Manarin Investment Counsel, Ltd.

Retirement used to mean a guaranteed pension, full healthcare benefits and low inflation. Today, most of those things - living costs, health care expenses, social security, pensions and future employment income - are all uncertain.

Saving has become “the new reality” for people who want to ensure a comfortable retirement. In fact, according to this well-written article by Andrew B. Chou – click here  to read the article – retirees should count on funding close to 50 percent of their own retirement income through a variety of sources.

Perhaps this level of saving wasn’t in your original plans. However, the economic factors that contribute to these numbers won’t change anytime soon.

In our “new reality,” the sooner you start saving, the better off you’re going to be during your golden years.

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A number of factors go into a decision on where to live during retirement. Many folks choose Nebraska because they have family here, or because of our low cost of living.

However, retirees also might want to look at the state’s tax rate when making that decision. An article published last week on Marketwatch.com - click here to view the article - reveals that Nebraska is far from a tax friendly state.

• Nebraska is only one of 16 states in the union that taxes Social Security, and the state also taxes pension income

• The state’s tax rate on personal income – which during retirement might include Social Security, pensions, personal assets and wages – ranges from 2.560 percent to 6.840 percent.

• The state’s sales tax rate is 5.5 percent, which is close to the national median

And we all know about the state’s property tax rate. Taxes can be a considerable retirement expense, and based on these numbers, they will likely be one of the largest expenses for those choosing to retire in Nebraska. It’s tough to convince older family members to move here when taxation is so high.

At least we still have our famously low cost of living.

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Let me get this straight . . . .

We're going to be "gifted" with a health care
plan we are forced to purchase and
fined if we don't,  

Which purportedly covers at least
ten million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,  

written by a committee whose chairman
says he doesn't understand it,  

passed by a Congress that didn't read it but
exempted themselves from it,  

and signed by a President who smokes,  

with funding administered by a treasury chief who
didn't pay his taxes,  

for which we'll be taxed for four years before any
benefits take effect,  

by a government which has 
already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,  

all to be overseen by a surgeon general 
who is obese,  

and financed by a country that's broke!!!!!  

'What the hell could
possibly go wrong?'

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