Medicare is a great program for retirees, but it ain't free. Even original Medicare has costs associated with it, and Medicare Advantage plans, which are issued by private insurance companies, can get quite spendy -- sometimes in ways you wouldn't expect. Before you sign up for such a plan, check the fine print for any of the following expenses to understand how much the plan will really cost you.

What retirees need to know, before they need it.

If you've helped an elderly friend or relative find and figure out how to pay for long-term care, or you've done so yourself, you likely confronted a bewildering maze of unfamiliar terms as well as extreme financial complexity.

​There's a reason workers are advised to save aggressively for retirement. Though you might ultimately end up spending less money in retirement than you do during your working years, there are certain costs, like healthcare, that have a tendency to sneak up on seniors. Throw in the fact that a good 30% of 65-year-olds and over still carry mortgage debt, and it's no wonder so many retirees wind up struggling financially to some extent. But while you can't bust out a crystal ball and determine exactly how much money you'll need in the future, you can do your part to prepare for the lesser-known expenses you're bound to encounter in retirement -- specifically, taxes.

Buffer annuities, also known as structured or variable-indexed annuities, are starting to gain traction.

These products, a cross between indexed and variable annuities, have seen sales surge, as several other annuities have seen sales retreat. The Insured Retirement Institute, in its state of the industry report published in December, went so far as to say buffer annuities are "beginning to flourish."

​Happy 26th birthday! It’s time to buy health insurance.

Whether you’re aging off your parents’ plan or want to leave the nest early, buying health insurance can seem daunting.

Should you purchase a high- or low-deductible plan? And what’s a deductible, anyway?

The process will look different for everyone, but we’re all on the hook. You’ll be hit with a tax penalty if you fail to buy coverage.

​Term life and whole life are two popular variations of life insurance policies. While the basic idea of providing much-needed cash in the event of your death is the same, there are some big differences between the costs and benefits of each one. Here's a rundown of both varieties, so you can make the best decision for your family.

The biggest advantages annuities offer is that they allow you to sock away a larger amount of cash and defer paying taxes.

One reason many people worry about not having enough money in retirement is that they (quite reasonably) fear needing long-term care and not being able to afford it -- or having to wipe out their savings in order to pay for it.

Last February, Samitha Hendrickson gave birth to her first child.

The labor and delivery were long and not without serious complications. Hendrickson needed an emergency C-section, or cesarean. Her newborn couldn’t breathe on his own and needed to be resuscitated.