February 28, 2011
Filed under: Insurance, Insurance – Health Insurance, In the News
Most Americans don’t think about emergency care coverage until they actually need emergency care.
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February 26, 2011
Filed under: Retirement, Health, Wealth, Retirement Advice
Talking to your parents about growing old and their plans for the future is hard to do. After all, they still remember changing your diapers. What could you possibly know that they don’t?
Filed under: Debt, Family Money
By the time Cherie Kerr and her ex-husband finally went their separate ways, her ex had run up $89,000 in debt during the divorce proceedings alone. She knew that if she didn’t take action fast, that debt would scar her financial life forever.
In a way, Kerr knew the marriage was over before it began. Her husband, a home builder, almost immediately asked to borrow $100,000 on Kerr’s house to finance his business “and I stupidly agreed,” says Kerr, who owns a publicity firm in Santa Ana, Calif.
February 25, 2011
Filed under: Retirement, Wealth, Investing, Retirement – 401(k)
Retirement savers are back on track after the 2008 stock market downturn, according to a report from Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest provider of workplace retirement savings plans.
February 24, 2011
Filed under: Debt, Family Money, Career
When aggressive bill collectors recently targeted members of the military with scams and over-the-top collection techniques, New York’s attorney general this month issued a stern warning to debt collectors.
Unfortunately, debt collection abuses are not the only financial hazards facing military personnel and their families.
Filed under: Banking, Banking – Checking Account
Bank of America is now assessing fees to checking account holders who receive images of their canceled checks in the mail along with their statements.
Bank of America spokesman Don Vecchiarello says inserts were included with customers’ statements back in September alerting them that the change would be coming, but it seems that some customers were still caught unawares, if the venting on Twitter is any indication.
Filed under: Debt, Real Estate, Economizer
For homeowners, the key to becoming debt free for life is paying off your mortgage as quickly as possible. Of course you can’t even think about doing that unless you have the right kind of mortgage — which is to say, a 15- or 30-year fixed mortgage with payments you can afford to make. If you don’t have that kind of mortgage, I’m going to tell you how you can get one. But for the moment, let’s assume you either have that kind of mortgage or are shopping for a mortgage and can choose. How do you make the right choice so you can pay it off as quickly as possible?
Continue reading How to Pay Off Your Home Faster in Five Steps
February 23, 2011
Filed under: Retirement, Tax, Wealth
This isn’t an ugly mother-in-law story. Actually, I loved my mother-in-law, and her death at 85 was painful — far more painful than it really needed to be because she hated to talk about what she considered her personal affairs — especially when it involved money. And the rest of us didn’t want to bring up the subject either. Honestly, I would rather have asked her about her sex life than explore what she intended to do with the cash she had spent her lifetime squirreling away.
Death snuck up on my mother-in-law. On New Year’s Eve, she was out with eight of her widowed friends until after 1 a.m. and 15 days later, we held the funeral service. For at least the next six months, we’re going to be sorting through the confusion, trying to decide what Mom would have wanted.
February 22, 2011
Filed under: Retirement, Tax, Wealth
This isn’t an ugly mother-in-law story. Actually, I loved my mother-in-law and her death at 85 was painful — far more painful than it really needed to be because she hated to talk about what she considered her personal affairs — especially when it involved money. And the rest of us didn’t want to bring up the subject either. Honestly, I would rather have asked her about her sex life than explore what she intended to do with the cash she had spent her lifetime squirreling away.
Death snuck up on my mother-in-law. On New Year’s Eve she was out with eight of her widowed friends until after 1 a.m. and 15 days later, we held the funeral service. For at least the next six months, we’re going to be sorting through the confusion, trying to decide what Mom would have wanted.
Filed under: Borrowing, Debt, Family Money, Consumer Ally, Credit Reports
Following a series of debt-collection violations that victimized consumers, New York’s attorney general has issued a stern warning to debt collectors.