Author Archives: ernie

Have You Saved Enough for Retirement

Leave a reply

Have You Saved Enough for RetirementHave you saved enough for retirement? Most people don’t know and do not even know how to figure it out! This situation is a sad reality. This website and writer are trying to assist consumers in navigating retirement. Meeting with a financial adviser typically costs money. They will only want to spend a little time with you if you have a small investment portfolio. What can you do to answer the question? “Have you saved enough for retirement?” The answer is pretty simple, and we will help you answer this question.

Have You Saved Enough for Retirement

Start by assessing where your income will come from while in retirement.

  • Social benefits,
  • Old age pensions,
  • Medical benefits,
  • Company pensions,
  • Government pensions,
  • Or any savings you may have?

Add all of the sources of income you will have during retirement to gain some idea of the income available to you during retirement.

Also, please examine how long these incomes will continue, whether they will increase, and if the investment is safe. Government pensions are indexed based on the inflation rate. Other pensions may increase less. Savings income will also change based on the type of savings you have and how they are invested. Always attempt to preserve your original investment and live off the income.

Next, compare this number to your current income level to see if you have enough to live on during retirement. If your retirement income is less than your current income level, don’t despair. You will need to make changes, but perhaps not as much as you might at first think.

The next step is crucial. What are you going to do about the situation you find yourself in? Can you save more money, reduce your expenses, share expenses with a family member, etc? During retirement, some expenses will naturally decrease. Commuting and clothing costs will undoubtedly change—asses how your monthly payments will change.

Develop a financial plan to address this problem and begin working towards the income you need to have in retirement, or perhaps find ways to reduce your total monthly expenses.

Note that your savings are significant regarding the amount and how you invest them. Always invest diversely and live off the investment income generated by the principal during your retirement. If you spend the principal, it is gone, and it is very difficult to replace it. Spend your principal funds carefully and wisely. They have to last a lifetime during retirement.

Save

Simplify SEO for Content Marketing

2 Replies

Simplify SEO for Content MarketingContent is king and many bloggers and website owners are looking for ways to simplify SEO for content marketing. They want to add a lot of content that will be picked up by the search engines and ranked well. If they can make some money at it as well then so much the better. In some cases, bloggers are writing content for the sole purpose to generate income. So it becomes even more important than their content meets all SEO requirements as well as relevant for the reader. Turns out that there is a process to follow for generating content. If you follow a scientific business-like process you have a much better chance of being successful. Focus on quality, interesting material for the reader. Try to make sure your content will withstand the test of time.

Simplify SEO for Content Marketing – Process

Generate Ideas – The hardest part is coming up with an idea for a website and the corresponding posts that will be written. Competition is a factor, understanding what people are searching for and what kind of advertising will be generated on your site by systems such as Google Adsense. Once you have the idea, use Google’s Adwords keyword tool to help you pick titles.

Generate Blog Titles – with the tool mentioned above, you may receive over 800 possible combinations of titles and keyword topics. Use a spreadsheet to rank them in terms of search volume, competition, adword cost, etc to prioritize the list. Now that you have a prioritized list the next step is to do some research.

Research Your Topics – know your topic. Remember that you are writing original quality content that readers will find valuable, interesting, and worth spending their time on. Note that it must be high quality both for your users as well as the search engines.

Write your Story – practice proper writing techniques. Introduce the topic, deliver the details, and summarize the results. Your readers should find value. Use a grammatical and spell check engine. Well written posts are critical. Follow standard English spelling and grammar.

SEO Adaptation – Next you need to adapt your story for SEO. There are hundreds of parameters, but tools like WordPress SEO can help with assessing each post to ensure that it meets the basic SEO requirements.

Promote Your Content – on social media, share it, tweet it, etc. The more your material is shared the greater the chance that readers are going to see something they like. They may place orders etc and generate income for all of your efforts.

Money Moves for a Happier Retirement

Leave a reply

Money Moves for a Happier RetirementMixed messages about retirement are everywhere. Most people are confused about what they will do in retirement. They just float along through life and hope for the best. The message here is that you can love retirement, have a great time, and be fulfilled and satisfied while living comfortably. All you need to do is do a little planning and preparation before you retire to have the type of lifestyle that you really want to have. We cover a few Money Moves for a Happier Retirement in this post that is based on experience as well as many years of research.

