Steps to take if hit with a big medical bill
An enormous medical bill can trigger a wave of panic, but that startling invoice that arrived in the mail may not be what you wind up paying. Errors or slow insurance payments may have inflated the total. Even if it’s accurate, financial aid or other assistance can help. Sometimes a simple phone call clears up a problem. Other times, reinforcements are necessary. Debt experts say ... READ MORE
What’s concierge medicine? Is it worth it?
My primary care doctor recently left her practice and invited me to join her at her new gig — a concierge medicine group. There, for a membership fee, I’d have better and more personal access to her services, including same-day appointments and long conversations. Concierge medicine — a model in which patients pay a membership fee for a more direct relationship with a primary care... READ MORE
Mailed checks are fueling fraud schemes
Check fraud is back in a big way, fueled by a rise in organized crime that is forcing small businesses and individuals to take additional safety measures or to avoid sending checks through the mail altogether. Banks issued roughly 680,000 reports of check fraud to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, also known as FinCEN, last year. That’s up from 350,000 reports in... READ MORE
What meal kits offer and what they cost
No more figuring out what to do with a giant bunch of parsley or a tub of sour cream before it spoils. A meal kit — a box of chef-created recipes and premeasured ingredients delivered to your home — will help reduce food waste and spice up your cooking with a dollop of convenience on the side. We looked at three of the largest meal kit companies — HelloFresh, Sunbasket and Blue... READ MORE
Ask these questions of financial advisers
Using a financial adviser for your investment needs is 100% on brand, but what about the other parts of your retirement life? For example, a third of people ages 64 and up have a financial adviser, but only 2% of them asked their adviser to help with their Medicare choices, according to a July 2022 report from healthcare consulting firm Sage Growth Partners. But Medicare and other... READ MORE
Lessons learned from a job search at 77
I’m female, 77 years old and, so far, retired. For the past couple of years, my finances have been going backward, thanks to some expensive decisions, i.e., concierge medical services, along with the rising prices everyone is facing. Maybe it was the residual effect of the pandemic, but it was clear something had to change. I nagged myself daily that I needed more order in my life. I... READ MORE
To fix Social Security yet protect benefits
In the May 15 issue of Barron’s, Burton Malkiel, an expert in investments, wrote an article that should be mandatory reading for all members of Congress. Many readers of my column who are dependent on Social Security are concerned — and rightly so — that some Social Security benefits may be reduced in the future. There is no question that the trust funds for Social Security have ... READ MORE
Protecting yourself from Medicare fraud
Anyone on Medicare is at risk of Medicare-related fraud. Watch out for scammers who steal Medicare numbers and other personal information to exploit beneficiaries’ benefits. Broadly speaking, Medicare fraud occurs when someone makes false claims for healthcare services, procedures and equipment in order to obtain Medicare payments. Medicare fraud costs taxpayers billions of dollars and ... READ MORE
Simplify and reduce your money ‘clutter’
Professional organizers might define household clutter as a pile of unmade decisions. Money clutter is much the same. Those credit cards you no longer use but haven’t closed? That’s money clutter. So is the retirement account you left behind three jobs ago, and the financial paperwork you keep but no longer need. You can simplify your financial life by streamlining how you manage... READ MORE
You’ll probably live longer than you think
Women often don’t score as well as men in surveys of financial literacy. One area where they seem to do better is “longevity literacy,” or understanding how long they’re likely to live. Longevity literacy is essential to smart retirement planning. Overestimate your longevity, and you could retire too late or scrimp too much. Underestimate it, and you could run short of... READ MORE
