Retirement

You may have heard of reverse mortgages as a way for seniors to tap the equity in their homes to pay for living expenses, but there are other ways that older homeowners are using their homes to get by.

With just five years left before you retire, you need to begin solidifying your plans. Make sure you're still on track, but also nail down where you'll live and how you'll meet your health care needs. Here's how:

Large numbers of middle-class Americans still aren't in a financial position to make saving for retirement a priority again, but on the whole, they're quite worried about it. Problem is, they may not be worried enough.

Antisa Khvichava of the Republic of Georgia died earlier this month at a reported age of 132. And if none of us are going to live quite that long, her example is still a good reminder that our ever increasing life span has some critical implications for our long-term financial planning.

When it comes to the economy, we tend to focus on our personal financial health -- things like how well our retirement savings are doing. Investment advisory firm FutureAdvisor's state-by-state breakdown sheds some interesting light on where people are getting ahead, and where they're falling behind.

If you're receiving Social Security benefits, your check will rise by 1.7% in 2013, thanks to that program's most recent annual cost-of-living adjustment. If, on the other hand, you're still working and paying into Social Security, your taxes are going back up next year.

We all know how hard it can be to build up a big enough nest egg for retirement. But because many retirees leave their IRAs and 401(k)s untouched as long as possible to avoid paying taxes, you might someday face the bittersweet experience of inheriting a retirement account.