Sales commissions drive the “advice” you get from brokers and other financial advisers. They promote products that pay them the highest commissions, even when they know about better (and cheaper) ones. Case in point: a story in Investment News on the newest tax-deferred annuities. These investments are notoriously expensive for consumers (although you rarely know [...]
The Tea Party movement represents more of a danger to our social fabric than you might think. It’s the visible spout of a monstrous whale of unrest, raging just below the surface of our national life.
In the 1930s, the most visible social unrest came from the left. It was communitarian, demanding help from the government [...]
The same banks that abused the public with deceptive credit-card pitches and exploding mortgages are demanding the freedom to do it again. And the Senate—that owned and operated subsidiary of Fat Cat, Inc.—might give it to them. The only—repeat, only—section of the financial reform bill that actually helps consumers is the proposed Consumer Financial Protection [...]
Another Cobra scandal, reported by the Los Angeles Times’ David Lazarus. Stacy Owens, 25, had her Aetna COBRA policy canceled. The company never told her about it. She discovered the cancellation in November, when a bill from one of her doctors wasn’t paid.
Turns out, the premium had gone up in August–but she wasn’t told about [...]
When your paycheck stops, that’s it. You’re done. You’ll have to match your manner of living to the resources you have–this year and for the rest of your life. You’d think that would be obvious, but there are a lot of ostriches around. They don’t want to think about life without a regular paycheck until [...]
