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While no one ever wants to imagine their home filling with water, for many areas of the country, flooding is a scary reality for many homeowners. Whether a natural disaster is on the way or you simply want to be aware of how to protect your home when flash flood warnings sound, we have five steps to preparing your home for flooding.

Clear gutters. If flooding is predicted in your area, help your home out by clearing all gutters, downspouts and drains so your home can battle the rising water.

Elevate outdoor electric units.Outdoor generators, fuel tanks and air-conditioning units should not be left on ground level outdoors. Elevate them as best you can and securely anchor them so they don’t float away if flooding occurs.

Power down. Shut off your electricity via your breaker panel to stay safe.

Move items upstairs. When flooding is likely, take charge by moving items upstairs and further from the flood zone. Furniture, rugs, electronics and important paperwork should all be moved to the highest ground possible. Make copies of important paperwork and store them digitally so you don’t lose them.

Raise appliances. While you likely can’t lug your refrigerator upstairs, you can elevate your appliances on concrete blocks to minimize damage if only a few inches of water floods in.

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There is perhaps nothing more synonymous with luxury than a penthouse apartment.

Here are a few advantages you can expect by living in the height of luxury!

Extra Spacious

The penthouse is almost always the largest residence in the building.

Rooftop Terrace

Penthouse residences usually boast a private rooftop terrace that you can escape to high above the city.

Far-Ranging Views

If youre looking for a dwelling that captures breathtaking views of the cityscape, this is where you want to be.

Extra Natural Light

Often designed with taller ceilings and bigger windows, penthouses let in an abundance of natural light.

Status Symbol

It may not be important to you, but it goes without saying that penthouses are a status symbol.

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Compromise is an important part of marriage. From deciding how much to spend on a new living room set to what to watch on TV tonight, compromise is constant.

It can also be a big part of retirement conversations. While agreeing on the financial and logistical issues around retirement is great if you can get there, chances are, there are some aspects of a life together without work that will be a compromise. Getting on the same page before retirement can make it a lot easier.

Here are some topics couples should talk about before retirement:

When to Retire
Do you both plan on retiring at the same time? Maybe one person wants to wait until age 70 to receive the most Social Security benefits, while the other wants to collect them when they’re first eligible at age 62.

What Are Your Retirement Goals?
Each person may have different dreams of what retirement should be. One may want to travel immediately, while the other wants to stay home.

Both can be done, of course. Discussing what you want to do in retirement is one of the best things about planning for it. Doing those things together”after figuring out what they are”can make your retirement dreams come true.

How to Pay for It
Social Security is an important part of funding retirement, but it shouldn’t be the only way. If your goals are bigger than your assets, you’ll have to make some adjustments. To determine how much money you’ll have in retirement, a couple should meet with their financial advisor.

Each spouse should have access to their savings, investments, pension, insurance and other accounts, and have a short monthly meeting on where they stand. Make sure each person is listed on the paperwork for each account, and that beneficiary information is complete.

What’s in Your Will?
This is the unpleasant part of planning for retirement, but it’s something worth doing. Set up a will together so that your family knows how your estate will be handled, and what they should do about taxes and other financial issues. Your financial advisor should be able to help, as should an attorney.

This is the final step of retirement, and of life, and it’s one you don’t want to avoid. With proper planning, it will be after a long and enjoyable retirement.

Where toFind Free Help With Taxes
Preparing your tax returns can be a chore. The good news is that filing your taxes is free”if you can figure out how to fill out the forms accurately. If not, you may want to buy some tax preparation software or hire a tax preparer to do the detailed work for you.

If you prefer not to spend money for tax prep help, or don’t have the money for it, there are some free alternatives. Here are a few ways to get free help preparing and filing your taxes:

Free E-File Forms From the IRS
The IRS offers free file forms that can be completed online. The program operates from January through mid-October, when accounts are erased from the server. Estimated tax payments can be paid online, and tax refunds can be paid through direct deposit to your bank.

