You know why you should get life insurance. To protect your family. To leave an inheritance. To pay off debts and other expenses. To create more financial stability. To have more peace of mind.You know why you should get life insurance. To protect your family. To leave an inheritance. To pay off debts and other expenses. To create more financial stability. To have more peace of mind.But is there ever a time when you should reconsider your insurance coverage or change your policy? Experts suggest policyholders review their coverage every few years to ensure it coincides with their current needs. Here are seven situations that may warrant a reexamination of your policy:
Marriage or divorce. Your insurance needs change as your family grows or shrinks. Most households led by married couples rely on two incomes. If one dies, the other is left burdened with debt or other household expenses. Divorce reduces the need for higher policy coverage. You may also want to change beneficiaries following a divorce; if you later decide to remarry, you’ll have to update your beneficiary designation.
Buying a home. If you get a mortgage, your policy should have adequate coverage to pay off the house if you or your spouse dies. You should also examine your policy coverage if you’re buying a second home. As a general rule, conduct policy reviews whenever you make changes in your housing or living arrangements.
Children or dependents. This should prompt reviewing your policy on both sides. Children, especially younger ones, require careful financial planning to ensure their future needs are met. Older or adult children leaving home for the first time may allow you to rearrange your budget priorities or pursue other types of insurance coverage to ensure your child gets through college.
Changing employment. A change at your workplace—or a change of workplaces—may warrant a reexamination of your insurance coverage. You may have received a promotion or switched employers. Consider your options. Did your previous employer offer an insurance plan? How about your new job? With a change in income, you may need to make adjustments to your policy.
Getting a loan. You may want to look at your policy coverage if a loan is large enough to cause hardship on your family if you or your spouse dies. The average car payment, for example, is $479 a month; the average car loan is $30,032 for an average length of 68 months. If you have two cars and one of you dies, the survivor is saddled with those monthly car payments—and two cars.
Changing beneficiaries. Beneficiaries are often assigned when policies are established. Sometimes changes need to be made if beneficiaries die or relationships change. Some people assign policy beneficiaries to people who cosign loans. Once the loans are discharged, you may want to reassign the beneficiary.
Changes in health. If you get in shape, lose weight, or are able to kick a bad habit, you may qualify for a reduction in insurance premiums. If you would like to discuss your current financial needs or review your current policy, we’re happy to talk.
Quote of the Week:
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill
Recipe of the Week:
Pumpkin Bread
Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
⦁ Preheat oven to 350°F.
⦁ Cover an 8½ x 4½-inch loaf pan with a light coat of grease.
⦁ Lay parchment in the bottom of the pan. Leave at least 1 inch overhanging on both of the longer sides.
⦁ Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together in a large bowl.
⦁ Put butter in a second bowl and microwave it for 1 minute to melt.
⦁ Add sugar, pumpkin, eggs, milk, and vanilla in the bowl with the butter. Whisk it all together. Then add and mix the flour mixture from the first bowl.
⦁ Pour that mixture into the loaf pan and bake, 45-50 minutes. Test to see if the bread is done by sticking a wooden toothpick into its center. If the toothpick comes out clean, it’s ready.
⦁ Let the pan cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
⦁ Use the overhanging parchment paper to remove the bread from the pan to allow it to cool completely.
Recipe adapted from Good Housekeeping
IRS Provides Helpful Tools
Filing your taxes shouldn’t be stressful and confusing. The IRS provides online tools and resources to help make taxes less taxing.
Here are the agency’s most popular:
⦁ IRS Free File allows you to prepare and file your taxes online. IRS Free File is free to anyone with incomes below $66,000. Learn more at https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options.
⦁ Direct Deposit provides you with the opportunity to get your refund more quickly and to have it electronically deposited into your bank account. Go to https://www.irs.gov/refunds/get-your-refund-faster-tell-irs-to-direct-deposit-your-refund-to-one-two-or-three-accounts.
⦁ Where’s My Refund? tells you the status of your refund after you’ve filed your return. The IRS2Go mobile app allows you to monitor your refund on your phone. Visit https://www.irs.gov/refunds.
