From UMaine website:
ORONO — The University of Maine Financial Education Program, in collaboration with the UMaine School of Economics, will offer a series of workshops related to household financial management. The set of five workshops will run continuously through the summer in a rotating cycle that starts Thursday, May 21. All workshops are free and open to the public.
Extended warranties typically are not a good buy. This is why retailers put so much effort into promoting extended warranties.
The Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal court to shut down a telemarketing campaign that has been bombarding U.S. consumers with hundreds of millions of allegedly deceptive “robocalls” in an effort to sell them vehicle service contracts under the guise that they are extensions of original vehicle warranties.
In two related complaints filed in federal court, the Commission took action against both the promoter of the phony extended auto warranties, as well as the telemarketing company that it hired to carry out its illegal, deceptive campaign. In its complaints, the agency contends that the companies are operating a massive telemarketing scheme that uses random, pre-recorded phone calls to deceive consumers into thinking that their vehicle’s warranty is about to expire. Consumers who respond to the robocalls are pressured to purchase extended service contracts for their vehicles, which the telemarketers falsely portray as an extension of the manufacturer’s original warranty.
FTC Files Suit to Stop Illegal Robocalls Pushing Vehicle “Warranty” Extensions
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Voice Touch, Inc., et. al.
Federal Trade Commission, Plaintiff, v. Transcontinental Warranty, Inc., et. al.
How to Steer Clear of Auto Warranty Scams
Michael Shenk says probably not? You can read his full answer in the current issue of Economic Trends published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
It’s been three years—is the housing market correction finally over? The short answer is probably no, but there are some encouraging signs of improvement.
Existing single-family home sales, by far the largest segment of the housing market, have been relatively stable for the past five months. Prior to a steep drop off in November, sales had held steady for roughly 14 months. This stability has come at a cost though, as the median price of homes sold has fallen drastically over the past year and a half.
Don’t let death stop you from getting a little stimulus. Video from myfoxny.com
Anna Mathews in Tallying the Cost to Bring Baby Home (WSJ) writes on the high cost of her hospitalization during the birth of her child. The article provides a link to sites that let you compare hospital costs at ConsumerHealthRatings.com. You should check out these relative costs before a planned hospital stay.
Anna had a maximum out-of-pocket charge of $2,000 under her health insurance policy. You might think, as she did, that this would limit your expenses for a delivery to $2,000. However, the cap is for each patient. Since the baby was also a patient the cap was actually $4,000.
Kaiser State Health Facts lists data from the 2007 AHA Annual Survey published in 2009. The most expensive state for a day in the hospital is not a state. It is the District of Columbia at $2,381 for one in-patient day. The least expensive is South Dakota at $869.
Bankrate illustrates three asset allocation portfolios from aggressive to moderate. As you slide your mouse over a slice of the pie chart a window pops up with a brief description of the assets in that category. The chart is accompanied by a brief explanation of portfolio theory.
Serhii Ilchuk in a dissertation published by the Rand Corporation finds that …
The onset of a husband's work disability can lead to an earlier age of retirement not only for the husband himself but also, through joint retirement, for his wife. This effect can be defined as a “joint early retirement” phenomenon. Husbands whose wives become ill also tend to retire at earlier ages. The “joint early retirement” phenomenon is more pronounced among families where the spouse remaining in the labor force is a low earner.
The author also calculates cost-of-illness estimates for indirect costs (productivity lost through an early retirement) of different health conditions at the individual and societal levels, and estimates total family productivity lost due to the spouse's work disability.
Retirement Decisions of Women and Men in Response to Their Own and Spousal Health
Source: RAND Corporation
The 2009 Medicare Trustees Report has been issued and the projections are not good.
In 2008, 45.2 million people were covered by Medicare: 37.8 million aged 65 and older, and 7.4 million disabled. About 22 percent of beneficiaries have chosen to enroll in private health plans that contract with Medicare to provide health services. Total benefits paid in 2008 were $462 billion. Income was $481 billion, expenditures were $468 billion, and assets held in special issue U.S. Treasury securities grew to $381 billion.