Some people ask, “What will I do with my time?”. Will I be bored, will I keep working and what about all of the people from work, who will be missed? Some people are so ready to get away from work that they really don’t care what they will do. The sad reality is that they may end up being bored to death, literally! Then there is the big elephant in the room! Do I have enough money to live my life in retirement the way that I want to? If you do not do a little planning and saving, then you probably will not live a happy retirement and certainly not in the manner you expected.

Money Moves for a Happier Retirement – Start Planning

Start planning for retirement! When will you retire? What debts will you have when you retire? What will you do in retirement? Travel, work, babysit the grandkids, or just take up the hobbies you never had time to do? There are some basic things you can do to begin answering these questions.

The first step is to hire a financial planner who can walk you through the financial side of things. You may want to meet with several in order to get several opinions. They should be reviewing your income in retirement, your expected savings at retirement, your lifestyle plans while retired, and your overall health relative to how much money you will need while retired. This will take several iterations before you settle on a final plan since there really is a lot to think about.

Visualize what you will do in retirement since this is a really big issue for many people. Even if you are an avid golfer, you cannot golf all the time. What hobbies will you take up? What will you do with all of that time?

How much money is available from your employer’s retirement fund? This is probably a first step. Find this out and then figure out how much more you will need to live the lifestyle that you really want to have while retired. The earlier you begin planning and taking action, the better off you will be in retirement!

Save

Set Editorial Due Dates for SEO

Leave a reply

Set Editorial Due Dates for SEOMuch has been made about generating the content, lots of content for your website that is original and attractive to the reader. Yes, you need all of these things and much more to create a successful website. However, in this post, we wanted to talk about a topic that is often overlooked. That is “set editorial due dates for SEO. What do we mean by this term? And how do you go about setting dates, schedules, etc. for SEO purposes? The bottom line, you need to be organized and produce content, edit content, and update content regularly. Your website is going to suffer in both quality and attractiveness if you do not follow these steps.

Set Editorial Due Dates for SEO

All of your writers need to be assigned tasks, and schedules, i.e., due dates, and expectations set. Without this either for writers you hire or even yourself, content management for your website will be haphazard at best. Here is what we mean!

New Content Generation – set a schedule for content generation, i.e., new pages that will be added to your site following all of the rules for SEO that are needed. Your writers should know the dates and expectations and meet these dates.

Refresh Old Content – some of your pages will be stale and even out of date factually just due to changing circumstances in your business. Establish a program with due dates, expectations for updates, and quality levels for all of your pages. Update them regularly so that make sense for your business.

Product / Service Updates – if your business changes, so must your online content. This needs to be completed rapidly. Otherwise, you will have very frustrated customers and even employees. Establish a task force if necessary to make this happen quickly.

The important message here is to establish and set editorial due dates for SEO purposes for your business website that makes sense for the business you are in!

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies

Leave a reply

Retirement Withdrawal StrategiesRetirement withdrawal strategies are all over the map, and it really depends on who you talk to or what you read. As someone who is thinking about retirement and wondering how much money I will have to spend every year, I have been following the retirement withdrawal strategies put forth by many financial planners. The bottom line with all of these guys is that they are trying to sell me something, so I need to figure out for myself what the best approach is for my personal situation. There are three main strategies with many combinations of them all, so I thought it would be a good idea to review these for readers. You will have to figure out for yourself, based on your personal situation, which one or what combination is best for you.

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies

Follow the 4% rule – the simplest one is to take 4% of your balance of savings calculated at the end of the previous year. Since your portfolio will vary yearly, your income will also vary yearly. If your portfolio is generating less than 4% in terms of dividends and interest, then your portfolio is going to decline each year, and so is your income. Something to think about!

The income-only rule – is a good one in that you never touch your principle, but your income will also vary with this approach as well since dividends change, interest rates change, and distributions from mutual funds change every year. If you can live on the income only, you will have a better chance of your savings lasting well into your retirement with some left over for the kids.

Variable Amount rule – this approach is based on taking out a fixed amount each year based on how well your portfolio is doing. In good years, you get to take more out, while in bad years, when the market is down, your income will be down as well.

