Insurance

How Reading My Mail Saved Me $1,566.87

Because the letter was in a very plain, unofficial, innocuous looking envelope,  I nearly pitched it.  However, I decided to give it a look.  Good thing!  Here it is:

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Are Extended Warranties Worth It? It Depends.

Financial guru Dave Ramsey states unequivocally that extended warranties are rip-offs.  As a Ramsey follower, I agree.  I regularly smile and say “no thank you” when Best Buy or Wal-Mart asks, “would you like a warranty with that product?” Reasons to self insure Because these warranties are high profit items (many studies indicate over 50%), [...]

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Your Emergency Fund is for More Than Emergencies

Homer and Tricia (fictitious names) were doing well. Or so it seemed. Homer had a good paying government job and Tricia was self employed. They had a mortgage on a nice house and were making payments on a nearly new car. They carried credit card debt, but “so does everyone”, they reasoned. Then the unexpected [...]

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How to Help Your Child Purchase That First Car

We have done a few things right and several things wrong in helping our four children get that first car. Hopefully, you can repeat our “rights” and avoid our “wrongs” as we explore the issue of helping your teen with his/her first car purchase.  These tips should help:

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What Health Care Reform Means for Health Care Workers’ Salaries

I want to thank Joy Paley, my guest contributor, for today’s post.  Knowing that Joy works in the health care career field, I requested an article explaining what impact the new Health Care legislation will have on salaries for health care workers.  Thank you, Joy, for your well researched post. By: Joy Paley, a writer [...]

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You CAN Afford That Baby – Ten Money Saving Tips

You have read those cost projections for raising children. MSN, back in 2001 projected a cost of $249,180 (over $350,000 in 2010 dollars) for a family with a $65,800 or greater income. The Baby Center web site tells us the cost of raising a child from baby to adulthood is $266,698. The Wall Street Journal [...]

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Should You File That Insurance Claim?

Our daughter Jaime recently called to tell us, through angry tears, that she learned from her mortgage company that her homeowner’s insurance policy had been cancelled. Evidently, when the mortgage holder tried to make a payment from Jaime’s escrow account, the insurance company couldn’t accept it because Jaime was no longer insured. After cooling down [...]

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Settling an Insurance Claim After an Accident – Struggling with Guilt, Doubt and Greed

Our normal anxieties in dealing with insurance companies are based on the concern that we won’t be sufficiently compensated. However, not everyone fits this mold.  This post is based on an email from one of my clients (I will call her Carol) who, because she had been injured in an auto accident, is in the [...]

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Why Joe and Jan Do Not Have Long Term Care Insurance

In spite of what the title seems to infer, this post is not about the pros and cons of Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI); it is simply a post about Joe and Jan … and why they don’t have Long Term Care Insurance. Some background The year before I turned 60, I started researching Long [...]

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