Older nonwealthy Americans are racking up credit card debt at a rate that outpaces other groups.
People age 65 and up carried an average of $10,235 credit card debt in 2008, according to a study released Tuesday by Demos, a public policy research group. That's an increase of 26% since the organization's last survey of low- and middle-income borrowers in 2005. The average debt for all borrowers in the survey rose MORE
Ismat Sarah Mangla - Jul 28, 2009 2:53 PM ET
There's no question about it: When you go to a doctor nowadays, you're more likely to be diagnosed with something, and sent home with a prescription, than you were a generation ago. A much tougher question to answer is whether or not these new diagnoses, and new tests and treatments that come along with them, are actually worth all the money they cost you and/or your insurance company.
As Darshak Sanghavi MORE
David Futrelle - Jul 25, 2009 8:11 AM ET
The 2010 fiscal year for most states began July 1. Facing severe budget shortfalls, some states have used the new year to introduce higher income tax rates. In Delaware, for example, the highest tax rate went from 5.95% to 6.95% on earnings over $60,000. In Hawaii, the maximum tax rate jumps from 8.25% to 11% for earnings above $200,000. And in New Jersey, the tax on earnings above $500,000 jumps MORE
Carolyn Bigda - Jul 16, 2009 7:00 AM ET
President Obama is a pretty good persuader, but he's been having a hard time selling his health care reform plan. His health care town hall meeting on ABC last Wednesday drew dismal ratings, garnering fewer viewers than a rerun of CSI: New York (and drawing gleeful responses from many of his non-fans). Meanwhile, some of his putative allies in the Democratic party have been sniping away at the plan, and MORE
David Futrelle - Jun 28, 2009 3:14 PM ET
I've been a personal-finance journalist for over a decade, and what I'm about to say almost amounts to heresy in my line of work: Some of your most pressing financial questions just don't have any satisfying answers. There may not be much you can do.
Most financial advice sounds like something out of a how-to manual. Building a table with a dovetail joint? Go get a fine-tooth saw and sharp chisels. MORE
Pat Regnier - Jun 11, 2009 1:25 PM ET
If there's one regulatory trend that may define 2009, it could be the creation of exchanges. The U.S. Treasury wants to start a type of exchange, or clearinghouse, for the buying and selling of over-the-counter derivatives, those obscure asset-backed contracts that helped bring the financial system to its knees.
Now, Congress is dabbling with the idea of creating a health insurance exchange.
Legislation with more details isn't likely to become available until MORE
Carolyn Bigda - Jun 10, 2009 3:45 PM ET
Last summer, when I was writing a story about health insurance options for early retirees, I found an incredibly useful resource for individuals trying to obtain health insurance for themselves and/or their families: a web site run by Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute. The web site, operating under the generic-sounding title healthinsuranceinfo.net, was a collection of 51 exhaustive guides to the rights and options that individuals have for obtaining health MORE
George Mannes - May 28, 2009 3:40 PM ET
Move over, The Money You Could Be Saving With GEICO. Obama trumped the poor little fellow with googly eyes when he announced earlier this week that bigwigs in the medical, hospital and insurance industries had pledged to him that they could shave some $2 trillion off our nation's health care costs over the next ten years.
Naturally, any time a government official says he can produce $2 trillion out MORE
Pat Regnier - May 15, 2009 9:30 AM ET
No doubt, health care costs are on a lot of people's minds. The average family with employer-provided insurance now pays $3,350 in annual premiums, up from $1,540 in 1999, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's latest survey of employer health benefits.
And costs are likely to get worse unless we change the way we pay for and use health care.
Well, today, the Employee Benefit Research Institute released a survey that asked regular MORE
Carolyn Bigda - May 6, 2009 4:02 PM ET
As if the disappearing 401(k) match wasn't depressing enough, brace yourself for a cut in another employer-provided benefit. It seems likely that employees will face a higher-than-usual increase in their share of paying for company-provided health insurance in 2010.
While rising health care costs aren't exactly anything new-they have climbed about 6% annually in recent years-the recession is apparently driving up usage of health benefits in 2009 to the point MORE
Pat Regnier - May 4, 2009 9:47 AM ET
As Washington dives into the great health care reform debate v. 2.0, Fidelity Investments released its latest estimate of health care costs for retirees.
If you're not sitting down, we'll wait.
Okay, here goes: A 65 year old couple retiring in 2009 will need about $240,000 to cover their health care costs in retirement. Yes, nearly a cool quarter-million or so. That sickening sum is 50% more than the 2002 Fidelity estimate. MORE
Pat Regnier - Mar 30, 2009 9:10 AM ET
