Summer Solstice Financial Checkup

By FINRA Investor Education Foundation

We're closing in on the longest day of the year. To celebrate the annual halfway mark, some people wear flowers in their hair and dance in the shadow of Stonehenge. Others run solstice marathons by the light of the midnight sun.

Before the dancing and running and other celebrations end, here's something all of us can put on our summer solstice checklist: check in on the progress of your 2018 financial goals. After all, the summer solstice is known as a time of renewal and great potential. Don't neglect the great potential of sound financial planning and decisive action.

A good place to start is with your retirement accounts. Are you on track to save to the max this year? If you are falling behind, you still have time to catch up. As a refresher, here are the important annual IRS contribution limits to keep in mind:

• Employer-sponsored plans: You can put up to $18,500 into a traditional or Roth 401(k), 403(b), 457 or Thrift Savings Plan account—and $24,500 if you are 50 or older. Use FINRA's calculator to see if you're on track to Save The Max. Check your last pay stub to see how you're doing through the first half of 2018. Log in to your 401(k) account or contact your human resources department to increase your savings if you find out you are a bit behind.
• IRAs: You can put $5,500 in a traditional or Roth IRA every year. There are income limits associated with Roth contributions but not contributions to a traditional IRA. If you have a retirement plan at work you lose the ability to get a tax deduction for your contributions if you make over $73,000 (single) or $121,000 (married). Even if you exceed income limits to get a tax deduction, your earnings grow tax free and are only taxed once you withdraw. You have until April 15, 2019 to fund an IRA—but the sooner you start putting money into your IRA, the more time your money has to work for you.

In addition to shoring up retirement savings, use the longest day of the year to accomplish these three financial tasks:

• Check your progress toward adequately funding an emergency fund. A good target to shoot for is $2,000, or just over $160 per month. Everyone should have an emergency fund. To start one, set up a separate savings account at your bank, and direct at least $100 per month to it as an automatic deposit.
• Get your free credit report. Check out AnnualCreditReport.com, the only resource authorized by federal law to provide free credit reports from each of the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. You can request a report from each of the credit bureaus—for free—once every 12 months. If you already received your report—and reviewed it—take a few minutes to reacquaint yourself with how much each credit card you have is charging you in interest, and the balances you are carrying on each card. Consider paying down, or paying off, the cards with the highest interest rates first. 
• Start planning for the holidays now. There are a number of added expenses that tend to accompany holidays around the winter solstice, from gifts to the cost of entertaining. Start developing a savings strategy now during this long summer's solstice—because you might not find the time to do so on the shortest day of the year.

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Let America Saves help you save money. It all starts when you make a commitment to yourself to save. Take the first step today and take the America Saves pledge to save money, reduce debt, and build wealth over time. And it doesn't stop there. America Saves will keep you motivated with information, advice, tips, and reminders to help you reach your goal. Think of us as your own personal support system.

TAKE THE PLEDGE

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Are you on track to reach your savings goals this year? Check out these tips from @FINRAFoundation to help you plan your finances for the rest of the year. https://bit.ly/2lpGle7 

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Written by Guest Blogger

Category: Blog

Published: 21 June 2018

Tips for Managing the Cost of Cancer and Related Procedures

There is no doubt that cancer can be costly, but there are some things you can do to help lessen the financial impact of the disease.

BY Tamera Anderson-Hanna

PUBLISHED February 19, 2018

Tamera Anderson-Hanna is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Addiction Professional, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and became a Registered Yoga Teacher while coping with breast cancer in 2015. She owns Wellness, Therapy, & Yoga in Florida where she provides personal wellness services and coaching and she is a public speaker on wellness-related topics. You can connect with her at www.wellnesstherapyyoga.com.

There is no doubt that cancer can be costly. For some, this might be the first major medical diagnosis ever faced, and it can be both emotionally and financially overwhelming.

If there has been one time in my life I was grateful to have insurance, it was when I was diagnosed with cancer. I had no idea how my policy would kick in for medical procedures related to cancer, but I dove in to reading about my benefits. I was relieved to learn about some of the details regarding coverage. First, I had to learn and understand what my annual catastrophic deductible was, just in case. Essentially, a catastrophic deductible means that once you met the limit for out-of-pocket expenses for a calendar year, then, per some policies, all other procedures, copayments and expenses are covered for the remainder of the year. I kept track of the in-network expenses, and once I met a catastrophic deductible, I was no longer charged for any in-network appointment or procedures. I tried to use in-network providers I felt comfortable with whenever possible.