Can you live with these variables, or are you the type that needs to have a fixed amount coming in each month, year over year? The answer to this question will help determine which approach or combination of approaches you decide on!

Retirement Withdrawal Strategies – How long will you live?

The other big unknown is how long you will live. This will determine just how long your money will last and how much you will be able to spend each year. Be realistic; take your health and your genes into account when making this assumption. Good luck with your retirement plan!

Save

Silly Online Marketing Mistakes

Leave a reply

Silly Online Marketing MistakesWriting for Search Engines is necessary; however, writing copy for your readers is also extremely important. Writing exciting content, answering the reader’s questions, and delivering a message are essential things a copywriter/blog writer can do. All of this needs to be accomplished while at the same time meeting all of the attributes that the search engines are looking for. Silly Online Marketing Mistakes can jeopardize your rating. Other articles in this series address the SEO attributes that writers must know. This article will focus on the marketing side of writing.

Silly Online Marketing Mistakes to Watch For

The title and content need to match! Sometimes a catch title is needed to attract readers, particularly online readers, to open the page and review the content. But if the article’s content does not live up to the promises indicated in the title, the reader will move on quickly to another page. Always make your titles catchy, but match them to the content contained on your page.

Duplication of content is confusing to customers, especially if the content sends slightly different messages. The search engines do not like it either. Two slightly different messages about the same content will cause questions in your readers’ minds and could dramatically increase your cost. Imagine a call center taking calls about the same products but described differently. Align your pages or get rid of duplicate content.

If links don’t work your customers will move onto another site, and you miss the opportunity to convert them to making purchases or learning more about your services. Test all your links and ensure they are relevant to the content and subject.

Monitor your Social Links – these days. Everyone is on FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You may lose readers here if your pages or message do not convert well. Twitter, for example, only has 140 characters. That is a limited number of words that can attract your readers and get them to click on the URL leading to your page. Always focus on the message and how it is perceived on social media. For more information about writing great content, click here.

Save

Retirement Penny Pinching

Leave a reply

Retirement Penny Pinching

Are you worried about retirement penny pinching that you are going to have to do? Perhaps you did not save enough for retirement. Or suddenly found yourself out of work. Maybe there was an illness that prevents you from working? These are all issues that unfortunately cause many older people to pinch pennies in their retirement. They may have to find another job.  No one wants to be uncomfortable in retirement. We all want to enjoy the good life after working all of our lives at a job that we may or may not have enjoyed. How do you avoid having to be careful about how much money you spend while retired?

Retirement Penny Pinching

The obvious one is to work longer but not everyone can. Even if you do work longer it never hurts to have a backup plan that will help you if you suddenly find yourself out of work and unable to live the life you always thought that you would. Here are some ideas in addition to working longer.

Reverse mortgages – are advertised a great deal and have the benefit of providing access to the equity you have in your home. It does mean that you will have a mortgage which many people do not like to have after they are retired, but it does provide a source of funds to use while retired. Remember to negotiate the best terms you can and especially a low interest rate

Reduce spending – in non essential areas. Some might consider this penny pinching. But it is also about setting priorities. Spend money on those things you want vs those that are really not needed.

Save more – if you are still working, set aside more money for retirement. The more you save now, the more you will have during your golden years. Remember to invest wisely, conservatively, diversely and seek several opinions before you make your decisions.

Start saving early – for the youngsters that are reading this, begin saving for retirement now. I know it seems like a long way off. But the beauty of compound interest means you will have a large sum sitting their waiting for you when you do retire. If you have a pension, then it is a special bonus providing you with an excellent quality of life in retirement.

Don’t Count on Working Longer to Save Enough for Retirement

Leave a reply

Don't Count on Working Longer to Save Enough for RetirementPeople consistently over-estimate their ability to work in retirement, and they don’t count on working longer to save enough for retirement. The basic assumption is that you will just continue doing what you are doing. Or perhaps take a retirement package. Maybe you will continue working on contract or even a new career. In fact many people actually accomplish this and work as long as they wish to. The sad fact is that the vast majority  end up with no job. Or working at low paying service jobs that barely provide for their needs in retirement.

