As people get older, many must begin to rely more upon their children for care and support. Even the most independent retirees often chat with their kids to discuss finances, medical concerns, and housing plans for their golden years. Some people wait until they experience an accident or health scare to share their plans with loved ones, while others put off these conversations until it is too late.

People with aging parents (or retirees with adult children) should be proactive about discussing these difficult topics and life decisions. If you are an adult with aging parents, consider sitting down with them to discuss retirement planning, estate planning, and their wishes regarding housing and end-of-life care. 

Impulse buys happen to all of us. You’re in a store or on a shopping website, and you see something you really want to buy. It’s a new release of software you own, an expensive pair of shoes marked down to half price, or a miter saw that will work way better than the 15-year-old one you currently own.

You know you want it. Do you need it, though? You’ve already pledged to save money for an emergency fund. This purchase will make a dent in that fund.

When you retire, do you plan on doing one or more of the following?

• Travel the world and explore exotic locales
• Spoil your grandchildren
• Relax in your beach house or mountain cabin
• Live comfortably until you pass away

Internally, we all have big dreams for that day when we finally step down from our job and step into a life of leisure in our golden years.

So you’ve decided to put away some savings. Great choice. It’s never too soon to start.

A lot of Americans don’t have any savings, and many don’t have enough to last them through their retirement years, so you’re smart to make this decision.

But where should you put the money? Here’s how you can make good choices.

Even novice investors know that the key to investing is ensuring you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Diversifying your portfolio allows you to hold a mix of low-risk, stable ventures alongside higher-risk investments that could produce significantly larger returns.

For those new to investing, mutual funds are an excellent place to start.

If you’ve been hacked or your identity stolen, you know how vulnerable it can feel and how scary. Trying to make sense of it all and get your account straightened out can months or longer depending on how bad it is.

Even if you haven’t had the misfortune of experiencing identity theft, it can still be scary knowing your information could be out there on the dark web or in the hands of a hacker and you might not even know it.

Retiring is an exciting time in your life, but it can also be the scariest. Suddenly you are without an income and must be self-sufficient. Getting yourself to that point is the key to success. You must plan carefully and know what you need before you retire. 

Here are the tops dos and don’ts of retirement to help you make the most of your golden years. 

Your credit score is one of the most important factors in your personal finance life. A bad credit score can make it impossible to get approved for a loan, get good insurance rates, or even get a job sometimes.

Knowing what can hurt your credit score can help you keep your credit score in good standing. 

Before buying an investment property, you want to make sure you’ll make money off it. One way real estate investors evaluate investment profitability is by calculating return on investment, or ROI, which measures cash return expressed as a percentage of total investment cost on an annual basis.

You can calculate ROI yourself using a simple formula, or you can use a real estate investment return calculator.

Smart investors know that investing in real estate is what the cool kids do. If you’re careful about the properties you buy, it can be a venture with a tremendous upside and a comparatively low downside.

First, you should know that real estate is an investment that diversifies portfolios, pays off its own debt, and produces predictable and stable cash returns, even when you’re sound asleep.

And once you generate enough profit, you can use your returns to buy more properties. In other words, your houses can buy you more houses. It’s the snowball effect of snowball effects.

However, to find success as a real estate investor, you’ll need to know how to pick the good apples from the bushel.