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Life insurance is essential in providing for beneficiaries upon your death, but it can also offer other tax advantages you may not know. For this reason, whole life insurance, also called cash value life insurance, is often used as a vehicle to reduce your taxes while alive and for your estate and beneficiaries.

Planning for retirement is essential as a step toward financial security. Most investors are familiar with 401(k)s, Traditional IRAs, or Roth IRAs but often may not know about an annuity's benefits in retirement. Knowing if retirement savings can last the rest of our lives can be stressful, and retirees often consider an annuity to provide them with consistent payments that last their entire life.

Many investors still adhere to the adage; "sell in May and go away" while others remain fully invested even as the summer heatwaves begin. What goes unsaid is that if your asset allocation accurately reflects your risk tolerance, you won't need to base your investment decisions on the calendar.

Being a nurse comes with a lot of responsibility alongside a sense of pride in knowing that you are helping others. But while the road to becoming a nurse already involves a fair bit of course work, there unfortunately isn't much on helping nurses take control of their finances.Staying on top of finances will help put you in the ideal position to pursue your financial goals, whether they include early retirement, travel, or just feeling more comfortable.

If you have never engaged in financial planning and are unsure how to get started, this article is for you. A financial plan starts by evaluating your current financial situation and future expectations and can be created independently or with the help of a financial professional. In short, financial planning involves: Examining long-term financial goals and creating a strategy to pursue them.

Whether you are expecting your first child or have been a parent for years, finances and building a future for your family go hand-in-hand. Luckily, there are money moves you can make now to help manage financial stress, support yourself and your loved ones, and help your children as they get older. Here are three key financial moves all parents should consider making.

The ability to enjoy a secure retirement is an objective that many teachers and their colleagues pursue years before they leave their jobs. Many public school workers, in different positions, devote their lives to furthering the education of young people. Eventually, each must consider life beyond his or her career and the benefits offered through, and outside of, the public school retirement system.

Police officers have one of the most stressful and dangerous jobs in the United States. As a result, they also have different retirement benefits that may allow full retirement after only a couple of decades of active duty.1 For some officers, relying on the police pension may not be enough to retire comfortably and confidently.

First responders; police, firefighters, and EMS workers; spend their shifts responding to disasters and emergencies from which many people would flee. They often deal with hazardous diseases, natural disasters, and violent outbursts as a normal part of their job. Unfortunately, these risky situations can increase the chances that a first responder will suffer a job-related injury or death.

Teaching your children about finances may seem like a weighty topic; however, it does not have to be challenging. By opening the lines of communication early and demonstrating good financial decisions of your own, you may set your children up for success.

Most often, the first question a prospective employee will ask is about your company’s benefit program. And in my experience, the two most often-asked questions are about health insurance and an employer-sponsored retirement program.

With tax season coming to an end, it’s the ideal time to use this year's tax return to help update your financial plan. If you’re in the group of one in four Americans who do not already have a financial plan, it may be time to create your first one.