Wandering the Web: March 14, 2015

Hi, it's nice to have you stop by!  Tax day is only a month away.  Have you started on yours yet?  It looks like I have four returns to do this year:  Mine, my son's, my daughter's and my father's.  I have my son's done and the refund is in his pocket.  I need to talk to my daughter's college about some questions I have about her scholarship income and the tuition expenses; until I know those answers, I can't file for her, but I don't think she'll owe money so that's not a problem.  I'm still waiting on a form for my dad; to get it, I had to get my siblings to send in some paperwork that I thought I could do for them.  As my brother said "Dying sure is a lot of trouble and paperwork".  I think I have what I need for ours now; it's just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

Oh, you came for the links?  Ok, here is what I found this week:

What's with Gillette?  It is a company Motley Fool says you can hold forever, the type of stock that belongs in your retirement portfolio.  Many people are high on dividend investing--buying stocks that pay good dividends--as a way of investing.  This article recommends some.  If you want one dividend stock to hold forever, read this.  Annuities are one of those things that people love to hate.  However, I think they do have thier place and this explains why.  Another thing people love to hate are hedge funds; the comments are an interesting part of this article. 

Everyone has their favorite ways to consume content.  I like reading blogs.  Some folks are Twitter addicts; others like podcasts.  If Twitter is your thing, here are some personal finance experts to follow.  If you like podcasts, try this article.   Still you need to make sure the advice you are getting is good; here is some bad advice, according to the author.  

For most of us, Social Security will be our retirement base.  This article talks about what you gain and don't gain my waiting to take different types of benefits. Want four strategies to increase your Social Security?   Hopefully we will have a nest egg to draw on and this article from Forbes has some suggestions about how to handle your nest egg as retirement approaches.  Motley Fool names twenty-eight things you should not do. 

One of our biggest retirement issues is making sure we have things set to take care of my autistic son, if he needs it (and right now it looks like he will, though things are moving in the right direction).  This Forbes article talks about how our Social Security decisions will affect our son.   There is so much to learn about taking care, financially, of disabled adults.  I'll be writing more about this topic in the future.

Wandering the Web

I plan to write a "Wandering the Web" post weekly, linking to articles that caught my eye during the previous week.  I invite you to comment on the articles or on my choices of articles, or about any finanicial articles that have caught your eye this week.

Social Security will be the base for most retirees.  This article gives Four strategies to boost Social Security benefits.

Stocks and bonds are backbone of most people's investements, but are there other alternatives?  This article discusses hedge funds. 

I've recently begun investing in peer-to-peer loans.  30 experts give their three top tips for people considering this invesment.

Most of us are looking for good advice, but recongizing bad advice can be as important as taking good advice.  Here are eight pieces of bad advice. 

Used with Permission

We have all heard the jokes about adult kids living in their parents' basements.  Unfortunately, supporting adult children (some of whom clearly don't need it) has made saving for retirement difficult for some parents.  

Like most other things, retirement works better if you have a plan.  Here is a "to-do" list.

Saving for retirment is tough enough if you make good money.  If you don't there is a tax credit that can help.  

That's all for this week.