July 2009 - Posts
Real Clear Politics, July 31st, 2009It's a fine time -- perfect, in fact -- to celebrate the
government-run, taxpayer-supported colossus in the American health care
system that turns 44 this week. Medicare has done all it was supposed
to do, and more.It
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Associated Press, July 30th, 2009Federal authorities arrested more than 30 suspects, including
doctors, and were seeking others in a major Medicare fraud bust
Wednesday in New York, Louisiana, Boston and Houston, targeting scams
such as "arthritis
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US News & World Report, July 27th, 2009The Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week discusses various tips to help you maximize your income from Social Security. Here is the question from
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CNN Money, July 28th, 2009Question: I expect to have about $50,000 in pension and
Social Security benefits when I retire. Do I need to buy an annuity or
should I just keep investing in stock and growth and income funds? --Michael, Columbus, GeorgiaAnswer:
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Arizona Republic, July 26th, 2009Selling life-insurance policies on the secondary market is an
increasingly popular way for investors to capitalize on one of life's
surest events: death.
Investors, including some major players on Wall Street, buy the
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CNN Money, July 23rd, 2009Retirement dreams are quickly fading for thousands of older workers,
as the severe market losses that ravaged once-healthy retirement
accounts over the last year force many seniors to work longer.There
were 430,000 people
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PR Newswire, July 23rd, 2009A new survey, released today by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL),
found that senior citizens are being forced to make drastic cuts to
their medical and food budgets due to the recession.
The
survey, conducted over
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Detroit Free Press, July 22nd, 2009Many people would rather talk about sex than about money, particularly
if it means having to disclose that they don't have enough.So it is with some reluctance and shame that many boomers-and-beyond
are admitting their
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Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, July 21st, 2009
Although it remains the goal of many households to repay their mortgage
by retirement, an increasing proportion now enters retirement with a
mortgage. At the same time, households
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Time, July 20th, 2009While the recession hasn't spared any age group, it's been particularly
brutal for older Americans who were counting on their (now shrunken)
nest eggs to last through their retirement years. To supplement their
stash, an increasing
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The New York Times, July 19th, 2009From the ninth floor of a downtown office building on Wilshire Boulevard, Jack Soussana delivered staggering numbers of mortgages to homeowners during the real estate boom, amassing a fortune.By Mr. Soussana’s own account,
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USA Today, July 20th, 2009Low savings rates and a rotten stock market
sent record numbers of savers to lock in current rates with fixed
annuities — precisely when rates were near rock-bottom.
Fixed annuity sales jumped 74%, to $35.6
billion, the
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The New York Times, July 17th, 2009You’ll be hearing a lot in the next six months about Roth Individual
Retirement Accounts — but not as much as you should about a long-term
threat that hangs over them.Starting Jan. 1, you’ll be able to take a regular
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The New York Times, July 17th, 2009Stay put or sell?That’s the question many older people ponder as they move into their 70s and beyond. Most
older people settle on staying put, according to a recent survey by the
Home Safety Council, a nonprofit organization
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San Francisco Chronicle, July 17th, 2009It's hard to believe, but there's one section of the housing market
that's going like gangbusters: the reverse mortgage industry, aimed at
senior citizens.Responsible reverse mortgages offer a wonderful opportunity
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MSN Money, July 16th, 2009West Virginia may not have much company if it pursues ending health
care subsidies for future public employees once they retire, a new
survey suggests.Just five states offer no subsidies to help
their retirees afford
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Reverse Mortgage Daily, July 15th, 2009Predicting a “massive boom coming” for the reverse mortgage
business, Vishaal Bhuyana, founder, V.B. Bhuyan & Co., says it will
be none too soon for seniors who will need the increased home equity
“to
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Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 16th, 2009As a consumer organization representing more than 700,000
Minnesotans age 50 and older, AARP would like to respond to reverse
mortgage broker Gail Wempner's July 13 Business Forum column, "Seniors
need reverse-mortgage
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The New York Times, July 14th, 2009House Democratic leaders took a big step toward guaranteeing health insurance for most Americans on Tuesday as they unveiled a bill that detailed how they would expand coverage, slow the growth of Medicare, raise taxes
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San Francisco Examiner, July 15th, 2009In order to maintain a reverse mortgage over the years after
closing, a fee must be added to the overall loan amount. Service on
loan is everything lenders or their agents do after closing it.
Servicing includes
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The Wall Street Journal, July 13th, 2009As of June 30, U.S. stocks have underperformed long-term Treasury bonds for the past five, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years.
Still, brokers and financial planners keep reminding us, there's
almost never been a 30-year
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Dallas Star-Telegram, July 10th, 2009Nancy Morrow was angry that her parents paid tens of thousands of
dollars in long-term-care insurance premiums, but when her parents
needed care, CNA Insurance Companies refused to pay.The family hired a senior advocate
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San Francisco Examiner, July 9th, 2009It is evident that the housing market is in dire straits due to the
frequent bailouts of major financial and automotive corporations. The
S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index reported that the top 20 cities
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California Progress Report, July 8th, 2009Just as Congress grapples with the Wall Street, banking and subprime
mortgage mess, California’s legislature is attempting to reshape state
laws governing the financial services industry, hoping to avoid a
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Bostonia, July 8th, 2009At a certain point in her forties, Paula Span
noticed that the conversation among her friends had changed: it was
less about growing toddlers, day care, and pediatricians, and more
about aging parents, assisted living, and geriatricians.
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Kiplinger.com, July 7th, 2009Reverse mortgages have been around for nearly 20 years, but it
wasn’t until the current financial crisis that they caught on. Seniors
are turning to these loans to tap the equity in their homes and
generate tax-free income
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Insurance News Net, June 30th, 2009Early this
year the woman overseeing the 401(k) plan for a rural Oregon company
gathered her 25 colleagues together to hold an election. At stake:
whether to continue paying AIG an annual 1.25% of assets to manage
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CNN, June 30th, 2009With the uncertainty of the market these days, a lot of investors
are running for cover with their retirement funds. No wonder sales of
fixed annuities surged 74% for the first three months of 2009,
according to research association
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US News & World Report, July 1st, 2009The rising popularity of federally insured reverse mortgages
attracted 1,500 new lenders into the program last year, more than
doubling the total of participating lenders. And while reports of
consumer abuse
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