Illinois Long Term Care Insurance - Do You Need an Illinois Long Term Care Insurance Policy?

It is very important for all residents of Illinois to evaluate their needs for an Illinois long term care insurance policy. All adult residents of Illinois, both young and old, should seriously research this important type of insurance coverage if they do not want to have to unduly burden their loved ones in the event of a debilitating disease, go into bankruptcy due to medical bills, or worse. Finding long term care insurance is a serious issue but there are certainly some things that all IL residents can do to find a cheap Illinois long term care insurance policy.

Iowa Floods: Reconsidering Flood Insurance

This is not how I like to get reminded of things, but sometimes that’s just how it goes. I hope all those out there affected by the floods are at least safe. A few months ago I wrote about buying flood insurance even if you are not required to by your mortgage lender. This means you are outside the 100-year floodplain, but could still be in the 500 year floodplain (1 in 500 chance each year, or 0.2%). Check if you are in a flood plain here. We got quotes, but never actually got around to buyin

Carnival of Money Stories #64 - Time to Listen to Others Edition

Carnival of Money Stories #64 - Time to Listen to Others Edition All of us have many stories to tell but when do we ever spend time to read or listen to other people’s stories?  Well, here’s your chance with the 64th edition of Carnival of Money Stories!  As always, there are many great stories for us to learn from as long as we are willing to do so! Editor Choice Terry Dean presents From a Sale to An Experience. What are you doing to turn a sale into an experience? Dorian Wales presents Th

Service Member's Group Life Insurance (SGLI)

SGLI is a low cost program of group term life insurance available automatically to all service members on active or inactive duty for training and members of the Military Reserves. These policies are automatically activated for the current maximum coverage amount of $250,000 dollars, unless a soldier or sailor opts out in writing. A member of the service can elect lower coverage or no coverage at all by completing VA Form SGLV-8286. Term Life Insurance coverage is available for spouses as well; dependent children are automatically insured for $10,000 dollars. In addition, there is an additional elected coverage option for up to $100,000 for a spouse.

Bad Investment? Losing The Million Dollar House, Literally

Last weekend, we got a chance to catch up with some family friends (Mr. and Mrs. B.) during a nice sit down dinner with our family. We got to swapping stories on real estate and business for a little bit, and it was as invigorating as we always expect it to be. The conversation, however ventured onto some awkward territory when we inquired about our friends’ latest real estate investment, which was their second home â€" a dream home at that, sitting right at the edge of the California coast. It w

Levees on Rio Grande Need Repairs

Joel Gay over at the New Mexico Independent, for which I also write, has a great piece up about the state of the levees on the Rio Grande river.ALBUQUERQUE -- The thick earthen levees that were built decades ago to prevent the Rio Grande from flooding into Albuquerque are so old and in such poor condition that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says they need to be rebuilt. The estimated cost to local and federal taxpayers: $120 million.That seems like an obscene amount of money, but in the grand

McCain’s mistake: Putting economic issues on the front-burner

John McCain recently acknowledged, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” That’s a perfectly accurate self-assessment, but the Republican presidential hopeful is in a bit of a jam â€" he hoped to ride into the White House merely by being wrong about Iraq. Now that the economy is the top issue on voters’ minds, McCain has no choice but to at least pretend like he cares about the issue and has a clue as to what he’s talking about. Yesterday, then, was a big

Monoline Malaise

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism had a good post on the financial guarantors. It dealt with MBIA’s new refusal to make a capital contribution to its subsidiaries. Here’s the company’s take on the matter. And here was my comment at her (Yves’) blog: David Merkel said… Were I Dinallo, I would refuse to allow them to set up a new monoline. He has that authority for his own state. I might also take the existing companies into conservation. Then, let MBIA take their spare capital and try to set up a

Scott Burns on His New Book, The Housing Market, and Gas Prices… (an Interview)

Scott Burns is a busy man. However, he’s not too busy for AFM readers, which is a good thing! Below is an email interview I had with Scott about what’s going on in his life. If after reading the interview, you have questions, please leave a comment and I’ll see if I can get Scott to stop by and answer them. Enjoy! It has been two years since I last interviewed you. What have you been up to? I’m still writing my syndicated column. But I left the Dallas Morning News and started AssetBuilder, a

Big Wave Trampoline: Slippery When Wet

If underwater pogo-sticking isn’t your style of extreme summer fun, there are plenty of other ways to get your dose of cool water in the summer heat while putting your precious body at risk. Trampolines aren’t the safest of activities even when they aren’t soaked in a layer of fall-inducing water, but add a little bit of slip-and-slide fun, and you have yourself a toy made for the most daring of kids. The 13′ Big Wave Trampoline mixes the fun of jumping up and down over and over again at uns

