variPhase Blog

  One retirement cost that people tend to underestimate is the cost of health care.  The costs are usually higher than expected; they are unpredictable; and, ironically – the longer you live the more your total spending on health care will be.  Failing to adequately include health care costs in your...

  If you are receiving Social Security payments you will see a very small increase in 2017 –just .03% which for the average recipient amounts to about $5.00 per month.  But it is better than last year when there was no Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for people receiving Social Security...

  Confused about the pros and cons of taking Social Security benefits at different ages?  You are not alone.  A new study from the General Accounting Office (GAO) found few people understand how much their benefit will be or the financial impact of taking benefits before full retirement age. And the...

  Your retirement planning better include realistic estimates of health care costs because the costs continue to rise, especially prescription drug costs. A 65-year-old couple retiring in 2016 will need an estimated $260,000 to cover health care costs in retirement, according to Fidelity's Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate. This is a...

  There is a wide gap between the expectations of parents and their adult children about the help they will provide as their parents get older. In fact, when it comes to money and healthcare in retirement, parents and their adult children just aren’t on the same page, according to the...