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For most retirees these days, maximizing the amount of income they can safely take out of their portfolio is the most important financial objective.It's the one thing that makes everything else possible. Being able to enjoy time with grandchildren, take time out to enjoy golf or travel, secure your nest egg against the need for long term care - it all hinges on your ability to convert your retirement

Unpredictable job and investment markets make it difficult to determine how much life insurance to buy.

The standard formulas for buying coverage to match a specific percentage of income are inadequate solutions. Online calculation tools usually tell everyone to raise their coverage by $1 million. However, life insurance is a personal issue.

What should you do? It is best to take a systematic approach to buying coverage instead of relying on standard rules and formulas. 

People who use financial advisors are more than twice as likely to feel confident in their retirement preparedness than people who don't. That's the conclusion of a recent report from the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute.

Two in five U.S. pre-retirees surveyed who work with an advisor reported that they feel well prepared for retirement. In contrast, only 21% of those who do not work with a financial advisor report feeling similarly confident. 

Most people don't want to burden their family with the cost of a funeral and other end-of-life expenses after they pass.

Nationally, the average cost of a traditional funeral with a viewing and burial ranges from $7,500 to $10,000, but that does not include the cost of the headstone, which can add thousands to the tab. For a full-service cremation, the national average is closer to $6,200 to $7,000.

These are often unavoidable outlays, so many people choose to purchase a type of inexpensive life insurance policy so that their loved ones won't have to foot final expenses bills later.

Retirees are spending an average of $4,000 a year on out-of-pocket health care costs, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

These costs increase significantly at the end of a person's life and particularly if someone has a significant health emergency like a heart attack or is diagnosed with a chronic disease. With this in mind, it's crucial for seniors to have their finances and Medicare insurance, and to supplement that with long-term care and/or critical illness insurance.

Your ability to make a living is your most valuable asset. Without being able to earn a paycheck, most people will quickly run out of funds and be destitute, particularly considering their financial obligations like a mortgage and expenses for their kids.

Whatever your career, having a source of income if you suffer a debilitating work event — or an illness or injury that is non-work related but keeps you from earning — can be the difference between staying in your home or losing it altogether. This is where disability insurance comes in.

As employers continue looking for ways to support a multigenerational workforce with diverse needs, lifestyle spending accounts are emerging as a popular addition to employee benefits programs. 

Originally viewed as an extension of wellness programs, LSAs are broader and more flexible. Here's how they work and why they are so popular among employees.

Nearly half of Americans do not own any stocks or stock-related investments, according to a study.

While people have different reasons for not investing, most understand the importance of building a retirement nest egg and saving for the future. Whatever the reason for staying on the sidelines, those future needs don't disappear. And the longer someone waits to start saving, the harder it is to build wealth for retirement.

Why invest?

Every year, millions of Americans safely enjoy outdoor barbecues, but accidents do happen. 

The majority of grill fires are caused by malfunctioning gas grills. In addition, thousands of people visit emergency rooms every year because they have burned themselves while barbecuing. If a grill fire occurs at your home, will your homeowner's insurance cover it?

As we make these various trips with our kids in the car, you and they may leave things in the car that don't always do well in the heat. And when the sun's beating down, your car turns into an oven, which can also take a toll on your personal belongings.

Below are 10 things you'll want to keep out of your scorching hot vehicle unless you want a hot mess on your hands and challenging cleanup, according to The Weather Channel:

Americans who were cooped up at home during stay-at home orders since the pandemic started have been busy renovating their homes in record numbers.

If you are one of the thousands of people who spent money on home renovations recently and you haven't informed your insurer about it, you should, particularly if those renovations have bolstered the value of your home. What kind of renovations warrant a call to your insurer?

As million-dollar health insurance claims continue to surge, stop-loss insurers that provide excess coverage for self-insured employers are increasingly using a controversial underwriting tactic to limit coverage for high-cost claimants.

The tactic, called "lasering," entails applying a higher deductible or exclusion to a specific individual or condition, like heart failure or cancer. Instead of the normal attachment point applying uniformly across the group, the insurer carves out higher-risk individuals and shifts more financial responsibility back to the employer.