Mathematics

How important is mathematics in the rearing of a child? Speaking personally, mathematics shaped me. The son of poor working class parents, living in a basement apartment in a strange town without relatives at a time when six years of world war had impoverished the nation, I was fortunate in having a father who believed in education. He took a second job to pay the £7 a term for me to go to a small private school at the age of 4. I could already read by the age of 2, though my reading matter was

My Life Is So Much More Fascinating Now, Here's Why:

Are you or aren't you the type of person who likes to read about other people's weekends??? And do you also like a few extra question marks after a leading question??? (why not???) Good. Because this is a little photo essay about my weekend. First of all, at the risk of losing our house insurance on Retro House Chup had to build a trusty handrail off of our back steps. He went the extra mile and painted it green. My question? Who uses handrails these days??? Second of all, I am sad to report

When to Ask For Help

The “refining fire” I mentioned earlier this week has lessened thanks to the generosity of our church family. We had an unexpected bill from our auto insurance company, who had decided that we were a credit risk and put us on a six month plan instead of a monthly payment! I learned later from our elder, who is also an insurance agent for a different company, that they shouldn’t have done that to a 10-year + loyal customer. Well, I paid the bill out of fear and was left very short for the month

Steal This Painting

Matthew Yglesias goes on vacation and his blog gets culture. Guest-blogger Alyssa notes a Smithsonian magazine list of the top 10 art heists of all time. Only three of those cases also pop up on the FBI's top-10 list, which just goes to show that the black market for art is storied. Alyssa writes, "Prints are cool, but it's fun to imagine having the real thing tucked away to look at." But that's only ever been the established motive in one case: the theft of Goya's Portrait of the Duke of Wel

Breast Cancer Awareness: Help Make June Survivor Month!

Before we go straight to the point, we understand that some of you had read this article on breast cancer before. This is, in fact, the third time that you will be reading it. Nevertheless, we do not mind posting it again, because breast cancer is not a plaything. If we do nothing about it, our lives can be destroyed, but if we act now, our lives can be saved. Breast cancer occurs when cancer cells start to develop in the breast tissues. In the recent years, breast cancer has become rampant

Car insurance for burlesque performers - aargh!

Ok, so I know this may seem like a weird thread, but it is burlesque-related, honest! Recently my car insurance came up for renewal, but as I'm no longer going to be a student, using the car for work etc, I've had to make some changes to the policy. So, I decided to scout around a bit and see what kind of quotes I came up with and you wouldn't believe the problems I ran into! 3 different agencies turned me down because of my occuapation (working in the Arts) and when I asked why, I was told b

Pelosi et al want to install the unelectable Barack

Friday and Puerto Rico. This is a big and important primary even if Nancy Pelosi is saying the race is already settled. Nancy Pelosi is not the ruler of the universe. She's not even the ruler of the Democratic Party. The people are the rulers, or they are supposed to be, in what is supposed to be the People's Party. So if Nancy Pelosi attempts to hijack the process and install her crush Barack Obama as the nominee, she's not just sending a message that the voters don't matter to the party, sh

So That There is a Tomorrow

Even though tomorrow never saw the light of day for my Gujarati dal made with kokum, I like to think and work towards a tomorrow for all the important things in life. And that is what I have been busy with. A brighter tomorrow. At least that is how I like to look at it. Life has been full of surprises over the past couple of months. I touched briefly on how cancer has touched our lives again on A Mad Tea Party, which has since reverted to being the fabulous blog it used to be, heart and soul in

Guest Post

My massage therapist Rose emails out a monthly newsletter. This month’s newsletter contained the following article she wrote on health care and stress. Since I liked the article so much, and both topics are subjects I am interested in, I asked Rose if I could post it. I got her permission to do so. It is called: My Two Cents I watched a documentary on PBS recently, called “Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and in Wealth”. My students will tell you that I am very interested in seeing how our countr

Obama as Robin Hood: Why Soaking the Rich Doesn't Work

For months now, Barack Obama has been campaigning as a latter-day Robin Hood. He touts a vision of an America in which he will take from the evil rich and give liberally (pun fully intended) to the worthy poor: John McCain has served his country with honor, and I respect that service. But for two decades, he has supported policies that have shifted the burden on to working people. And his only answer to the problems created by George Bush’s policies is to give them another four years to fail. J

Downsize for Equity in Retirement Years

If you’re close to retirement and have a lot of equity locked up in your home, consider downsizing as a means of supplementing your savings and reducing your overhead. The cost to maintain a large home in your later years can often be very high with increasing utilities, homeowners insurance, and property taxes so it might make sense to move into a smaller home with a more manageable space. A side benefit of downsizing is that you might be able to recapture the equity you’ve built up and put it