The current system of wills and estate planning in Australia is flawed and littered with broken families. That's because almost anyone who has an interest in your will could challenge it if they feel they've been left out. Why are wills so easily disputed in the first place? A will is, without doubt, one of the most important documents you will ever have. You need to ensure, while you're in control and can organise it, that there won't be any problems after you're gone. Your Will, Your Way reveals what is wrong and gives you valuable information that will help you save money now, while you're still here. Learn everything you need to know to ensure your family does not lose out financially after you're gone. Discover why the system is rotten and how you can protect your family the easy way. It's not worth the risk.

When a diagnosis of breast cancer left Lorraine Wise with an uncertain future, she and her husband Mike decided to make the most of the challenge life had thrown them. After consulting a financial guru they decided that taking early retirement to join the ranks of the grey nomads would be a stretch, but not impossible. So they did what they never thought they would and gave up their home base, their roots and their security. Lorraine wanted to make the most of whatever time she had left. Their bucket list wasn't long, but they decided to get on with it while they could. They became intrepid travellers, exploring many parts of our beautiful country. They walked through the most spectacular gorges, snorkelled the magnificent Ningaloo Reef, traversed Australia's infamous wilderness tracks, fossicked for gems, became avid bird watchers and went fishing. They took a magnificent boat ride through the Buccaneer Archipelago and experienced the amazing Horizontal Waterfall. While they did follow the tar sometimes, Lorraine and Mike often went bush to find breathtaking views, peace, relaxation and glorious sunrises and sunsets that lit up the sky. After eight wonderful years of living and loving life it is time to share their travels.

For the first time in history, women can expect to live well from their sixties for another three decades. A drab existence of retirement, disease and disconnection is not an option for this generation of women. In Older and Bolder, Renata Singer contrasts the stories of the pioneers of active, productive old age against the anxieties of those facing the milestone of turning sixty, considering each viewpoint in the light of revealing research. Older and Bolder is her rallying guide to living audaciously in the last third of your life.

Have you had "the talk" yet? No, this isn't the one you have with your kids about sex, hoping you actually know more than they do. This talk is the one adult children have with their parents about their parents' retirement and aging and such concerns as medical proxies, healthcare and estate planning, wills, trusts, and the fact that 70% of people over age 65 will require some form of long-term care. This book focuses on the talk and incorporates Jack Tatar's innovative Four Keys approach to a safe retirement. By following Jack's game plan laid out in his book, you will understand What the talk is and why it's important to have it earlier, rather than later. How to start the talk with your parents and use talking points to keep them engaged. What to discuss during the talk, ensuring that all the important topics and details are covered. How to create, maintain, and review a financial plan for retirement. The latest up-to-date information on health matters pertaining to retirees. How to maintain a positive attitude in retirement. How to create an effective social structure and network for retirees. The talk is often not a single discussion, but rather something that's ongoing and detailed. It will help create a safe retirement for your parents and peace of mind for your entire family. It will also provide adult children with the understanding they'll need when considering their own retirement and an appreciation of the value and importance of having this talk with their own children. Like Jack's previous books, Safe 4 Retirement: The Four Keys to a Safe Retirement and The 10 Joys of a Safe Retirement, this new book will change the way you think about retirement. The talk will bring families together so that they stay together.

Portraits of Labor Market Exclusion presents "profiles" or "portraits" of individuals who have limited labor-market attachment. The report looks at such individuals through the lenses of both poverty/welfare status and labor market indicators providing a much richer glimpse into the very different barriers that different groups face.

Long-term care insurance is expensive Insurers keep raising rates Almost a third of owners have to stop paying Most of us will never need it There are better alternatives Do Not Buy a LTCi policy before you compare alternatives LTCi policies average about $2,500 a year but they don't cover the full cost of care-averaging $87,235. Most sellers recommend starting before age 65 while we are still healthy and insurable but we will pay more. Like all disability insurance, we are paying for something that we may not need at all. Unlike the cost of a major medical operation covered by our comprehensive health care plan, the cost of long-term care can be estimated fairly accurately. With a 13% and 4% chance of spending 2+ years in a nursing home for women and men respectively, the average cost will be about $200,000. If we can stay at home, a home health aide costs about $20,000 a year. The average policy costing $2,500 a year will NOT cover all expenses. Depending on the institution we check into, daily costs are $250 a day or more. There are other medical costs-either out of pocket or a Medigap policy-that Medicare does not cover. There are other medical expenses on top of that. Because we are buying coverage for some period in the future-perhaps 30 years away-we must plan for inflation. Our $250 a day coverage may be worth only $120 while the price of care goes up annually. Some folks buy inflation protection with their policy but this just raises the price to perhaps $3,000 a year.

This fully-updated edition of the Retirement Manual contains the latest information regarding pensions and savings, and addresses every aspect of retirement, including how to spend your new-found leisure time, mental and physical health, how modern technology can work for you, potential changes to your living arrangements, all the way through to the legalities of wills and coping with grief. This manual, presented in the Haynes tried-and-tested step-by-step format, promises to be an informative yet informal guide to getting the most from your retirement.

The author has had over 25 years in mutual fund investing. He favors Small Cap Mutual Funds over Large Cap Mutual Funds. To prove his case, he shows year by year, the average total returns in each of these categories for the years 1999 through 2010. The average total yearly returns were provided by Lipper. Small Cap Value and Blend funds returned 9.0% and 8.1% respectively and were clearly superior to the abysmal returns for Large Cap Value and Blend funds, 3.5% and 2.5% respectively, even when continued through the 2000 and 2008 recessions. Later, the author illustrates comparisons of outcomes over 25 year periods with various investment returns using a hypothetical initial investment of $5,000 and assuming monthly contributions which add another $5,000 per year. In order to safeguard assets at the onset of recessions, he examines easily accessible online private and governmental monthly reports. By using such reports, investors shouldn't hesitate to move their assets to Money Market Funds. Such action will prevent prevent serious erosion of accumulated assets and improve long term investment returns. He is critical of the very limited choices of funds available in 401k and 403b plans compared to those open to IRA investors. However, investors could be in both types of plans. For individuals comtemplating or are already in IRA plans, the author favors using Morningstar to guide their selections. Monitoring their portfolio with Quicken or its equivalent, investors in IRAs using Morningstar's ranking system, have the opportunity to increase their returns by 3% or more over fund averages. Over time, this difference can greatly enhance total retirement assets. The author is a former CEO of a metal stamping company. He is married with two children. Education: B.A.Manchester University, England.

Charlie Emery has been an active, self-taught investor for over twenty years. He has invested in his 401K plan at work as well as regular and Roth IRAs. He has learned the hard way, by trial and error, what does and doesn't work. Building on that experience, You Can Do It Yourself Investor's Guide seeks help today's working investor, most of whom will not have a traditional pension plan to fall back on when they retire.

If you are familiar with or willing to learn to work with a spreadsheet program like Excel; you can chart your own investments effectively. By spending a few hours each week managing your own investments and following a disciplined plan of action for your investments, you can plan for your long-term financial health. Emery also provides a top-down plan for the ETF investor who doesn't have a lot of time or money to spend managing their portfolio, along with a bottom-up plan that takes a little more time, but offers better rewards. This helpful guide can help you make your way past the financial planners and investment advisors who promise you big returns, but rarely deliver on their promises.

You can manage your own investments and plan your financial future effectively. The time to start is now.