Archive - February 2009

Many employers offer Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) that can be used to pay for healthcare expenses not covered by health insurance. If you participate in one, the money that you have withheld in the account has use-it-or-lose-it status. In some plans, the deadline for spending funds contributed in 2008 was 12-31-08, but many plans have taken advantage of an IRS provision that allows prior-year FSA funds to be used up to 2.5 months after yearend. The deadline this year is March 16th (the 15th is a Sunday). FSA funds can be used to pay for co-payments, deductibles, or other expenses …

An annuity can take a variety of forms, but it’s basically an insurance contract.  In a fixed annuity, an insurer agrees to make a regular stream of payments to an annuitant in return for the payment of an initial sum of money (the premium).  The period over which fixed annuity payments are made could be

a specific number of

Understand that your score can’t be fixed overnight
These days, the best loan terms are given to consumers with FICO credit scores of about 760 or better; this is up about 20 points from a year ago, when credit was flowing freely.  Working to improve your …