An HDHP/HSA can potentially be a good choice even for someone with a chronic illness. There are (at least) two reasons for that, one obvious and one less so. The obvious aspect is that the total out of pocket cost of premiums plus deductible can actually be lower than the total out of pocket costs of a traditional plan...more

I feel like I'm missing something here. The article's body seems to be about the various ways in which a gay marriage does not yet confer all the same rights, tax benefits, etc that a heterosexual marriage does. But the title says "Gay marriage can muddle your finances" which I don't see proven or illustrated in the ar...more

Many people over 40 (or even 32 or so) probably think you can work your way through school. A lot has changed in the last decade, tuition costs have been skyrocketing, aid has been dropping, and even state funding of state schools has dropped (raising prices for the "cheap" options).

Are there really people out there with 7+% mortgages that haven't refinanced already, unless there is a reason they can't? (e.g bad credit, no credit, underwater, lack of income, etc)

I would contribute half to a private charitable foundation account. That's the most you can deduct in a single year. That way I could take the lump sum, avoid taxes on it, yet take my time vetting charities. Heck yeah I would buy an island. There are some out there that don't cost much more than a house. It depends ...more

Just because a college degree has become a requirement, does not mean it's value has gone up. In fact you might argue that it's value has gone down. Now it's just the ante to play the game. That's part of the reason college costs have been rising so much faster than inflation.

If I currently have 5x my salary saved, does that mean I can or should stop saving? Whatever my age? One problem with this plan is that I've found, over the last few years, that time is more precious than money. When I am going on vacations and visiting family, I often end up paying more for an option that takes les...more

The reason for the 20% down payment number is not because that's the magic amount of "skin in the game" to keep people from walking away. Instead, that is approximately the amount lost if the bank forecloses on the house and sells it at auction. If the owner put down less than that amount, the bank would lose money if ...more

Just a point of clarification: 20% of student assets and 5.64% of non-sheltered parent assets are put into the expected family contribution (EFC) *per year*. It's recalculated every year though, so it does go down a bit as you go along, especially for the students assets (and especially if you spend those first.) For e...more