Don’t Count on Working Longer to Save Enough for Retirement

A variety of situations can occur that get in the way of continuing to work during retirement. These include just not being able to find another job. This may be caused by sickness and poor health, lack of motivation and falling behind the curve of your industry. This later example happens to many people. They are out of the work force for a period of time. Then try to get back in only to find that technology, systems and processes s have passed them by. They are no longer current and they do not really have the inclination as well as the drive to keep up. As a result they are passed over for younger more up to date candidates.

Layoffs, down sizing, industry closings all lead to job changes at the very least and being out of work when you least expect it. Sickness in your family or yourself can also get in the way. What are consumers supposed to do to deal with these situations.

There are many solutions, some obvious some not so much. The one thing that is most important is to save for a rainy day and save for retirement. Plan to retire at age 50 and if you decide to work longer, that’s fine, at least you have the funds available to allow you to be flexible and enjoy life. Save as if you are going to retire young and also have a rainy day fund available for emergencies. If you cannot find a job, get sick or just do not feel like going to work, at least you can live comfortably.

Four Silly SEO Mistakes

Leave a reply

Four Silly SEO MistakesSEO is all about making sure that your website and the content on it will rank well. Ensure that the search engines rank your page or pages high enough for your customers to actually be presented with your URL in the search results. There are hundreds of things that a webmaster needs to pay attention to. As they develop a website, there are Four Silly SEO Mistakes that play a large part in both ranking as well and attracting potential readers to your page. We will review these four areas and hopefully add to the success of your online experience.

Four Silly SEO Mistakes That We All Make

The title needs to match the content to give the reader some idea of what your page is all about. We have all been caught by this trap from time to time. A great sounding title that matches what we are looking for. When we get to the page the content has nothing to do with the content, in fact sometimes it is just bogus material. There are some sites, that I will never click on even though they somehow manage to rank high on the search results. Make sure the content matches the title and provides value to the reader.

Duplication of content sometimes occurs intentionally and sometimes by mistake. If the content sends the same message at least your customers will not be confused. But what if the information disagrees? Then what do you do? From a search engine perspective, you are trying to game the results. The search engines could even assign a penalty placing you way down in the search results. Your customers will never be presented with your pages unless they go to page 20 and beyond!

Poor internal linking or links that simply do not work are also something that the search engines frown on as well as it frustrates your readers and customers. Links that work are important. Links to pages that are consistent with the material being presented are valued by search engines and customers alike. Review all of your links from this perspective.

Social Links

Considering your Social Links, we are all encouraged to link to various social media, however, this can backfire if not done correctly. Your page may look great on your web site, but how does it look on a social media page. Is it still attractive, easy to navigate, etc? Many sites are becoming mobile-friendly. However, lots of testing needs to be done to make sure that your customers can actually read it online on their mobile phones.

We hope these four ideas help readers to understand how they can improve their web sites and their customer’s experience.

Good Unique Content Matters

Leave a reply

Good Unique Content MattersGood unique content matters for a number of reasons. Your customers are looking for information that will help them answer questions they have. They want to solve whatever problems they are trying to resolve. If your content does not address these issues they will be dissatisfied. Readers will go to another site for their answers and products. As a website owner-operator any time you lose a customer it is bad news for the bottom line. Bottom line is to make sure that all of your content addresses specific issues that pertain to your products and services. In other words, help your customers solve their particular issues.

Good Unique Content Matters – SEO

Helping websites gain top ranking with Google and other search engines is an important objective of all SEO engineers. There are many factors that can contribute to a good ranking. This means that a higher number of people searching for specific topics are going to be presented with your site as a site to visit that will answer their questions.  Excellent content is one of those features that everyone should strive for in addition to all of the other issues that are often considered. Good Unique Content Matters because you need to make sure that the search engines rank you well. The content must also address the customer’s questions.

Some SEO experts believe that good unique content is not enough. They feel that it must be excellent and ten times better than your competitors. They believe this based on competitive comparisons by Google as well as your customers. If your content is ten times better than the competition, Google will rank you higher. Of course, your customers will stay on your page longer. All of this potentially adds up to increased sales and revenue, which after all is the bottom line for most companies.

Our own objective is to write really good unique content since there is a trade-off between time invested and return for that time. Each website manager must evaluate this trade-off and make the best return on investment decision for their situation.