September 2014
September 4, 2014
Today’s Savings Rate Half of 1970s Rate
In the 1970s, Americans saved about 12 percent of their after-tax income. Today, that’s plummeted to less than 6 percent.
Yet saving is in everyone’s interest.
A new video produced by The Atlantic magazine, “Why Americans Are So Bad at Saving Money,” blames our savings apathy on three factors: math (the lower one’s income, the less people save); psychology (spending money is more fun); and envy (keeping up with the Joneses).
The video doesn’t fully explain why this is an American problem. But it’s accessible and thought-provoking. For example, the narrator notes that much of the national conversation is about wealth – taxing it, measuring its disparities, winning it in the stock market.
We don’t expend a lot of energy talking about what builds wealth – saving – or how to encourage it.Learn More
September 2, 2014
Sorting Out Medicare Enrollment Dates
Failing to meet one of Medicare’s many enrollment deadlines can be costly to new or imminent 65 year olds.
The Journal of Financial Planning helps aging baby boomers start out on the right foot with a clear run-down of at least five different enrollment windows for various parts of Medicare.
Getting these dates right is “very tricky,” and people often make mistakes that lead to higher out-of-pocket medical costs and gaps in their coverage, said Katy Votava, president of the consulting firm, Goodcare.com, and author of “Making the Most of Medicare: A Guide for Baby Boomers.”
“They often receive well-meaning but mistaken advice, and then they’re really in a pickle,” she said. “They aren’t eligible to apply when they want to or face penalties down the road. Coverage gaps can be a tremendous financial burden.”
The image displayed was extracted from the Journal’s enrollment timeline, and the entire graphic and a Journal article by Votava can be viewed here. The graphic is worth 1,000 words but here are some important don’t-miss dates: …Learn More
About Squared Away
Learn more about our blog and its writer, Kimberly Blanton, a former Boston Globe reporter.
