Lifestyle

Municipal bonds continue to be a relatively bright spot in an otherwise gloomy market. The current average yield on a 10-year, AAA-rated municipal bond is 2.94%, just a tad above the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond.

If you’re not withdrawing money from your portfolio, volatility doesn’t matter if the return is the same in the end. But if you’re a retiree taking money out, it can make a big difference.

In part I, I outlined a number of strategies for protecting your practice�s assets. In this section of the series on protecting your assets, I�ll cover what you need to know about captive insurance companies.

Parents looking at their battered 529 college-savings plans can take a little comfort from more lenient repayment rules on college loans.

The 2009 Mercedes-Benz C-Class is so good that there is hardly any reason to consider an E-class or S-Class. The 2009 C300 all-wheel drive sedan is an outstanding luxury value.

With banks now tightening their lending criteria, your credit score takes on a lot more importance.

Predicting anything in today’s topsy-turvy markets is chancy at best, but if low mortgage rates can put some life back into the staggering real estate market, the stage may be set for a recovery.

There are no hard numbers for support, but it�s widely acknowledged that physicians, perhaps more than any other profession, are frequent victims of financial fraud. In fact, says Michael Spencer, president of M.R. Spencer Financial Services, a Flint, Michigan-based financial advisory firm, physicians as a group are popular targets.

Hard economic times are proving a two-edged sword for travelers as they face cutbacks in some areas and some enhanced perks in others.

For the past 5,000 years, gold has been synonymous with wealth, security, and power. Wars have been fought over it, civilizations conquered for it, and history shaped by it.

Making money in this market reminds me of a farmer trying to grow crops when weather conditions are unpredictable. Few farmers achieve it. Likewise, hardly any investors are making money now during a stormy market.

One of President Obama�s top priorities during the first days of his administration will be to overhaul the healthcare system. The administration�s plans include an ambitious system to computerize the health records of millions of Americans and to link doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and pharmacies with information about diagnosis and treatment.

The bear market has offered peddlers of variable annuities an ideal environment to sell their products. Over the past several months, who wouldn’t have wanted an investment that guarantees that you can’t lose?

In today�s tough economy, physicians are facing an increasing challenge. Self-pay, or that portion of the healthcare dollar that is a patient�s responsibility, is becoming a larger and larger percentage of the physician�s practice every day.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, disability insurance companies aggressively marketed and sold policies known as "own-occupation" or "occupational" disability policies to physicians and other high-level professionals.

Back in 2001, Congress passed tax cuts that included a gradual phase-out of the estate tax, which at the time had an exemption of $1 million and imposed a 55% levy on any amount over that.

The global stock markets have taken a beating; last year was one of their worst years ever. Not the worst, but pretty bad. The equity investment results for last year were so discouraging that you might be forgiven for wondering, "What am I doing here?"

As job cuts mount and downsizing spreads, one of the few areas that have been spared is healthcare. Despite a loss of 2.6 million jobs from the overall economy last year, the healthcare sector managed to add 419,000 jobs in 2008.

So, you want to fly solo? For physicians who are trying to maintain a solo practice, the challenges are daunting. According to a November 2008 report from The Physician�s Foundation, nearly half of the physicians surveyed�or approximately 150,000 practicing doctors�say that over the next 3 years, they plan to reduce the number of patients they see or quit the practice of medicine outright.

In response to an ongoing investigation into an allegedly flawed reimbursement calculation system, both UnitedHealth and Aetna have agreed to pay millions of dollars toward the development of a new reimbursement database.

When buying bonds direct, the broker makes a difference. The problem is that the client rarely has a chance to know this, because fees are almost always embedded in the bond price and are not transparent. The client can’t tell what she is really paying.

In an effort to pull in new prescription drug customers, especially those without drug insurance, several big-name drug retailers are locked in a battle over who can provide the biggest discounts.

When I sit with clients to prepare or review their estate planning and asset protection goals, a wide variety of questions and issues arise.

Whether or not you voted for President Obama, it's hard to imagine someone watching the inauguration ceremony without feeling a sense of hope and optimism. It was, indeed, a historic day, and perhaps it is the beginning of a new culture in Washington.

When I sit with clients to prepare or review their estate planning and asset protection goals, a wide variety of questions and issues arise.

Every year, as the calendar turns from December to January, some income tax rules change, and 2009 is no exception. In addition to the run-of-the-mill changes, like adjustments to the tax brackets, there are some one-time updates. Also, major efforts to cut taxes are likely to come out of Washington once the new administration takes over.

Steeply lower mortgage rates are one of the few welcome side effects of the implosion in the credit markets. According to Bankrate.com, the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is now just over 5%, down about 1.5% from last summer.

At a time when a sluggish economy continues to spiral downward, retail medical clinics are on the rise. According to Merchant Medicine, the number of clinics had risen to 1,135 by late 2008�a five-fold increase over the course of the last 2 years.