips to help get you started with your financial plan.    Pay off high-cost consumer debt first. Paying off an 18 percent credit card is like getting a tax-free 18 percent rate of interest on your money....
01/23/2009
Only about 5 percent of retirees wait until full retirement age to claim Social Security benefits. Retiring early can cost dearly, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA), especially if you live a long time. The SSA calculates that retirees who live to age 90 would lose $39,000 in b...
01/23/2009
If you want to retire early, but don't want to pay the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty on your IRA, here's how to do it. You can apply for 72(t) distributions to avoid the penalty. Under that plan, you agree to make equal periodic withdrawals for five years or until you reach age 59 1/2, whic...
01/22/2009
From time to time I am asked which banks are safe places to stash your cash.  I share with my clients that their deposits are insured via the FDIC for up to $250,000 but also offer the suggestion to investigate community banks and credit unions.    While the biggest banks are suffering from a sub...
01/21/2009
As a financial planner, I am often asked about reverse mortgages.  In certain scenarios a reverse mortgage can be a useful tool in making your retirement work.  The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 made changes to reverse mortgages effective October 1, 2008. They include higher borrowing...
01/21/2009
Even before the recent colapse of our financial markets clients would ask me where to put their emergency fund monies.  Financial planners quoted in Readers Digest suggest placing your just-in-case money in a series of short-term CDs that continuously come due. This provides a higher rate of retu...
01/21/2009
The whole point of life insurance is that you never know when you'll need it. So even though your policy might be long-term, you need to make sure it offers the right amount of benefits for your current situation. A good rule of thumb is to recalculate your life insurance needs once a year, or mo...
01/19/2009
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Dean Akey

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