…
The HI trust fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years. At the beginning of 2009 the assets of the HI trust fund were $321 billion and are projected to be exhausted during 2017, under the intermediate assumptions. The HI trust fund does not meet the short- range test of financial adequacy. Although the short-range financial status of the HI trust fund has not been considered satisfactory since 2003, the outlook has further deteriorated as a result of the current economic recession.The SMI trust fund is adequately financed over the next 10 years and beyond because premium and general revenue income for Parts B and D are reset each year to match expected costs. However, further Congressional overrides of scheduled physician fee reductions, together with an existing “hold harmless” provision restricting premium increases for most beneficiaries, could jeopardize Part B solvency and require unusual measures to avoid asset depletion.
Professor Shiller’s barometer of stock market performance compares stock market prices to a 10-year trend adjusted for inflation. The WSJ in “By Most Measures, Stocks No Longer Look Cheap,” reports that the ratio is about at the historical average of 15.9 as of last Wednesday. Professor Shiller explains his views on the economy and financial markets in this interview from Bloggingheads.tv (October 2008). You can also find a public lecture and PowerPoint presentation by Professor Shiller at the London School of Economics.
See also
HEDGE FUNDS: Overview of Regulatory Oversight, Counterparty Risks, and Investment Challenges
(May 7, 2009)
Excerpt from the report
Financial regulators and industry observers remain concerned about the adequacy of counterparty credit risk management at major financial institutions because it is a key factor in controlling the potential for hedge funds to become a source of systemic risk. Although hedge funds generally add liquidity to many markets, including distressed asset markets, in some circumstances hedge funds’ activities can strain liquidity and contribute to financial distress. In response to their concerns regarding the adequacy of counterparty credit risk, a group of regulators had collaborated to examine particular hedge fund-related activities across entities they regulate, and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG). The PWG also established two private sector committees that recently released guidelines to address systemic risk and investor protection.
Gergana Y. Nenkov, Deborah J. MacInnis, and Maureen Morrin at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research have posted “How Do Emotions Influence Savings Behavior?” They examine how two different emotions, hope and hopefulness, affect 401(k) participation and asset allocation. Their research indicates that
…people who are hopeful that they will manage to save enough for retirement are motivated by threats to their hopefulness, while this tactic is likely to backfire for people who are not as hopeful. On the other hand, people with a strong hope for having enough to retire increase their information search and risk-taking behavior as a result of a threat to their hope, so threatening the possibility of their desired outcome might prompt them to search more comprehensively, but also to take excessive risks.
The results seem to imply that you need to set realistic goals that you are hopeful of achieving. These savers respond to minor setbacks by increasing their efforts. On the other, those who set unrealistic goals are more likely to abandon their planned savings when confronted with adversity.
AllFinancialMatters.com has calculated the total return on the S&P for each decade since the 1930s. Given the current market the total return on the S&P for the decade following 2000 is –29.1%.
From Press Release April 29, 2009
School-Based Bank Savings Programs: Bringing Financial Education to Students
WASHINGTON — The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today published a Community Developments Insights report that discusses how banks can set up school-based bank savings programs to help students learn about the importance of saving and managing their personal finances.
Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan stated, “As a parent, one area of financial literacy that is especially important to me is that our children learn how to make the right financial choices before they leave home. These school-based bank programs are productive collaborations between banks and schools that share a mutual interest in providing financial education to students eager to learn.”
The OCC encourages bank participation in financial literacy initiatives such as school-based bank savings programs. Students involved in these programs receive “hands-on” learning, while banks gain added visibility in the communities they serve.
This Insights report explains how the various school-based bank savings programs operate and describes the potential risks and benefits, including positive consideration under the Community Reinvestment Act, that banks participating in these programs may receive.
This Insights report can be accessed on the OCC’s web site at: http://www.occ.gov/cdd/Insights-Schoolbasedbank.pdf. Contact information for the OCC’s Community Affairs Officers is available at: http://www.occ.gov/cdd/contacts.htm.
Genworth Financial has posted an interactive map the allows you to compare the average cost of long-term care across the 50 states. You can also download a report on their most recent survey of long-term care along with an affordability index.
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