Your financial plan is about your goals and finances. But is it also about your health? In a recent blog post on the Forbes.com website, financial planner and medical professional Carolyn McClanahan suggests that your health status may be a crucial input into your overall financial plan. Why? Because it helps you know how long […]
Inflation has been pretty benign over the last 20 years, right? The U.S. Consumer Price Index has ranged from negative 0.4% in 2009 to a high of 3.8% in the awful 2008 economic year. In 13 of those 20 years, the CPI was below 2.5%, which is hardly comparable to the double-digit inflation rates that […]
Everybody should have a power of attorney. But not everybody knows exactly what it is or why it’s so important. A power of attorney is a legal document that empowers a person you trust to handle your financial affairs if and when you become incapacitated. While you’re up and around, the document just sits in […]
Suppose you’re the victim of a huge natural disaster like Harvey, or have experienced some more local damage, like a tree falling on your house. What are the best practices for filing a claim for the damages your home and property have suffered? Recently, the Consumer Federation of America offered tips on how to get […]
Everybody knows about life insurance, and disability insurance covers millions through corporate plans. Health insurance is always in the news thanks to the controversy around the Affordable Care Act. But what about the forgotten stepchild: Long-Term Care (LTC) insurance? How much do you know about it? How do you know whether you need it or […]
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to be consistently successful at complex and creative tasks, while others see only fitful success and repeated failure? The difference might not lie in talent or motivation, but simply in mindset—in the way these tasks are approached by people who take a professional mindset vs. the great […]
Companies tend to reward loyalty in their employees. Right? A recent article on the Forbes website uses simple math to suggest that loyal employees who stay employed at the same company for over two years at a time might be earning 50% less over 10 years, compared with less-dedicated workers who seek opportunity elsewhere. The […]
So far, the world markets seem to be shrugging off the sabre-rattling coming from North Korea (normal behavior) and the U.S. White House (complete departure from policy). The smart money is betting that the distant but suddenly headline-grabbing possibility of the first conflict between two countries armed with nuclear weapons will amount to a tempest […]
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and that means, to an economist, that sometimes it’s easier to communicate something complicated with a chart or a graph rather than a lot of explanatory text. So it is with three charts and a picture, selected for the eye-opening perspective they offer. The first, in the […]
When you think of insurance, chances are what first comes to mind is life insurance, which protects against premature death and therefore the loss of a lifetime of income. You might also think of car insurance, which helps pay the costs of an accident, and disability insurance, long-term care insurance and homeowners’ insurance. The underlying […]