For incomes above $64,000, free file forms are available. The forms offer only basic guidance, and you must know how to do your taxes yourself. You must have your tax return available, and state tax prep isn’t available.

Free File
For incomes below $64,000, another IRS program, called Free File, offers help. It works with a dozen tax software companies in the Free File Alliance to provide free tax filing assistance.

The program is geared toward low- and moderate-income taxpayers. Some may have restrictions on age and where you live, and the program will walk you through programs that meet your criteria. After selecting the software that works best for your tax situation, you’ll be transferred from IRS.gov to the company’s website to complete your returns.

AARP Aide
The AARP Foundation offers free help through its Tax-Aide program that’s run by volunteers.

The program has helped nearly 50 million low- to moderate-income taxpayers since 1968, and is available to anyone 50 and older who can’t afford a tax preparation service.

It’s offered at more than 5,000 locations in libraries, malls, banks, community centers and senior centers. AARP membership isn’t required.

Volunteer Income Tax Association
Known as VITA, this program from the IRS offers free tax help to people who generally make $54,000 or less, persons with disabilities, and limited English-speaking taxpayers. IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing.

Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE)
The TCE program is another IRS program, offering free help for all taxpayers, but focusing on people 60 and older. Its volunteers specialize in questions and pensions and retirement issues that are unique to seniors. It’s offered at the same types of sites where the AARP program is, and many of the TCE sites are operated by the AARP Tax-Aide volunteers. Some sites also offer free help with web-based tax prep software to file basic federal and state tax returns.

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These are the best spaces to have in your home for a digital detox.

Library

Theres nothing quite like curling up in a cozy chair and getting lost in a good book.

Fitness Area

Forget your worries while connecting with your body and taking care of yourself.

Meditation Room

A meditation room is the perfect antidote when youre feeling burnt out on technology.

Game Room

Choose one night a week and spend time connecting with each other instead of your devices.

Home Spa

Having your own little spa area at home is a surefire way to help you unplug and spend some time with your thoughts.

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A common phone call that new credit cardholders get from their bank is an offer for credit card add-on products, such as protection against fraud and identity theft. Payment protection is another service offered regularly, providing a monthly payment to the cardholders account if they lose their job or are sick in the hospital.

Credit monitoring and debt-cancellation products are optional and are paid for through a monthly or annual fee.

Before signing up for these products, consumers should know some facts about them, such as that theyre not required to activate a new credit card. There are also some questions to ask the salesperson to make sure theyre only getting the add-on products they want. Here are some things to consider:

Buying them is optional: Not only are such products not required to be purchased before a credit card is activated, but some salespeople imply that theyre free. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that one bank didnt ask consumers if they wanted the product, but confirmed enrollment by asking for their city of birth.

The bank also made it seem like consumers were receiving a benefit or simply updating their account, or that they were agreeing to receive more information about the product.

Services paid for not always provided: The CFPB has also found that some cardholders didn’t receive the credit monitoring services they paid for because the bank didn’t properly process their authorization or match the cardholders information to their files.

Hard to cancel: Debt cancellation products can be marketed as easy to cancel, but thats not always the case.

The CFPB found that a bank had a sales incentive plan that paid customer service representatives for a “save” when they kept a customer enrolled after attempting to cancel. Consumers were often unable to cancel unless they were willing to demand cancellation multiple times in succession.

Get it in writing: Before buying any credit card add-on products, review the terms, costs and benefits in writing. When asking for written information, make it clear that you don’t want to enroll in anything until you have the written information and decide you want the product.

Also avoid “trial periods” until you read the terms of the trial period in writing. Some trial periods allow the company to begin automatically charging you for the product at the end of the trial period, unless you call or write the company.

I hope you found this real estate information helpful. Please contact me for all your real estate needs today!

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Heres what you need to know before designing your indoor vertical garden…

Design Details

Indoor living walls require a series of pockets to hold the plants, as well as drip irrigation systems.

