With ever-increase healthcare premiums, CEO, small business owners, self-employed individuals, and even the self-insured are constantly challenged to find ways to keep a close watch on their healthcare expenses. Luckily, the October 23, 2009 issues of Consumer Driven Market Report has some insights into how to better manage healthcare expenses in a sometimes unpredictable healthcare environment.
According to the Consumer Driven Market Report, “The huge Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida will offer only a Health Savings Account product to employees next year in the latest sign that larger employers, government workers and unions will be a major source of total replacement offerings in 2010.”
What “total replacement offerings” means is that some companies will replace traditional HMO and PPO plans with Health Savings Account qualified health plans for their employees.
So why are so many health insurance companies and big businesses changing their health plans to HSA insurance plans? Sim
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We won’t miss 2009.
The Federal Reserve’s willingness to provide commercial banks with virtually all the free money they could possible use had devastating results on savers.
Banks didn’t need our savings and they spent the entire year slashing interest rates on certificates of deposit.
The average return on 6-month CD rates took the biggest hit, falling by nearly two-thirds over the past year.
But four of the five CD rates we track end the year at record lows. The other rate is only 0.02 percentage points above the record low set in mid-December.
Bankrate’s weekly survey of large banks and thrifts taken Dec. 30 found the average annual yield for a:
3-month CD ends the year at 0.36%, down 0.86 percentage points from 1.22% at the start of 2009. It’s th
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Low Bank Rates Hurting Savers
The current low bank rates hurting savers the most is being felt across the country. If you are saving your money on a financial institution at the present rate of interest, you are losing money to inflation, fees, and taxes.
For those Americans either in retirement or approaching retirement, the investment strategy is to be conservative. This is translated to placing your retirement nest eggs in CDs and Treasury bonds. Unfortunately, this is a lose-lose situation with interest rates as low as they are at the present time. Many on fixed incomes have saved for decades just to watch their savings lose money because of the current financial crisis that was caused by the banking industry.
Many elderly have seen their interest on their saving accounts drop to 0.10%. With the current inflation rate for November 2009 at 1.8383%, those earning 0.10% were losing over 1 ½ cents on every dollar they had tucked away.
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Liberty Bank is offering a competitive 3.51% APY on its eSmart Checking account. Like many reward checking accounts, there are specific rates available based on meeting specific monthly requirements:
- 3.51% APY paid on portion of balance below $25,000
- 1.25% APY paid on portion of balance above $25,000
- 0.50% APY if requirements are not met
- ATM fees reimbursed nationwide up to $20 per month
Here are the requirements you need to fulfill each statement cycle:
- A minimum of 15 debit card purchases (ATM usage doesn’t count)
- 1 automatic payment or direct deposit transfer and 1 bill pay transfer
- Receive electronic statements
Some other great features of the account include:
- No Minimum Balance
- Free MasterCard Debit Card
- Free Online Banking
- Free Online Bill Pay
- Free Checking
The opening deposit required is only $1.
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San Francisco animator Mark Fiore has cleverly captured our most cynical fear about the new credit card regulations that take effect in February — the card companies will just find new ways to abuse us.
“As reform accelerates so will the inventiveness of our fees, rates and gouging,” a fake industry spokesman says in the video. “Much
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Emotions play a big role in how we spend our money.
Way too big, according to a new book by psychiatrist David Kreuger.
We use money to “alter our moods, increase our self-esteem, and control others,” Kreuger says. “We use money to try to soothe emotional pains and to buy the respect of others and ourselves.”
But, as your mom (not to mention the Beatles) always told you, money can’t buy you love.
Recognizing and overcoming that destructive behavior is what The Secret Language of Money: How to Make Smarter Financial Decisions and Live a Richer Life is all about.
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