A Third of Seniors Are Still Paying off a Mortgage

You know people are living longer when the category of "senior" is divided up. There are young seniors, age 62 to 75, "super seniors" who are 90 years plus, and Centenarians are over 100. And, "middle age" for seniors would be 76 to 90.

According to a new study from Financial Freedom, about a third of young seniors, those aged 62 to 75, are still carrying mortgages. Of those, nearly 60 percent say they have 10 years or more left until they pay off the loan.

Why are these young seniors still carrying a mortgage? A third say they just never paid off their existing mortgage. Twenty-one percent took out a home equity loan and are paying that off. And 17 percent did it for the tax break.

The problem with paying a mortgage when you're on a fixed income is that it cuts into the options you have in retirement. Your best bet is to develop a plan to pay off your mortgage before you stop working.

America Online Will Now Be Free. What Does This Mean For You?

Last week, America Online finally capitulated to the greater online market forces and announced it would be free forever – to everyone.

As a long-time member of AOL, I welcomed the news that I'll be saving $14.95 every month, which is the cost of the broadband service. Unfortunately, if you are using dial-up, you'll still have to pay $25 per month to use the service.

But if you're paying $25 per month for AOL, you should seriously think about taking that cash an upgrading to cable or DSL service. Broadband service can be had as cheaply as $30 per month, and now you'll get AOL for free.

Once you have broadband service, you'll never go back to dial up. It's incredibly fast and you'll be able to really surf the Internet at what will seem to be lightening speed. That will allow you to take advantage of all the web has to offer, not just what AOL decides to package on that day.

The New 401(k) Rules

Just before high-tailing it out of Washington D.C. for summer break, Congress passed a pension-reform bill that will significantly change how pension plans and 401(k)s and 403(b)s operate -- and that's going to affect you.

The new law, which takes effect in 2008, aims to fix a number of problems employees have with investing for their retirement -- including not signing up for a 401(k), not saving enough, and letting funds languish in a glorified money market account.

Companies will now be able to automatically enroll workers in 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Plan providers will also be able to offer specific investment advice to company employees – which was forbidden previously as a conflict of interest.

The new bill also includes a provision that allows companies to increase the percentage of your salary that will be directed to the plan.

And finally, if you don't choose an investment for your cash, your company will be able to put it into a diversified portfolio of mutual funds for you.

Turn up your air conditioning to save money on your bills

Summer blazes on and boy, is it hot. I just got my July energy bill, and it was nearly $500!

But as high as my bill is, it would be a lot higher if we weren't careful about some things, like raising the temperature in the house and setting our programmable thermostats.

Instead of setting the house temperature at 73 during the day, we often set it at 75 or even higher. The first floor is typically warmer than the second floor, but often we'll keep the whole house warm during the day. I'd rather spend my days warmer and nights cooler, so we turn down the second floor zone to a quite comfortable temperature at night.

According to the Department of Energy (Energy.gov), raising the thermostat by 2 degrees can shave 10 to 15 percent off your energy bill. We've done better than that this summer. I'm guessing we're saving $50 to $75 per month.

Check your phone bill lately? You might be able to save money by switching plans or carriers

How much are you paying for your telephone long-distance plan? If you're still tethered to a landline it makes sense to check in with your phone company on a regular basis to see if there isn't something that can be done to lower your monthly costs.

Several years ago, I was able to cut my per-minute charge in half, from about 8 cents a minute, to less than 4 cents a minute. As I noticed local competition heating up, I was able to switch to my company's new lowest cost plan, which charged me less than 2 cents a minute.

I've just switched again, and now I'm paying less than $100 per month for basically unlimited local and long distance calls – and that's for four phone lines. That fee also gives me 4 voice mail boxes, free call forwarding, and free three-way calling.

The thing is, if you don't call the phone company and stay up-to-date on what plans are available, you could miss out saving hundreds of dollars a year.