Archive for posts by Kent Irwin

Shelley Elmblad reviewed 5 Free online budgeting tools on her column at the Examiner.com. This is great reading if you are considering starting and following a budget for 2012.

The House plans to vote on a new version of the Senate-passed bill to extend the payroll tax cut that was set to expire January 1st. What this means immediately to your personal finances is that your net take home pay decrease remains at least for a couple more months, by not reverting to the 6.2% regular… Read More »

The odds of a person needing long-term care when they are older depends upon a number of factors, some reports say that the odds of someone needing nursing home care are over 50% for those 65 or older. A 2007 USA Today article said that 7.4% of Americans aged 75 and older are in nursing homes in… Read More »

Article in today’s Wall Street Journal about Unions Won More Freedom to Organize. This is a win for labor,  and a loss for big business, however time will tell if giving more power to unions will lead to more of them organizing, and effect business growth and their hiring. Most people though are concerned about… Read More »

Fox reported today that Bank Of America To Pay $335 Million Settlement In Fair Lending Case | Fox News to resolve allegations that its Countrywide unit engaged in discrimination of African-American and Hispanic borrowers.

Social Security Retirement Benefit, or shortened to SSRB for this article, is a major cornerstone for most Americans. Many people wonder: how it works, whether it will be there for them when they are eligible, will it change, and should their plans include the assumption that it will be there for them. This article addresses… Read More »

Politicians don’t seem to have many great ideas to help with the economy. They either want to increase or decrease: individual or corporate taxes, spending, and entitlements. These things may have a positive or negative impact on the economy but none of them will turn things around. These are important issues that do indeed need to be… Read More »

HSA, MSA, HRA and FSA Medical Accounts Health Savings Accounts, Medical Savings Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangement, and Flexible Savings Accounts are all special accounts that may be offered or provided to you by your employer. They offer the ability for you and your employer to pay for some benefits with ‘tax-advantaged’ dollars. This means that your… Read More »

Dave Ramsey says that no one should ever lease a car, he calls car leases fleeces, is it true, is this fair, should no one really ever lease a car, and is it always a rip off? Basically a lease is the purchase of the car’s value that you will be using. Dave’s overall recommendations are to minimize… Read More »

It has been fun to watch the personal computer evolution from my first purchase in 1987 of what was called an IBM AT. This system included a monitor (green and black), keyboard (no mouse) and computer with a whopping 40-MB hard disk drive, and a printer. That system cost $3,000, including software upgrades. In 24 years… Read More »