Ever since I heard about this new health care bill, I had a feeling that it’s far from being complete. It does not cater well to the requirements all citizens of the country, especially the elderly and it has resulted in high prescription drugs cost, denial of treatment and premature discharges from hospitals. The media is full of horror stories about the negative impact that the health care bill had on the public. Denying an Important Blood Test For A Meager $ 7 Debt Larry Smith who suffered an intense heart attack was denied an essential blood test by Labcorp because he owed a $ 7 debt to the lab. How could the health care professionals be so inhuman? You can see the medical statement that Larry got from the laboratory here at Michael Moore’s resources.   [...] 

You’ve always wanted to dress up like a super model. But the dresses that super models wear are very highly priced. So you compromise with a snazzy piece from a sample sale. After all, chances are, you’ll be getting the same high fashion garments for about 20 % of the original price. The coming Spring Fashion Week 2010 might offer you designer garments at a discount of about 80 %. With such a sale, your immediate reaction will be to run to the stores and grab the opportunity. But you should be aware that sample sales, though not all, are full of baits to trap you and you should be careful of those. The logic is very simple, why should a company offer you huge discounts unless it is benefited in someway? These items sold on sample sales, are not the ones that you see models wearing. So you  [...] 

The much hyped and much controversial health care bill talks a lot of general health care issues like regular medical visits to doctors and treatments for specific illnesses, but you should know that our country has got a lot of elderly people who need long term consistent care. So what has this health care bill got for such people who are not ailing with any well defined illness in general or rather ailing with a host of them? They are not the ones going to the doctor with any specific health complaint but due to problems that oldage has brought upon them. These are the people who need long term general medical care as well as healthcare assistance. Surprisingly caring for the elderly seems to be a very expensive business. A Metlife Study says that a nursing home for the elderly costed around  [...] 

It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that a financial software development company should want to own one of the biggest financial website and blogging networks of the world. Intuit, the software developing firm wants to buy Mint the biggest personal finance website and blogging network for about $ 170 million. I ask why not? The benefits are obviously numerous. Till now software developing companies have developed software based on their personal idea of how people budget and spend their finances. But by linking with a blogging network and financial website they’ll get to interact with thousands of users worldwide and get to hear their financial stories and that too in record time. With this they can get to know what people feel about their products and their competitors’ products as  [...] 

I’m a die hard movie buff and rent the hottest movie videos in town almost three to four times a week.  I’m a regular at Blockbuster. I was shocked, depressed and hurt when the video renting giant announced that it would close down 810-960 stores by the end of next year. Of course I do agree that people don’t watch videos anymore and it’s the age of DVDs. But as a consumer I get the hint that I should not depend on only one video store or library for hiring my videos. Today videos have become obsolete and tomorrow DVDs will when newer technologies come up. So depending on local movie renters does not seem to be as good an option. As Seton Hall University South Orange Professor Christopher Sharret says, “It’s only a matter of time before video is relegated to cyberspace, subscription  [...] 

I was surprised to know from a Ohio State University Study that the personal finance habits of a CEO can tell a lot about the financial health of a company. The chances are that if the CEO has personal debts its more likely for his company to be in debt and vice versa. Earlier I’d think that a company debt had nothing to do with the personal finance health and habits of its CEOs because it depended more on external economic conditions like the recession, inflation etc. But this study seems to have come up with more logical results. Of course, the leader sets the example, and his personal financial health and habits will obviously get reflected in his company financial health. The study reveals that companies with higher debts have CEO’s who have debts on personal properties. These companies  [...] 

As Chairman, Senate Finance Committee, Max  Baucus releases the health care reform bill, I’m sure there are butterflies in your stomach in anticipation of how your personal health care is going to be affected. So lets get to the highlights first. According to a CNN Money report, the fines that most of us don’t like seem likely to be imposed making health care a mandatory issue. The middle class might have to pay a penalty up to $3,800 for not being insured. But the government says, they’ll get tax credits which will help them in paying up for the health care insurance. For convenience of enrolment in insurance policies Web based insurance exchanges will be set up. You just log in from the comforts of your home and apply for insurance. There’s no need for you to go to any offices for  [...] 

I really feel sorry for those of us who’ve stopped dining out for saving money. The other day, when I went to a popular restaurant in the peak hours, I found most of the seats empty and even those that were full had small servings of some snacks.  A sumptuous meal has become a rare extravagance in the present times!  I’m not the only observer of this trend. A market survey done by Mintel says that number of outside diners has reduced to half of past year. Can you believe it- more than 80 percent of us are content with homemade simple dishes? Yeah, I know the recession has compelled most of us to curtail our expenditure on little pleasures that actually make life worth living! But tell me, do you really feel like eating simple food at home when you’re on a holiday mood? We’ve had enough!  [...] 

Today is the 14th of September 2009. How old are you on this day? Are you 10, 16, 25, 29? Well, I’m no numerologist to predict your future by knowing your birth dates, but I would like to tell you how this recession has affected people of different age groups. Of course on the whole, it was a time of general dearth of wealth, joblessness, despair and fatigue for everybody. However the effects for different age groups were different. So let’s see how our contemporaries and those who were older or younger to us were affected by this financial calamity. Here I’ll be focusing on people on the right side of thirty years. Children If you were a toddler you wouldn’t obviously know anything about the recession, because mom and dad have done all the background work of funding your food and other  [...] 

Latest financial surveys like the SunSentinel report have exposed the poor money management skills of young American adults. They don’t seem to be better than children. That’s the reason the government has come up with a host of financial literacy courses and is prodding banks financial institutions and schools and colleges to educate the youth. I understand that children and college students are still under the financial umbrella of their parents and may not be equipped with up to the mark financial knowledge or skills. But what is utterly shocking and disgraceful according to the AFL-CIO Young Workers Report and blog is that today even our thirty year olds are no better than the kids ! Kids stay with their parents and are dependent on them for their financial resources and these are grown-up  [...]