During my journey, I learned that some providers or tests and treatments were not provided by my in-network benefits. I reached out to the providers and asked if they would lower the treatment to what it would be if it was in-network. I did not find a single provider who was not willing to adjust an expense. Trust me, I received some startling numbers on the initial bills, but had them changed with a simple phone call. I say call and ask. The worst that could happen is that a provider will say no, but I did not find this to happen in my case. The adjustments can potentially save thousands of dollars.

Read More:

Related Posts: https://movingbeyondcancerinnola.blogspot.com/search?q=finances 

Are Cancer policies a wise investment?

Most Americans have insurance. We find comfort in knowing our future is secure in the event of a health crisis. But how do we know how much insurance is enough? Is it wise to take our specialized policies?

BY Bonnie Annis

PUBLISHED January 03, 2018

Bonnie Annis is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2014 with stage 2b invasive ductal carcinoma with metastasis to the lymph nodes. She is an avid photographer, freelance writer/blogger, wife, mother and grandmother.

I received a call from my youngest daughter the other day. She was at work and was meeting with the director of human resources to go over benefits for the new year. Her company had made some changes to their insurance policies and each employee was required to update their health benefit choices. There were so many choices. She needed help understanding them, especially with regard to the cancer policy. She didn’t know whether to accept the offer or decline it. With my recent history of breast cancer, she felt it might be wise to add that coverage to her existing plan. She wanted to know my thoughts.

It was difficult to know what to tell her. Many years ago, I’d taken out a small cancer policy never dreaming I’d one day be diagnosed with breast cancer. I’d been given the opportunity to take out coverage and I’d accepted. It was only going to be an additional premium of $11. But just before I left the company, I'd cancelled the insurance thinking I’d no longer need it. Boy, was that a big mistake! Just a couple of years later, I received news that I had cancer. I still beat myself up to this day wondering if that cancer policy if it would have helped to offset some of our skyrocketing medical bills.

Read More

How to Manage the High Costs of Breast Cancer

By Alicia Adamczyk

October 2, 2017

Molly MacDonald was transitioning to a new job in 2005 when she was hit with some unexpected news: She had breast cancer, and would have to undergo operations and radiation treatments, stat.

Thankfully, the disease was caught at an early stage. But after six months of treatments during which she couldn’t work, MacDonald says the financial reality of her situation was, to put it lightly, bleak. She was paying $1,200 per month in insurance premiums and her home went into foreclosure. She even started cutting her children’s hair to save on costs. Eventually, the family found itself in line at the local food bank.

“I was thinking we are going to join the ranks of the homeless, ” MacDonald says. “I felt really hopeless.”

Read More:

Widowed Early, A Cancer Doctor Writes About The Harm Of Medical Debt

Ten years ago, Fumiko Chino was the art director at a television production company in Houston, engaged to be married to a young Ph.D. candidate.

Today, she's a radiation oncologist at Duke University, studying the effects of financial strain on cancer patients. And she's a widow.

How she got from there to here is a story about how health care and money are intertwined in ways that doctors and patients don't like to talk about.

But Chino is determined to do so.

"I think of him every day," Chino says of her late husband, Andrew Ladd. "It drives me to do the type of research that I do — that's looking at the financial toxicity of cancer care."

Chino is co-author of a research letter, published Thursday in JAMA Oncology, that shows that some cancer patients, even with insurance, spend about a third of their household income on out-of-pocket health care costs outside of insurance premiums.

Read More

Cancer Diagnosis Requires Diagnosis of Your Finances

Your cancer doesn’t own you, but when a diagnosis is coupled with financial stress, sometimes it may feel that way.

If you’re struggling to keep your finances in order after you cancer diagnosis, you are hardly alone. The numbers can be staggering:

• Research from the University of Wyoming revealed that family income declines by an average of 20% in the first year after diagnosis.

Learn More

Related Resources:

• Cancer and Careers.org
• Prior posts on finances

Cancer and Careers

For Marin Mazzie, Work Is a Gift from Cancer and Careers on Vimeo.

Cancer and Careers empowers and educates people with cancer to thrive in their work environment by providing expert advice, interactive tools and educational events. Learn more at  www.cancerandcareers.org