Consumer advocacy groups have not been successful in enacting a federal “opt-in” provision that requires personal authorization for the selling or “sharing” of private consumer information to other commercial interests. As a result, the new financial services “conglomerates” such as Citigroup (merger of Citibank and Traveler’s Group) are permitted by federal law to share individual background information with all of their subsidiaries. This explains how obtaining a Citibank credit card can lead to solicitations from its separate insurance and investment divisions. (more…)

With changes in lifestyle after you retire, you could be spending more money related to health, recreation, your home, and your hobbies after retirement. Your cost of living after retirement may increase as well.

Medical

As previously mentioned, your medical costs will increase post retirement, and you’ll need to budget for this expense accordingly. (more…)

One way to find out how much money you spend each month and what you spend it for is to keep a record of all expenditures during the next month. For this purpose some people find a small five cent notebook handy because they can carry it with them. What¬ever system you use, be sure and write down everything and es¬pecially what you spend for the “little” things such as magazines, a pack of cigarettes, toothpaste and hairpins. (more…)