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Terry Savage biography
Terry Savage is a nationally known expert on personal finance, the markets, and the economy. She writes a syndicated financial column for the Chicago Sun-Times, …
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Setting up financial planning for those who can’t do it themselves
How do you create a lifetime plan for someone who will always need care? It’s not only a question of money, but a question of responsibility. Fortunately, there is a financial planner who has dedicated her life to creating a planning system for families of children with disabilities.
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Financial incentives change behavior — for better or worse
TERRY SAVAGE: With breaks on unpaid mortgages and talk of forgiving some student loans, what do you think should be done? Where does personal responsibility come in?
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Disability insurance more crucial than you may think
TERRY SAVAGE: Disability insurance is one of the most overlooked products in the insurance industry. But between the ages of 25 and 65, you’re four times more likely to be disabled than to die.
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Give college students a break on loan rates
TERRY SAVAGE: Washington is playing politics with the interest rates on some federal student loans, which are scheduled to move back up to 6.8 percent in July. But what no one is acknowledging is that even at 3.4 percent for a small segment of student loans — the subsidized Stafford loans — these rates are a horrible financial deal.
Dividends offer attractive return, but tax question remains
Thinking adding dividend-paying stocks to your portfolio? A lot of investors have been buying stocks to get dividend yields of 3 percent or more as a
What Congress can learn from a 12-year-old Money Smart kid
Charlie Tiseo is one money-smart kid. The 12-year-old sixth-grader at Still Middle School in Aurora won the essay competition with a piece entitled “The Curious Case of Benjamin Budget.” In the essay, a take-off on the movie, he follows some wise advice: “Mind your budget, …
Economy teeter-totters through uncertainty
Which way will the economy, and the stock market, go? Both have been see-sawing back and forth, temporarily in a balancing act that has bulls and bears — and economists — holding their breath. The stock market registers this standoff not only in the daily …
SaveUp.com to stash cash, win prizes
TERRY SAVAGE: Would you take a bribe? To do the right things? Things like saving and paying down your debt? That’s part of the interesting psychology behind SaveUp.com — a free website that lets you earn a shot at cash and other prizes, just for doing the right thing.
Instead of playing Lotto, improve odds by planning your future
Terry Savage: So you didn’t win the mega-millions jackpot, but you sure had fun trying! I know, because I bought a few tickets myself. All told, we Americans bought $1.5 billion worth of Mega Millions tickets — a relatively cheap dream for a few hours or days.
Long-term care benefits come most easily if you know your policy
SAVAGE: Long-term care insurance providers are paying out claims. Policy holders need to know what their insurance provides.
How you can hedge long-term care costs
Q. I think it’s a waste of money to buy long-term care insurance because you may never use it. And as you’ve written, insurers keep raising premiums. Isn’t there a better solution? A. There are several solutions to hedging the potential cost of long-term custodial …
How to handle soaring long-term care rates
Fran Levitansky’s 93-year-old mother, Dorothy, purchased a long-term care insurance policy more than 25 years ago. At the time, her coverage of $90 per day seemed appropriate. But her agent never sold her inflation coverage. Over the years, CNA raised the premiums from around $3,000 per year to $6534 per year. At least they were protected from the rising cost of custodial care.
How is a 90% long-term care rate hike OK?
SAVAGE: Long-term care insurance premiums are skyrocketing, with some jumping as much as 90 percent. How can this happen? Is it legal?
Creating a mortgage for your relatives
Q.I want to lend my daughter and son-in-law money by making a $200,000 mortgage loan to them. How do I do this to make it legal, so I can pay taxes on the income and they can get a tax deduction on the interest and …
Did you know there are options to repay your student loans?
TERRY SAVAGE: College students are graduating into mountains of debt — and without the income to start dealing with the debt. But here’s a graduation present for every college student: a new website created by the college debt experts at Simple Tuition.
Debt: Can’t put it off forever
TERRY SAVAGE: What do we do about the debt? It’s making headlines — whether we’re talking about Greek debt, or our national debt, or America’s mortgage debt. There’s just too much debt — and some bad ideas about what to do with it.
Cancer insurance worth the cost?
Q.Should I buy cancer insurance? A. Buying insurance is a choice that is based on mathematics — and emotion. For instance, we buy homeowners insurance, despite relatively long odds against a fire. But the odds of dying are 100 percent — and yet one-third …
Smart dividend strategy pays off
TERRY SAVAGE: Why is the stock market rising? The economy is still in rough shape, unemployment remains stubbornly high, housing remains weak, and the European financial system is a mess. Still, U.S. stocks are rising and we’re seeing daily headlines about the market hitting new four-year highs. Why? Well, two reasons.
Popular payroll tax cut will cost Americans later
TERRY SAVAGE: Late last week, Congress passed the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.” The law has a great name, designed to appeal to all voters. Neither the conservatives who worried about the cost, nor liberals who wanted more benefits, could stand in the way of its “bipartisan” appeal — especially in an election year!
What you need to know about Dow vs. S&P 500
TERRY SAVAGE: There is a huge difference between the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 average, and it goes far beyond the fact that the Dow has only 30 stocks, a fraction of the number in the S&P 500.
