insurance premiums

When it comes to insurance, it’s all about reducing risks. The whole point of insurance is to help you hedge against the risk that unexpected events could financially devastate you — or at least cost you a great deal more than you would like to pay. If you have an auto insurance policy, you might [...]

It’s open enrollment time for many health insurance plans. And that means you are finding out that premiums, deductibles and co-pays are probably on the rise. In some cases, benefits are shrinking as well. Many new health insurance plans won’t kick in until the new year, though, so that leaves a little more than a [...]

While there are many different opinions as to how much debt is too much, the two ratios below are the most widely used measures of how much debt is manageable. These ratios are also known as debt to income ratios (DTI). Many of you are reading this and other personal finance blogs in an attempt [...]

It’s Open Enrollment time at most employers, the time when you get to choose your benefits coverage for next year. You will review your chosen options, and make changes to them as needed. It’s important to be familiar with last year’s benefits. You may get a summary, but can use your paystub to see what [...]

Purchasing life insurance can be a little tricky. Insurance sales agents have a bad reputation for trying to get clients to purchase expensive products so that they can enjoy a larger commission check. Although not all insurance sales agents will try to use scare tactics to get you to buy the expensive products, here are [...]

All inheritances are not taxable to the recipients; it’s the estate that must pay taxes, if any are due. In 2009, the amount excluded from any tax due is $3.5 million, and next year, the estate tax is repealed, no tax regardless of the estate size. Unfortunately, the repeal lasts only for 2010, and the [...]

The follow article (Q&A) was provided to me by State Farm. After a careful review, I felt the information was useful and neutral enough to share. Regardless of what insurance company you decide to use, these tips should be equally applicable. Here’s the article:
Based on some research we did at State Farm, we realized that [...]

“When should I take Social Security?” is the first question everyone faces when contemplating retirement. More than 50% of all men and women start taking benefits at 62. By age 66, well over 90% of all men and women are taking benefits according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
The Break Even Approach
The [...]

If you have ever had to make an insurance claim, you know that your premium dollars pay for very important protection. Hopefully, you enjoyed a hassle free claims process. If you did have problems getting your claim paid, you probably considered finding another insurer. Either way, you learned the importance of having an insurance company [...]

As part of a new feature called Ask the M-Network, a reader submitted a question asking about where to find the best rates for home and auto insurance.  The question was from Steve, and he wrote:
I’ll be the first to ask a question. Can you recommend a good site on the internet to have my [...]