by Jayson Cohen American Legacy Solutions

If you are like many other hardworking adults, you may find yourself periodically dreaming about what life will be like after you leave the workforce and enter retirement. Of course, this is an important topic to think about, especially as doing things such as financing later life care can be economically draining for many people. Regardless of whether you plan to simply kick back and relax close to home or you have grand dreams of traveling frequently in retirement, you will need to have enough cash on hand to live on. Unfortunately, a report released by Financial Engines indicates that almost one in seven adults who are at least 55 years old have stated that they procrastinated on saving for retirement. This is very worrying. People should be planning well in advanced if they truly want to enjoy their twilight years. This is especially true if you plan to move to a retirement community. Anthem Lakes is one of the nicer retirement communities in Jacksonville Florida with dockside living.

Why Adults Procrastinate on Saving for Retirement

You may think that the primary reason why individuals would not save money regularly for their golden years is because of a lack of funds, but this is not the case. In the same report, two out of five procrastinators said they got a late start because they had other priorities for their money. Half indicated that stress played a role in retirement planning and saving. Some of the other more common reasons for procrastination include the belief that it is too difficult, the thought that they may get taken advantage of or a lack of knowledge about retirement planning and saving.

The Impact of Procrastination on Your Retirement Plans

Many adults who procrastinate in this important area have the intention of playing catch-up later in life. However, this may be more challenging than it may seem at first glance. When you procrastinate, you give up your regular contributions. You also give up employer-matching contributions and compounded growth, and these two factors can have a huge impact on the size of your nest egg. Delaying your retirement planning and saving effort essentially means that you must come up with a tremendous amount of additional money to catch up to a balance that you would have had if you started saving regularly in your 20s.

The Urgency to Get Started Today

Regardless of the reasons or age, now is the time to make a bold change. By continuing to procrastinate, you simply dig an even larger hole that is more difficult for you to get out of. Saving may be as easy as foregoing that fancy vacation that you take every year or downsizing the scope of your vacation. It doesn’t have to mean creating a self-invested stock portfolio informed by Stocktrades, it’s simpler than that. It may mean not redecorating your home as frequently or scaling down your holiday gift-giving efforts. There are many ways that you may be able to simply cut back without detracting from your quality of life, and these steps can have a huge impact on your financial status in your retirement years. Of course, making regular monthly contributions is also advisable. Saving at least some money now is better than not saving any.

How to Get Started

There are various types of retirement accounts that you may have access to depending on your circumstances. A good starting point is to maximize an employer-sponsored retirement account if your employer offers matching contributions. These contributions could essentially double your total account contributions and help you to get back on track more quickly and easily. If this is not an option, carefully review the pros and cons of various retirement accounts. Once you decide which type of account you want to open, schedule automated transfers. By automating this aspect of your finances, your balance will grow without additional effort required.

Some people prefer to hire a financial advisor to assist with retirement planning and account management. If you are confused about or intimidated by any aspect of retirement planning, it is best to seek professional guidance rather than to take chances. Remember, you see a doctor when you have concerns with your health, why not talk to a financial professional when you have concerns about your finances? We are here to help.

Many people find that having a firm goal in mind motivates them to move ahead on a project. Goals are most useful when they are specific, realistic, and important to you. Be sure to review your goals regularly as you make progress or your priorities change.

STEP 1: Write Down Your Short-Term Goals

Write down at least two of your personal short-term goals. From companies such as Office Monster, can purchase office essentials like post-it-notes and notebooks to effectively make a note of your short term goals. This will work in your favour when you finally look back at what you have achieved. What will you do over the next week or two that will help you make physical activity a regular part of your life? Think about the things you need to get or do to be physically active. For example, you may need to buy appropriate fitness clothes or walking shoes. Make sure your short-term goals will really help you be more active.

If you’re already active, think of short-term goals to increase your level of physical activity. For example, over the next week or two, increase the amount of weight you lift or try a new kind of physical activity. No matter what your starting point, reaching your short-term goals will give you confidence to progress toward your long-term goals.

STEP 2: Write Down Your Long-Term Goals

Write down at least two long-term goals. Focus on where you want to be in 6 months, a year, or 2 years from now. Remember, setting goals will help you make physical activity part of your everyday life, monitor your progress, and celebrate your success.

STEP 3: Revisit Your Goals

A few weeks after you start regular physical activity, you may start to see progress toward your goals. You may feel stronger and more energetic. You may notice that you can do things faster, longer, and more easily.

As you increase your fitness level, you also might find that you need to revisit your goals and make your activities more challenging to see additional results.

by Peter J. Pitts

Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently issued a shocking pronouncement. They’ve decided to prioritize insurers over patients.

The agency recently released new instructions to insurers that participate in Medicare Advantage, allowing them to require patients to take “the most preferred drug” on the market for their condition first, before trying any other treatments. 

Unfortunately, “most preferred” is often merely a euphemism for cheapest. So even if a doctor has concluded, for sound medical reasons, that a different treatment would be more effective, an insurer can demand that a patient first try — and fail — with the “most preferred” drug. This process, known as “step therapy,” will delay treatments for cancer patients and other seriously ill seniors, putting their health — and their lives — at risk.

Step therapy is a blemish on the otherwise popular Medicare Advantage program, which offers seniors who opt in privately administered health plans. Coverage options can include the majority of beneficiaries’ health needs, including prescription drugs, physician, hospital, and outpatient services.

CMS’ new guidance will impede access to care for Medicare Advantage patients receiving medications administered under a doctor’s direct supervision, which fall into Medicare’s “Part B” category. These include infusion treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. 

Step therapy can be downright cruel for patients battling chronic and painful conditions. Imagine suffering in agony for weeks, months, or even years trying out different treatments that your physician knows are unlikely to help. With each new drug comes a new set of side-effects, but no noticeable health benefits. 

Previously, a 2012 CMS directive banned step therapy for Part B treatments — and for good reason. Part B drugs are highly specialized. Doctors must take into consideration a patient’s diagnosis, lifestyle, medical history, and more to find the best treatment or combination of medications. 

Lifting this ban puts some of Medicare’s sickest beneficiaries in real danger. 

Consider the cancer patients who rely on Part B for chemotherapy. Such treatment regimens are highly individualized — with some patients responding better to one drug rather than another. 

To combat the disease effectively, doctors must find the most appropriate treatment as quickly as possible. That process can be challenging under the best circumstances. Step therapy requirements only add to those difficulties, compounding patient suffering.

In the time it takes to satisfy an insurer’s “fail first” requirements, a patient’s cancer could go from treatable to hopeless. That’s especially true for patients with fast-moving cancers. Those diagnosed with esophageal cancer, for instance, have just a 46 percent chance of surviving six months. For pancreatic cancer, it’s 27 percent.

It’s no surprise that the medical community is overwhelmingly opposed to step therapy. The American Medical Association, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Society for Radiation Oncology, and the American Society of Hematology have all condemned the CMS move as a threat to patient health.

Their denunciations are richly deserved. CMS’ new policy guidance puts insurer profits above the best interests of patients. Introducing step-therapy into Medicare Part B will prolong the suffering of America’s most vulnerable seniors. 

Peter J. Pitts, a former Food and Drug Administration associate commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.