Pick Your Plants

Sunlight will determine the plants best suited to your vertical garden. Golden pothos and crotons do well in bright, indirect light…

…While ferns can grow quickly in shady places.

Sit Back and Enjoy the Benefits

A living wall will improve your homes air quality, remove pollutants for a healthier atmosphere and reduce stress.

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One of the easiest ways to build credit and improve a credit score is to open a secured credit card. Whether youre young and new to credit, or are looking to improve your credit score because of past financial problems, a secured credit card can help.

Instead of providing a high credit limit like an unsecured credit card does, a secured card uses a deposit that you provide”such as $500″as your credit limit. The credit card issuer pulls money from the deposit if you dont make a credit card payment.

For people with no credit history or poor credit history, a secured credit card may be the only type of credit card they can get. Someone with no credit is likely to benefit the most from a secured credit card because there wont be any negative information on their credit report.

For those with bad credit, a secured credit card may help raise their score, but it may be a slower process because of the negative information thats already on their credit report.

To get the most out of it, use as little of the available credit as you can. This will leave you with a low credit utilization rate, which can improve your credit score. The best thing you can do is not miss any payments, since late or missed payments have the biggest impact on a credit score.

The credit reporting agencies will look at a secured credit card with the same criteria as an unsecured card. These include when the card was opened, the credit limit, balance and payment history. The benefit is that a secured credit card should be easier to qualify for so that a consumer can build their credit.

Just like unsecured credit cards, secured cards can have annual fees. Eventually, you should see your credit score improve enough so that you qualify for an unsecured credit card with a higher credit limit. You can then cancel your secured credit card and get your deposit back. And having your $500 or so back in your hands may feel just as good as having a higher credit score.

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The savings rate in America is pretty abysmal. Fifty-seven percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts, according to a 2017 GOBanking Rates survey.

Without savings, people can be forced to take on debt when they lose their job, get sick or have major car repairs. Fortunately, there are some easy ways to trick yourself into saving money, whether for retirement, college, a new car, vacation or a rainy day. Here are five:

Automatic Transfers
Having money automatically moved from your paycheck to a retirement account, or from your checking account to savings, can be a painless way to save money without realizing youre doing it. Its called Pay yourself first and it is meant to pay into your retirement or other savings accounts so that you pay your future self first. Otherwise, its money youre likely to spend.

Hide It
Automatic transfers are one way to hide your money and keep it out of your sight so you dont spend it. There are other ways to hide your savings, though you dont want to hide it so well that you forget it exists.

Set up savings accounts at another bank than where your checking account is. This will help you avoid seeing the balance when you log in to your checking account. It also makes the savings account a little more difficult to get to since its not at the same institution as your checking account.

Sign up for paperless statements where your savings accounts are, such as retirement accounts, so you dont see the balance too often. Check in a few times a year and set up text or email alerts for withdrawals or unusual activity so you arent a victim of fraud.

Digital Savings
Did you ever have a container at home to put your spare change into? Apps on your phone can do the same thing. Apps such as Digit and Acorns transfer spare money from your checking account to a savings account, or invests it. Some banks round up debit card purchases and transfer the change to your savings account.

Bank Any Extra Money
If you save money by canceling a cable TV subscription or other service, move that monthly savings into a savings account each month with an automatic transfer. Otherwise, the money will stay in your checking account and will likely be spent elsewhere.

For one-time windfalls, such as a tax refund, deposit it into your savings account or buy a one-year certificate of deposit. If you try to take out the money early from a CD, youll be charged a small penalty.

Did you recently get a raise at work? Bank that extra money in your paycheck, as well.

Stuff $1 Bills Away.
Along with saving your coins at the end of the day, put aside every $1 bill you have in your pocket. Put them in a change jar and, at the end of the week or the end of the month, gather them all and deposit them into your savings account.

If you really want to save big, save your $5 and $10 bills.

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