Growing older has its advantages. As time passes, you get a little wiser. After retiring, you have more free time to channel that wisdom into doing the things you enjoy.
Even better, all that fun often can be had at a steep discount. There are many ways for seniors to get cheap — and even free — entertainment and services.
Some of these offers are available based on age or income, while others are open to everyone — even those who have yet to reach their golden years!
Following are some things seniors can get for almost nothing.
Buying a new roof isn’t cheap. The average national cost of replacing a roof is $7,633, with most homeowners spending between $5,203 and $10,119, according to data from HomeAdvisor.
Costs vary depending on where you live, the type of materials you use and whether or not you have other home improvement work that needs to take place alongside the roof replacement. Following are seven steps to getting a good deal on keeping a solid roof over your head.
1. Get an inspection
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Unless there’s a glaring problem, it might be difficult to spot exactly what’s going on with your roof. You might see that a few tiles were blown off in a windstorm or notice a leak, but those observations only tell a small part of the story.
If you really want to know what’s going on, hiring a roof inspector can be a good investment. HomeAdvisor says you’ll pay an average of $203 for an inspection.
An inspection can help you determine whether you really need a new roof — or can simply repair the roof you have. Roofing companies can also make this assessment, but you will have to be confident that you will get an unbiased opinion, as they might have an interest in selling you a new roof.
2. Find out if the roof is under warranty
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If you have recently purchased the home, look at whether the existing roof is still under warranty. You might have received that information upon purchasing the house. If not, try to get in touch with the people from whom you purchased the home, or review any repair records.
If your home is new, you might also have some coverage under a new-home warranty. The Federal Trade Commission offers guidelines on how such warranties typically work.
In addition to warranties, you might also want to look at the local bylaws of your housing association. For example, if you live in a townhouse community, your housing association might actually be responsible for replacing the roof.
3. Decide whether to repair or replace
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Assuming you don’t have any warranty coverage, you’ll need to decide whether to repair or replace the roof. Calculate how near the roof is to its natural “end of life.” You should be able to get that information from your roof inspector or the warranty information.
If the roof still has 10 or 15 years left in it, and the cost of the repairs is relatively inexpensive, it might be worth doing a repair. Just make sure you’re not throwing money at a temporary fix to a problem that soon will require a complete replacement.
Your 50s are a pivotal decade. You are near enough to retirement to feel its hot breath on your neck, and that can be a good thing.
It sharpens your focus at a time when you may still have 10 or 15 years of work left, so there’s time to fatten your savings and watch the money grow.
If children finally are on their own, household expenses are lighter than they have been in decades. Rather than spend this freed-up money, sock away savings and pay off debt, which will bring you closer to the retirement you hoped for.
Following are some critical financial moves to make in your 50s.
1. Map out your strategy
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Spend a weekend gathering your financial information — savings, investments and other assets as well as your debts and bills. Then, map out your strategy for retirement.
Seeing all of the details of your finances and setting goals for your life beyond work will expose any gap between your plans and savings. It will also spur you to close that gap while you still can.
2. Meet with a fee-only financial planner
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This is a good moment to make sure you haven’t missed any crucial piece of planning. Even people who comfortably manage their own investments can profit from one or two meetings with a fee-only financial planner.
It’s important that the person you see charges an hourly fee with no commissions or products to sell, so he or she can objectively review your numbers, assumptions and plans. For more pointers, check out “3 Steps to Finding the Perfect Financial Adviser.”
3. Use retirement calculators — with caution
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Online retirement calculators are a good, if inexact, way to estimate the monthly or annual income you’ll receive from savings and other sources.
Two problems with calculators: They require you to make impossible guesses about the future rate of return on your investments, and sometimes they fail to accurately account for taxes.
Because of these issues, it’s a good idea to play around with several different calculators. One respected calculator is ESPlannerBASIC, a free tool created by Laurence Kotlikoff, an economics professor at Boston University and the president of Economic Security Planning Inc.
Other calculators include:
4. Supercharge savings
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If life’s demands have made it hard to save for retirement, your 50s offer a good chance to catch up.
Shoot for saving 20% of your income. If that’s too big a change, choose a lower percentage to start with and then increase it over time.
5. Maximize retirement plan contributions
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If your employer matches a portion of your workplace retirement plan contributions, take advantage of the free money — no matter your age. If your employer matches up to 3%, for example, save at least 3% to capture that gift.
Additionally, the Internal Revenue Service has special rules designed to encourage older savers to ramp up their savings for retirement. For example, savers age 50 and older may contribute an additional $6,000 to their 401(k) plan — or an extra $1,000 to an IRA — in 2019.
