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Insurance

Financial Documents For Young Families

by Luke Landes

Have you recently welcomed your first child into your family? If so, it may be time to get some of your financial documents in order. These are some things you may not have considered before having a baby. This video from SmartMoney TV quickly runs down the basics: which documents are necessary and why. 1. ... Continue reading this article…

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Money Magazine: 25 Rules to Grow Rich By, Part 3

by Luke Landes

Last week, I started a short series looking at Money Magazine’s 25 rules to grow rich by. I’m breaking down the advice within the article into five separate blog entries here; you can find part one here and part two here. Here are the next five tips, with a bit of my own commentary thrown ... Continue reading this article…

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Car Damage Update

by Luke Landes

If you’ve been following along, you may know that I was in a minor car accident over the weekend. I visited an auto body shop that my insurance company deals with directly. The damage to the doors and fender will cost at least $2,500 to fix, $500 of which is my deductible. They will need ... Continue reading this article…

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Know What Your Insurance Protects

by Luke Landes

Over the weekend, I received the annual benefits enrollment package from my employer. Last year, the health benefits offered by the company changed significantly to take advantage of Health Savings Accounts and to raise prices. Even after the multiple sessions with Human Resources, there were some of my coworkers who didn’t know the difference between ... Continue reading this article…

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My Car Insurance Will Come in Handy Now

by Luke Landes

I was in a minor car accident on Saturday. As I was turning out of my apartment court, another car tried to pass a van that was stopped, allowing me to turn. There was no lane for the car to pass the van, but since I was turning, I am legally at fault for the ... Continue reading this article…

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Bad Time to Invest in Southern California

by Luke Landes

According to some scientists who study earthquakes and tecnocis, the past 300 years has been a relatively quiet period (the “interseismic period”) for the southern part of the San Andreas Fault. They believe this period is coming to an end, and it’s not a question of if a major earthquake would hit southern California, but ... Continue reading this article…

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Ten Tips For Cutting Car Expenses

by Luke Landes

Car costs got you down? The inimitable Suze Orman offers ten tips for keeping car insurance costs down in a world where gas prices continue to climb. Here’s the short version: * Boost your deductible. Keep cash on hand for emergencies, or call it partially self-insuring. This will keep your monthly payments down and you ... Continue reading this article…

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Sell Your Life Insurance Policy

by Luke Landes

Let’s say you have a life insurance policy that will pay $1,000,000 to your family in the event of your death. You’ve had the policy for several years, but you’ve decided that it is no longer needed. You don’t want to pay the monthly premium and there’s no one to receive the funds when you ... Continue reading this article…

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Insurance Discount for Hybrid Car Owners

by Luke Landes

In February, Travelers Insurance will begin offering a 10 percent discount on insurance for owners of hybrid vehicles. Their research shows that these drivers are safer than average, typically married, and between the ages 41 and 60. Before buying a hybrid car for the insurance discount, make sure hybrids make sense for you.

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Suze Orman’s Tips For 2006, Part 4

by Luke Landes

This is the final part in a short series about Suze Orman’s advice for 2006, which is not about 2006, specifically. Watch Your Identity. There’s good advice here. Don’t pay for credit monitoring services because you can do it for free. Everyone in the United States is entitled to one free credit report from each ... Continue reading this article…

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Dinged Rental Cars, Dinged Wallet

by Luke Landes

At the most, I would rent a car once or twice a year when I find myself traveling to remote cities for friends’ weddings, for example. Luckilly, this has not yet happened to me. According to the New York Times, it’s common for rental car companies to charge mutiple customers for the same dings or ... Continue reading this article…

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Employee Health Plans

by Luke Landes

Marketwatch reports that “Two out of three adults would rather have their employer pick a set of health plans than be given an employer-funded account so they can go out and buy it for themselves on the individual market.” My company provides several options for health coverage, but the selection is getting more complicated next ... Continue reading this article…

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What Are You Afraid Of?

by Luke Landes

CNN Money has an extensive feature on how general consensus is wrong again. The articles look at the biggest money fears, how they may be unreasonable, and what should worry the public instead. Here are the first three from the series. The remaining three appear in a follow-up post here at Consuermsim Commentary. While Americans ... Continue reading this article…

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That Is Really Offensive

by Luke Landes

Some of my favorite commercials on television right now are GEICO spots. You know the ones. Salesman/actor: “Buying car insurance from GEICO is so simple, even a caveman could do it.” Caveman: “That is so offensive.” Seth Stevenson from Slate Magazine feels the same way and cites another good one, the “Tiny House reality series” ... Continue reading this article…

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Today’s Articles of Interest

by Luke Landes

How Much Personal Liability Insurance Do You Need? The Motley Fool recommends covering yourself for how much you might have to lose if sued at the end of the term of insurance rather than how much you might lose if sued now. Are you an extreme saver? (For some reason, I’m reminded of the extreme ... Continue reading this article…

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New Auto Insurance Follow-Up

by Luke Landes

On Saturday, I made a visit to my local AAA branch to finalize my new auto insurance. The company providing my insurance will be Libery Mutual for about $1,500. Geico came back to my with a price several hundred dollars higher, and that might be a blessing considering some of the company’s negative reviews. If ... Continue reading this article…

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If The Gecko Did The Robot

by Luke Landes

Yo. I think your website would be da bomb if you had the gecko do the Robot. Last month, the nine points on my New Jersey Driver’s License fell into obsolescence. It has now been three years since the points were “awarded” to me for various stupid indiscretions. This is good news for my wallet. ... Continue reading this article…

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