Jill on Money: Retirement investing, allocation, long term care

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In this episode of "Jill on Money," we cover how to invest for and during retirement and tackle questions about allocation, rebalancing and long-term care. But many people need to take some baby steps to get started. We got Latoya from Houston pointed in the right direction. After landing her first job, she wants to make sure she takes the right steps financially. Both Dave and Josh had questions about emergency reserve funds--where to keep them and how much to accumulate.

Allocation questions are always tricky, because they really depend on so many variables. Deanna from Seattle is 69 and has $550,000 in her IRA. Should she keep the money in fixed investments or could she add stocks to help diversify? Joel has a target date fund and wanted to know whether that one fund is diversified or does he need to add others to the mix. John H wanted to know about rebalancing: what is it exactly and how often does one need to do it?

Anil stumbled upon I-bonds, which are inflation-indexed savings bonds issued by the U.S. government. I described some of the advantages and disadvantages of these inflation-protected instruments.

I received a couple of letters in response to a recent article I wrote about long-term care ("Long term care conundrum"). Both Bob and Anne wrote about the difficulty in obtaining coverage for long-term care, which allowed me to talk about who really needs this expensive insurance.

Karen from Maryland and her husband are at odds about how to receive pension benefits. I have found that one easy solution to marital discord about financial matters is to bring in an unbiased third party. I suggested that Karen and her husband see a fee-only financial planner, who can review the numbers and determine the best way forward.

Finally, Mike is thinking about paying off a 5.4 percent mortgage, but at age 33, is that the best use of his money?

Here are web sites and resources mentioned in this week's show:

-- Jill's Blog-- 9 Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor

-- NAPFA: National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (fee-only advisors)

-- Best CD Rates

-- E, EE and I Savings Bonds

-- Where to Stash Your Cash

-- Long term care conundrum

-- Medigap insurance

-- Financial documents: What to shred, what to keep

-- Estate Planning: the Documents You Need

-- Life Insurance Calculator

Thanks to everyone who participated and to Mark, the BEST producer in the world and our fabulous intern, Sehar. If you have a financial question, there are lots of ways to contact us:

Call 855-411-JILL and we'll schedule time to get you on the show LIVE

Send an email: [e-mail]

Tweet me: @jillonmoney

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