It has been almost 70 days since we packed up and left for our big road trip. We have traveled more than 17000 kilometers and we have seen many amazing things including glaciers,canyons, mountains, the Pacific Ocean, a variety of marine and land wildlife, and so much more. We are appreciating every day of this journey, and although it does have its challenges, we have been really blessed by this experience so far.
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Do you know if your company has a pension plan? All too often employees are very unaware of all the employee benefits their company has to offer. Even if they have a pension plan they are often unaware of most of the details around it.If your company does have a pension plan, consider yourself blessed. Not nearly as many companies offer them as in the past. However, it is important that you understand what exactly you will be entitled to when you retire or leave your current job. Also, if you want to ensure adequate funds during retirement, you are going to want to make sure you are contributing towards your pension plan if applicable.
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Traveling is a wonderful experience. It is always nice to see a different part of the world whether it is by car or boat or plane. It is important, however, that you prepare properly for your trip by purchasing appropriate travel insurance. First check to see if your employee benefits package contains the proper travel medical insurance. Also, see if any other insurance you already pay for will provide you with coverage. If not, then you need to read on.
During the past few years my husband and I have taken several road trips that have taken us to both Canadian coasts as well as down into the United States. Until recently, however, we never even thought of buying travel medical insurance. Thankfully nothing happened to us that would require the need for medical assistance, however, if it had, especially during our travels to the States, we would seriously have regretted overlooking the importance of travel medical insurance.
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As I mentioned in a previous post, my husband and I are traveling right now, and have been for about the last month and a half. So far we have driven approximately 12,000 kilometers, and our focus has been to visit various national parks in the southwestern U.S. Due to nasty weather conditions, we have had to skip some of the parks and have opted to drive the coastline up through California instead. We have stayed in a hotel/motel 3 times so far on our journey, but most nights we stay in various campgrounds or RV Parks. We have also spent a few nights sleeping in our car in Walmart parking lots. We did discover (at 1:30 in the morning), however, that not all Walmarts allow for overnight parking.
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We recently went through the process of selling our home. When we met with our real estate agent he introduced us to the idea of hiring someone to stage our home in order to make it more appealing to buyers. This was a new concept for us. Our agent referred us to a home stager who then came to our home and gave us some great tips on how to paint the interior of our home and how to fix up our kitchen. Her advice was invaluable and we did what she recommended. Rather than struggling to figure out what colors to paint each room and how to redo our kitchen cupboards, her professional eye and her experience allowed her to give us great suggestions within just a few minutes of seeing our place.
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Not everyone is ready to retire at age 65. Some people, who absolutely love what they do, never want to retire. Others are ready to call it quits from their main job by age 50. They may have dreams of travel or starting their own business, volunteering, or pursuing a hobby.
If you are getting close to 65 and you’re wondering whether or not you really want to retire, consider the following:
1. Do you love what you do everyday? If you are still thoroughly enjoying your work, why quit?
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My husband and I recently sold our home and beforehand we had had a hard time deciding whether or not we should hire a real estate agent. We knew that we would have to ask for more if we hired an agent, as we would want to recoup the commission costs.
We looked into various options for selling our home privately including using Com-Free and decided that with working full time it just wouldn’t be worth the stress. We decided to hire a professional to do the work for us and hope for the best. We knew it would be so much easier even if it would end up costing us more. Sometimes it’s worth the extra money.
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