Lifestyle

Advice from financial experts are as varied as the types of investments they suggest -- and all too often, few pay attention to the tax consequences when making their recommendations. This week, I'll cover the pros and cons of common investment advice for tax-advantaged accounts.

Each year, Fortune magazine ranks the "Top 100 Best Companies to Work For," based on corporate benefits, perks, and how well they treat their employees. This year, 16 healthcare companies made the list -- here's a look at some of the best perks in the business.

Once in a while, I receive an email from a colleague that is such a gem that I am compelled to share it with you, with the permission of the email's author. In this case, it's a physician business owner who found success in his business by way of the most critical element to consistent growth: Embrace marketing.

In less than a year, the number and quality of medical apps for Android smartphones has exploded -- so much so that the Android Market has added a special "Medical" category. Here are the top free apps for physicians and medical students.

When it comes to deciding how much working capital you need to run a medical practice, how do you know when enough is enough? The answer is not always easily attainable. And in this tough economic environment, combined with the uncertainty in the healthcare industry, finding a lender willing to extend credit to provide as much working capital as you need is tougher for physicians.

The U.S. House of Representatives this week voted overwhelmingly to repeal President Obama's healthcare reform law. We also received further confirmation that Obamacare is particularly hurtful for the small businesses that are the heart and soul of healthcare: physician practices. The whole country is now watching to see whether this vote was merely a symbolic gesture or the first step toward real, common-sense reform.

The New England Journal of Medicine and 13 other prestigious medical publications may force physician researchers to disclose their financial connections to hedge funds and other investors in the wake of insider-trading probes.

Everywhere I go I see unhappy doctors -- all they do is complain about rising malpractice premiums, more paperwork, declining pay, and 60-hour workweeks. This includes doctors who've been practicing medicine for several decades. My question is: "Why are you still practicing medicine full-time?"

Studies on managed mutual funds show that less than 20% regularly beat unmanaged benchmark indexes. So why pay money-management expenses that can average 1.5% to 2.0% for performance that rarely beats the benchmark? The easiest way to guarantee performance over the long-term is to keep your investment expenses contained.

The payroll tax cut -- which lowered the amount workers pay toward Social Security taxes to 4.2% from 6.2% -- kicked in this month, and a reader wants to know if there are any income-eligibility limits on the tax break. Let's find out ...

Merck's halting a key study of a much-anticipated anticlotting drug and more news of embarrassing recalls for drug giant Johnson & Johnson were among the missteps that sank healthcare stocks this week.

Conventional wisdom says physicians tend to lag behind when it comes to adoption of new technology -- just not when it comes to the iPad. Surveys show the healthcare industry is one the top adopters of iPad useage on the job. Physicians says the device's mobility, flexibility, ease-of-use and educational attributes are a few of the many reason iPads are showing up in more exam rooms.

The Detroit Auto Show kicked off with a lot of flash, pulsing club music, copious amount of machine-generated fog and some of the most-unusual cars automakers have rolled out in years. Here are four luxury vehicles that auto-industry journalists voted best-in-class.

Budgeting is hard work, but there may be some unassayed ore in that slag heap. All of us would rather make smart financial decisions rather than the ones we too often make, and if we were given the data to know and better understand what it is that we are actually doing with our money we could be better off financially and emotionally more secure. Now that's an attractive combination.

Don't be surprised if your patients make their co-pays in the months ahead using a prepaid debit card courtesy of Uncle Sam. This year, 600,000 taxpayers will have the option of receiving a paper check or prepaid debit card for their 2010 tax refund.

Healthcare workers can expect an average base-salary increase of 2.6% in 2011, up from 2.3% a year ago, a new survey shows. Physicians' raises will continue to be slightly below average at 2.3%.

Now that it's a new year, you'll soon receive your fourth-quarter investment reports from your investment company. You'll probably also get some sort of outlook statement for 2011 and a review of the significant events of the last three months. What exactly do you do with all that information? How about this: Ignore it -- it's a complete waste of your time. Here's why.

A soon-to-be-released study shows that women and men approach financial decision-making differently, in part because of their brain function. The data suggest that differences in financial choices between the genders may not be solely to do the disparate ways boys and girls are raised – a common explanation.

HCPLive, our network partner, recently launched a new CME portal, featuring unique CME-accredited articles covering the latest clinical and industry news for a wide range of medical specialties, all available at no cost to physicians.

Do you check investment analysts' "buy" ratings before you invest in stocks? If so, chances are your portfolio would have performed better in 2010 if you checked those recommendations … and then did just the opposite.

To my chagrin, I realized I dropped the ball completing my article series based on Bill Murphy Jr.'s "The Intelligent Entrepreneur" (subtitled "How Three Harvard Business School Graduates Learned the 10 Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship"). Time to get back to business! Rule No. 4 reminds us that our success depends on other people -- you can't do it alone.

A new report predicts hundreds of millions of smartphone owners will be using mobile health applications by 2015. Health apps can not only help patients track their own behaviors in order to improve their health, they can give physicians information that can ultimately help them provide better healthcare.