Filed under: Insurance, Health, Insurance – Health Insurance
We’ve been seeing a lot of stories about people who say they’re healthy and shouldn’t be forced to waste the money on health insurance. For example, a recent story in The New York Times talks about a man who earns about $25,000 and never bought health insurance and doesn’t think he needs it. He doesn’t want to spend money on something he calls a “maybe” — maybe I’ll get sick.
Filed under: Retire
Checking out “best places to retire” lists is like taking a cross country road trip to obscure American towns: Lubbock, Tex. Manhattan, Kansas. State College, Penn. Why would anyone want to live out their golden years in a seemingly random town? And in the first place, why are there so many lists?
“First off, everybody knows that lists and ratings are popular. People just love that stuff,” says Mike Alfred, the CEO of BrightScope, a 401k rankings and research company. “There are so many people in this country who won’t be able to retire where they spent their working career. A lot of people have to consider if they can ever retire if they continue to live in Manhattan or San Diego.”
Filed under: Banks
His stringy hair still needs a wash, but it’s a bigger, better, safer Benjamin Franklin on the refurbished $100 bill introduced today. The bill goes into circulation in February, tricked out with new security measures that might have pleased the tinkerer in Franklin, a Founding Father who invented the lightning rod.
A blue 3-D ribbon on the front casts images of bells and 100s that shift from one to the other when the bill is tilted. The “Bell in the Inkwell” changes from copper to green as you alter your perspective. See for yourself.
Filed under: Money College, Insurance, Health, Insurance – Health Insurance
Major insurers — Humana, Kaiser Permanente, UnitedHealthCare, and WellPoint — announced they will extend insurance to those graduating from college and soon to be kicked off their parents’ health insurance plans. Officially, the new healthcare reform law requires health insurers to allow young adults to stay on their parents’ plan until they are 26, but that provision doesn’t kick in until Sept. 23.
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Debt, Real Estate, Wealth, Credit Cards, Retirement Advice
Financial writer Kathy Canavan, who I have known since back in the days when neither of us had any money to manage, wrote a piece this week for USA Today pointing out eight financial “deadly sins” that can leave you living in a cardboard box.
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Debt, Real Estate, Wealth, Credit Cards, Retirement Advice
Financial writer Kathy Canavan, who I have known since back in the days when neither of us had any money to manage, wrote a piece this week for USA Today pointing out eight financial “deadly sins” that can leave you living in a cardboard box.
Filed under: Banks, Budgets, Technology, Economizer
At a time when most banks and savings institutions are sending out notices saying that interest rates are falling, SmartyPig announced this morning that it is increasing the interest rate it pays savers from 2.01% to 2.15% APY. While these days the only companies raising interest rates are credit card companies, SmartyPig wants to stand out as a resource for savers by raising its rate too.
Filed under: Credit, Debt, Identity Theft, Credit Reports
What’s your score? No, this isn’t a pick-up line. Every time you apply for a loan, an apartment or a credit card, companies contact credit bureaus like Experian and TransUnion to obtain your score — your credit score that is. That number and your credit history can often times make or break a deal.
Filed under: Insurance, Travel
With some European air service resuming today or tomorrow, the next few days will likely be dominated by news regarding how travel insurance companies are dealing with what volcanic ash did to people’s travel plans. The short answer: Well, there is no short answer.
Several large travel insurance companies said call volume skyrocketed to 50% higher than normal this weekend as stranded passengers grappled with whether their plans would pay out for mounting hotel, transportation and food costs. Some travelers even reported that their hotel costs went up overnight, in some cases leaving them broke.
Filed under: Banks, Borrowing, Mortgages
Just when owners think their mortgage nightmare has ended with the loss of their home through foreclosure, the next round of bad news knocks at the door: the bank holding their second trust deed demands repayment of the loan.