The hope is you’ll never need deposit insurance. The hope is your bank or credit union will remain solvent and your money will stay there safely.

With rising costs outpacing increases in income, consumers of all ages frequently rely on credit to help make ends meet. In just one generation, consumer revolving debt, most of which is credit-card debt, increased tenfold, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups. This economic reality becomes even more difficult for anyone living on a fixed income, and debt issues are becoming an increasing burden for senior Americans.

A power of attorney is a helpful document that allows one person to act on behalf of another out of convenience or necessity.

More specifically, Spokane attorney Richard Wall says, a power of attorney is a written instrument in which one person, referred to as the principal, gives another person, the agent, the legal authority to act on his or her behalf with the same legal effect as if the act were done by the principal.

The few who still have traditional pensions need to monitor plans’ health carefully.

Reviewing the performance of his 401(k) plan recently, my husband noticed that his first quarter’s contributions were roughly equal to the first quarter’s losses among his various mutual fund accounts. We’re doing what the experts advise and staying put, trying to ride out the choppy waters. But we can’t help but wonder if we’ll keep up with inflation—let alone have a comfortable retirement—as long as our progress is limited to treading water.

Younger seniors start to use reverse mortgages as retirement tool.

When looking toward the future, more people preparing for retirement might consider going into reverse—into reverse mortgages, that is.