When you’re buying homeowners insurance, and you’re one of the 63 million U.S. households that owns a dog, you should know that many companies have lists of dog breeds that they will not cover on the liability portion of the policy. Why? Homeowners insurance typically pays the victim whenever a dog bites or causes other [...]
Someday, maybe before long, it will become normal again to get on a plane, and the more daring of us might even decide to travel outside the United States. But as we ease back into long-distance vacations, there is going to be an uneasy period where there are greater than normal numbers of cancellations, delays [...]
Even after almost one year of living amidst a worldwide pandemic, many of us are still struggling with this change in our daily lifestyles and habits. Healthcare advocacy has since focused on slowing the spread of the virus, and it seems that basic fitness and wellness concerns have been pushed to the wayside, and understandably [...]
The U.S. Congress recently passed, and the President signed, the 5,593 page Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021—and experts are still mulling over what the impact will be on ordinary citizens. There are stimulus checks, tax planning relief provisions and a break for people who experience high medical expenses during the pandemic. There’s even a new [...]
Many people feel uncomfortable planning for life insurance because they connect it with "the end." Consequently, they fail to take the appropriate steps in order to protect loved ones financially. How does it work? “A life insurance policy is a contract with an insurance company. The company provides a lump-sum payment, known as a [...]
If you haven’t been really, really sick in the last few years, you may not have ever heard of the “donut hole” in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. This is the common name in the medical field for a quirky coverage gap where, if you incurred $3,750 worth of drug costs in any […]
Many people wait too long to create advance health directives and designate a health care surrogate, and the results can be tragic. A recent article, by a physician who is also a financial planner, illustrates a not-uncommon situation that nobody wants to find themselves in. The story begins with a woman suddenly becoming acutely […]
If you’ve looked at your portfolio performance statements, line-by-line, you might have noticed that your U.S.-based stock ETFs and mutual funds are doing really well, but your overall portfolio is not showing quite the same generous returns. Are you the only one? The answer is no; we are coming off of a remarkable decade […]
Flexible Powers When a person comes down with any of various forms of dementia, it means he or she requires additional amounts of care. It also means eventually taking away the checkbook and access to credit cards, to prevent the person with diminishing capacity from responding to Nigerian email pitches or late night infomercials. For […]
Medicare’s Future Several items that everybody seems to be overlooking in the recent budget deal signed by President Trump are potentially-significant changes to how Medicare is administered. First on the list is the elimination of Medicare’s independent payment advisory board, authorized under the Affordable Care Act to serve as a check on higher […]
