All Insurance Articles

For many workers the vanishing defined benefit plan, or pension, means the top retirement goal is finding a way to generate cash through 20 or 30 years of life without a paycheck. Millions of baby boomers are hoping they'll be able to come up with enough income so that, when paired with Social Security, they will be able to continue their pre-retirement lifestyles. Fixed and variable Read more...

As health care consumers endure higher deductibles and reduced insurance benefits, it is becoming more important to understand and even negotiate prices before receiving medical treatment. Dr. Kathryn Stewart, medical director of care management at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, believes that patients can and should be more proactive about seeking the best prices for their Read more...

When Shakespeare observed, "What fools these mortals be," he easily could have been referring to our tendency to buy unnecessary or downright useless insurance. Granted, some insurance coverage is absolutely necessary, including home, health, auto, life and long-term disability. Ignore these at your peril. But on more than a dozen policies -- especially narrowly focused Read more...

As consumers continue to be rattled by a seemingly bottomless pit of bad financial news, they're looking for ways to ensure their entire bank deposits are covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It's not difficult to exceed the $100,000 limit on individual accounts, or the $250,000 limit on certain retirement accounts. In fact, the FDIC says that less than 62 percent of the $6.88 Read more...

As the economy weakens and prices soar on everything from gas to groceries, Americans are looking for quick ways to cut their expenses and hold on to more cash. Fortunately there are plenty of ways to chop your spending without a lot of time or hassle. Some of these cuts will save you just a few dollars, while others can net even bigger savings. Add them all up, and you could trim Read more...

Whether you're living on- or off-campus, know what's on the line when you sign a housing contract or a lease. In both cases, you're agreeing to abide by a set of rules and if you're caught breaking them, consequences range from financial penalties to eviction. Parents have a major stake in these contracts because in many cases the financial penalties fall on them if they are covering their Read more...

Life expectancy has increased dramatically during the last 100 years, and the two main fears that people have are outliving their retirement savings and not having something to bequeath to their heirs. Many investors need options in addition to traditional and Roth individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and pension plans. A key to investing is finding ways to avoid -- not evade -- taxes, Read more...

In their new book "Fiscal Fitness," fitness guru Jack LaLanne and investment adviser Matthew J. Rettick team up to offer "8 Steps to Wealth and Health" that they believe will help readers live well into their retirement while having enough money to enjoy it. According to a statistic in their book, 57 percent of seniors have assets below $5,000, or less than the cost of one month of Read more...

Get ready to say goodbye to the days of high-fat meals, junk food snacks and that after-work cigarette you always enjoy smoking -- at least if you intend to have a job and health insurance. The rules of the workplace are changing, and personal behavior and lifestyle habits -- those unrelated to what you do at work -- are now fair game for employers determined to cut health-care costs. If Read more...

Joining the ranks of the uninsured at any age constitutes trauma, but for those who retire before they qualify for Medicare, it's scarier than snakes on a plane. Just at the point when the ailments of aging begin to crop up, people are vulnerable to losing their insurance as they leave the workplace, voluntarily or otherwise. About 800,000 pre-Medicare retirees are uninsured. Another Read more...

As people live longer and medical costs increase, people nearing retirement worry that paying for health care will wipe out their savings. Close to a third of people 50 and older are not confident they will be able to pay for health care and long-term care in retirement, according to the AARP's 2005 The State of 50-plus America report. Health is a key budget challenge, said Read more...

Searching for health insurance on your own can be a daunting task. One strategy is to turn to a professional organization or other association that offers health insurance among its benefits. That can be a good alternative if the association is a well-established membership organization set up to offer a range of benefits and can negotiate group rates from insurance companies. But Read more...

If you operate abusiness from your home, it's important that you obtain adequateinsurance for it, just as if you had a separate office. Even a smallhome business deserves full protection against calamity. Mostimportant, never rely exclusively on your normal homeowner's policy. Ifyou do, bad things can happen: After your computer is stolen, you may find out that it's not covered by your Read more...

Homeowners who file frequent insurance claims, have bad credit or even call their insurer to dutifully report a broken window may be in for a rude awakening when the time comes to renew their policies. That's because all of these actions can be noted in homeowners' history files, causing insurers to view them as greater risks for filing future claims. These homeowners could face higher premiums Read more...

Have you ever been hesitant to tell your car insurer about minor damage to your car because you were afraid of skyrocketing rates?The Insurance Information Institute reports that the average expenditure for car insurance has steadily increased each year since 1999. If no other party is involved, you may be tempted to keep quiet about a minor claim.But why have insurance if you can't use it when Read more...

This is not your father's retirement. Chances are, Dad left the company with a gold watch, a pension that included health insurance and a Social Security check he could count on. His life expectancy past retirement was fewer than 10 years -- so those resources weren't stretched. The picture will be decidedly different for people who retire in the next 20 years -- no watches, no pensions Read more...

Pensions may be going the way of rotary phones, but retirees looking for a substitute may want to investigate immediate annuities. These insurance products are expected to grow in popularity as the number of traditional pensions declines and baby boomers scramble for guaranteed sources of income, according to James Lange, author of "Retire Secure!" (John Wiley & Sons, Read more...

You've lived the good life. You cut your teeth on the Beatles, cut your hair for a career, traveled, eaten in fancy restaurants, lived in nice houses and owned flashy cars. As a vibrant member of the live-for-today generation, you've indulged your passions.Now, as one of the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, you and other baby boomers are looking ahead to retirement. For perhaps Read more...

As health-care consumers endure higher deductibles and reduced insurance benefits, it is becoming more important to understand and even negotiate prices before receiving medical treatment. Dr. Kathryn Stewart, medical director of care management at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, believes that patients can and should be more proactive about seeking the best prices for their Read more...

You can't avoid the rapidly rising costs of prescription drugs. Even if you have insurance coverage, costs are increasingly being passed on to consumers, as employers raise premiums, drop insurance coverage or shift to high-deductible plans without drug coverage. The battle to control drug costs will escalate even further as drug companies introduce cutting-edge remedies into the market that Read more...