6. Decide whether to pay off your mortgage
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Money Talks News founder Stacy Johnson says that putting money in a tax-deferred retirement account often offers a better return than putting that money toward paying down a mortgage faster.
After spending decades in the workplace, retirement may sound attractive, but many people develop second thoughts soon after leaving their jobs.
Just because someone is 65 or older doesn’t mean they’re ready to stop working. Some people miss their workplace colleagues and the income that came from holding a job. They also may discover that it was their profession that gave their life meaning.
“If you’re an energetic person who wants to feel alive, you’re not going to feel happy sitting back and watching TV in retirement,” said Liliane Choney, executive director of ReVisions Resources, a nonprofit organization that helps seniors live independently.
If you’re motivated and in good health, returning to work may be the right thing to do. Here are eight ways to tell when it’s time to unretire.
Job guides and websites will often publish lists of what employers are looking for in the workers they hire. But let’s turn that around: What are employees looking for in an employer?
Some would say that it doesn’t matter, that workers are stuck taking whatever their bosses hand out. But in reality, you probably have more power than you think.
Just about everyone wants a fatter paycheck, of course. But there are plenty of other valuable things that a good employer can offer. So, the next time you hunt for a job, keep an eye out for these 14 things employees want from their employers.
One scary part of retirement is knowing you could have 30 more years in front of you but only a limited amount of cash available to pay for them. How do you make sure your retirement account doesn’t run dry before you say your final goodbye?
Well, there are no guarantees, but following are numerous smart strategies you can use to stretch your money — however little or much you have — over the decades to come.
Sure, you regularly clean toilets and kitchen counters — but there is filth, bacteria and even more distasteful things lurking in everyday items you touch daily.
You should clean these, but chances are you don’t. It’s time to turn that bad habit around.
Following are 10 things that deserve a deep cleaning — right now.
In an age of digital media, bookstores might appear to be headed for the same fate as the dodo. But millions of us still love to browse for actual books as well as e-books.
If you’re a book lover, Barnes & Noble probably holds a special place in your heart. And the nation’s largest retail bookseller offers several ways to trim the expense of your favorite books and other merchandise.
Following are seven ways to cut the cost of purchases at Barnes & Noble.
Congratulations, 30-somethings: After spending your 20s getting acclimated to adulthood, you finally have your sea legs.
Perhaps you are married with kids. You may have a house. With any luck, you make more money than ever.
Regardless of the particulars of your current life, here are some money moves everyone in their 30s should make during this decade:
1. Revisit your retirement savings
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By this point, you should have a retirement fund, such as a 401(k) or an IRA. If you don’t, getting one set up should be a priority.
If you already have such an account, look at where your money is invested. Over time, a retirement account can fall out of balance. Maybe you’re taking on too much risk — or too little.
In theory, creating an emergency fund is another money move you should have made earlier in life. If you don’t have one, putting money aside for a rainy day is another big priority.
If you already have such a fund, it might be time to add to it. Your emergency fund should have enough money to cover three to six months’ worth of expenses. Add up all your current monthly expenses and see if your fund falls short on covering them.
3. Rebalance the budget
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Revisit your budget at least once a year or every time you have a major life change. If it’s been a while since you crunched the numbers, sit down and do a thorough review.
Does your budget support your current life goals? If not, revise it.
4. Track your spending for a month
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Track your spending for an entire month. Keep tabs on every penny. That sounds like a lot of work, but if you use your debit card or a credit card for virtually everything, it’s not so bad.
We tend to idealize where our money goes. (“Oh, I never eat out!”) But once you start tracking, there’s no denying that you hit the drive-thru once a week or go on a spending spree at the mall once a month.
Compare your actual spending with your budgeted amounts. Depending on where the numbers land, you’re going to either need to rework the budget or rethink your spending.
5. Pay off your debt
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Of course, we all wish we had never gone into debt in the first place. But there’s no use in rehashing past mistakes: Now is the time to take action and correct them.
In your 30s, you’ll likely make some major purchases. You may also have more discretionary income to buy the things you want.
Stretch your dollars by learning to bargain like a pro. There’s no reason to pay full price when a little negotiating can help you save money on purchases big and small.
7. Consider starting a college fund
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For those of you who have become parents, your 30s are a good time to set up a college fund for your kids. Don’t wait until they hit high school to make a plan for their higher education.
Options range from 529 plans to Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and prepaid tuition plans.