⦁ IRS Direct Pay allows you to pay a tax bill from your bank account. For more information, go to https://www.irs.gov/payments.
⦁ IRS.gov/account lets you monitor your tax balance. It also permits you to pay your balance online. Go to https://www.irs.gov/payments/view-your-tax-account.
⦁ Online Payment Agreement allows you to apply for an installment agreement online if you’re unable to pay your taxes all at once. Visit https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application.
Other details may apply, and you can find more information on the IRS website.This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.
Tip adapted from the IRS.gov
No More Knocking the Knockdowns into the Trees
You’ve knocked the ball off the green and under some trees, and now you’re faced with a dilemma. You can’t shoot the ball over the tree or around the trees. You’re only option is to hit a low-flying ball under the trees.
But how?
First, grab a low-lofted club. Next, make an easy, not-quite-full swing.That’s it, you may be asking!
Not quite.
There’s a trick to this. Which club exactly do you get that will put the right height on the ball to escape the high-grass tree area while staying low enough to clear the tree branches?
The short answer: Practice.
That’s probably not what you were hoping to hear, right?
Remember that hitting from the rough will normally lower the ball’s trajectory anyway. So, try the shot with long and middle irons or hybrids.
Using each club, aim for a target 100 yards away. With each club, make a mental note how far each ball traveled and how high it went. Next up, change your target range to 75 yards and 125 yards. You’ll start developing a sense of what club produces what swing, distance, and height.
Tip adapted from GolfDigest
Take a Walk to Get Healthy
“But the beauty is in the walking—we are betrayed by destinations.” Gwyn Thomas, an ailing Welsh writer, may not have himself walked that much in his lifetime, but you get the idea.
Scholars, for centuries, have raved about walking’s benefits: physical, intellectual, and even philosophical. Some health care experts even assert that walking is superior to running; you avoid the potential for heel and joint injuries with low-impact walking.
The litany of walking’s benefits is long:
⦁ Walking lowers your body mass index. According to one study, those who walked 1,500 steps a day tended to fall in the normal, healthy BMI range.
⦁ One study showed regular walking led to a 7% reduced risk for high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
⦁ Regular walking leads to a 12% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, according to the same study.
⦁ You’re going to stay focused and have a better memory, according to a Japanese study on walking by older adults.
⦁ You’re going to have less stress and be in a better mood.
⦁ Walking will help you live longer. Several studies showed that people who walked about three hours a week had an 11% reduced risk of premature death compared to their sedentary neighbors.
The deep thinkers are correct: Walking is good. But how do you get more “steps” into your busy routine?
Here are five tips from exercise researchers:
⦁ Walk, walk, walk. Walk as much as you can.
⦁ Pick up the pace. Brisk walking provides greater benefits.
⦁ Break it up. You don’t have to do all your walking at once. You can take many short walks throughout your day.
⦁ Do intervals. That’s short walking sprints. Experts say that’s the best way to reduce waist size.
⦁ Up, up, and away. Walk uphill. You get double the benefit.
Tips adapted from Consumer Reports
Going Green in the Bathroom
Who’d have thought you could be environmentally friendly in the bathroom? Let’s look around to learn more.Toilets made before 1992 likely use seven gallons of water per flush. Newer toilets can use less than 1.3 gallons per flush. High-efficiency toilets save water.Older showerheads can pour water at three gallons per minute and sometimes more. Efficient showerheads reduce water use to two gallons or less per minute. Families using efficient fixtures can save about 20,000 gallons annually.A faucet running for five minutes can use the same amount of electricity as a 60-watt light bulb in 14 hours.It takes 70 gallons to fill a bathtub. A 5-minute shower uses 10-25 gallons of water.
Tip adapted from WWF
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These are the views of Platinum Advisor Strategies, LLC, and not necessarily those of the named representative, Broker dealer or Investment Advisor, and should not be construed as investment advice. Neither the named representative nor the named Broker dealer or Investment Advisor gives tax or legal advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your financial advisor for further information.
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