Terry Savage’s Archives
Below you will find the columns terry has written by date.
Below you will find the columns terry has written by date.
What Recession?
More than half of Americans – 56% to be exact – believe the United States is in a recession, according to a new Harris Poll. And all of those people are wrong. The classic definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth – measured by GDP – gross domestic product. We haven’t..
Stealing Your Secrets
Identity thieves have a new way of gaining access to your finances. Even if you’ve frozen your credit report, they can grab your money by taking over your phone number. It’s called ‘sim swapping.” It’s all done electronically – and it defeats the authentication controls that most banks have in place. You may have been..
Homeowner’s Insurance — Or Not?
If you own your own home, it’s no surprise that your homeowner’s insurance premium has soared. Opening that bill, you might find a 25% increase, or more – even though you’ve had no claims. If your premium is included in your monthly mortgage payment, you’ll get notice of a jump in your monthly payment. Insurance..
Long Term Care Insurance — A Creative Way to Pay
The most unexpected and costly expense of retirement is the need to pay for long term custodial care – a burden that is not covered by Medicare or supplements. No one wants to think about needing help to eat or shower or do the basic activities of daily living. But you ignore the possibility at..
News on Student Loans and Credit Card Rules
Consumers just got some good news about a student loan forgiveness extension and about protections on credit card late payment charges, resulting from a Supreme Court ruling on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Here’s what you need to know: Student Loan Forgiveness Extended The deadline for applications for student loan forgiveness has been extended to..
Changing Work World
The unemployment numbers are encouraging. The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 27 months, the longest streak since the 1960s. Average hourly wages are up 4.1% over the last year – slightly beating inflation. The economy has added around 200,000 new jobs every month. Those financial headlines go beyond economic statistics and political maneuvering...
Rollover Advice Rule
Have you noticed how much your 40l(k) plan has grown over the years? There’s now nearly $11 trillion in these retirement plans – boosted by years of continuous investing in a bull market, and by employer matching contributions. And now as boomer retire, more than $1 trillion every year is “up for grabs” as 40l(k)..
Where’s My Refund?
What do you do if your IRS tax refund still hasn’t arrived? Now that the IRS has received most 2023 tax filings and should have sent your refund, it’s worth investigating. How you should proceed depends on how you filed, who filed for you (an accounting firm, online tax prep service, or tax preparer) and..
Warning on Credit Repair and Chasing Rewards
In my recent column about credit card warnings, I explained the dangers of zero-interest cards, particularly those offered by retail stores. If you fail to pay the FULL balance off within the specified zero-rate time period, you can be charged a 30%+ rate for the entire amount, retroactively from the original date of purchase! Even..
Credit Card Warnings — and Trusted Help
Some of my best column ideas come from you, my readers. The example below was posted on my AskTerry blog at TerrySavage.com. It inspired me to do some digging, not only into this situation, but other credit card tricks that can be truly shocking if you’re unaware. Terry, I purchased furniture at the room place..
Reverse Mortgages Explained
For seniors who own their own home (fully paid off or with a small remaining mortgage), but need more income, a Reverse Mortgage can be the perfect solution. Or it can be a costly mistake. And you won’t know until you consider all the costs as well as your likely future housing needs. How Reverse..
Social Security Commissioner Steps Up!
New Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley has just taken a major step to offer immediate relief to those facing clawbacks. In a message to Social Security employees, he announced the first of several initiatives to make the system work more fairly. His words speak volumes: “Effective today, instead of initially withholding 100% of a Social..
Dangers of Debt
Let’s stop ignoring $1.3 trillion in credit card debt owed by millions of Americans. Perhaps by you. Even if you stop buying, balances grow like a cancer, because the average interest rate on credit cards is 20.75% according to Bankrate, but many now charge 29% or higher. In most states, credit card rates are not..
A Victory on Social Security Horror Stories
We made a difference! At last some good news for victims of Social Security clawbacks. These Social Security Horror Stories revolve around the individual pain caused by Social Security’s mistaken benefit calculations and demands for repayment going back as far as 30 years. The Agency has been in the process of clawing back $21.6 billion..
Tax Filing Ironies
Your income tax return must be filed any minute not – unless you’re one of those 91 million people who already filed, likely to get a tax refund. The rest of us – another 40+ million people -- are now officially procrastinators. But we’ll get it done. Except for the 125,000 high-income earners who did..
A Widow’s Guide
On average, women live longer than men. It’s an actuarial fact known by every insurance company and financial planner. At age 65, the life expectancy of a woman is 20 years, while men at the same age have a life expectancy of 17 years. So, it stands to reason that the 2020 Census Bureau reports..
FAFSA and Medicare Timely Updates
Todays column focuses on two time-critical updates on recent columns. The first is for younger families who are seeking financial aid for college through the FAFSA form. The second is for seniors who want to re-think their Medicare Advantage programs. Time is running out for both! FAFSA Millions of students and their parents are still..
Forget Flowers – Get Money Powers
Financial power is a far more valuable commodity than all the hearts and flowers sent on Valentine’s Day. Proof comes in the latest Allianz Life “Women, Money, and Power” study, an ongoing survey of women’s priorities and attitudes toward money and investing. Long gone are the days when women were patronized with a “don’t worry..
How Long Will You Live?
Here’s a personal question: How long do you think you’ll live? Most people will roll their eyes, believing that only a higher power has the answer to that question. It’s an imponderable. Why bother asking, since it makes us so uncomfortable? We know the longevity statistics, which tell us for a child born today, girls..
Advantage Crunch Arrives
Medicare Advantage is causing huge losses for insurers like Humana, which recently reported a surprising loss, attributed to higher spending in Advantage plans than anticipated. The company’s stock immediately fell 22% on the news, as the company disclosed their earnings would likely be less than half what had been widely expected. Other Medicare Advantage insurers..
