Anyone who has Medicare and takes lots of drugs or a few very expensive ones (or who has an older relative who does) knows about the dreaded “donut hole”—the gap in coverage that happens each year if you have to spend a lot of money on prescriptions. If you’re above the poverty level but don’t have good gap insurance, it can be financially devastating. The New York Times notes that for a quarter of at-risk patients, planning ahead with generics may help you skirt the donut hole altogether. The big stumbling block is that you have to be prepared to discuss your personal finances with your doctor.
how-to
Set Up Your Own Funeral Trust
By 11.20.07
Don’t set up an irrevocable funeral trust through your insurance company, says MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe.
Quickly Spot Restaurant Tip Fraud On Your Credit Card Statement
By 11.15.07
Punny Money has a neat, simple trick for protecting yourself from restaurant tip fraud, which is when a waiter will change the numbers on your credit card receipt in order to increase his tip. The best way to prevent it is to match all your monthly receipts to your statement, but you can use this simple checksum technique to scan a statement and quickly spot any suspicious transactions without referring to your receipts.
How To Go To College For Free
By 11.15.07
Want a college education but don’t want to go into debt over it? If your interests happen to coincide with the specific curricula at certain “tuition-free” schools, you might actually be able to get away with it. “There are only a handful of such schools in the U.S., which is one reason they are often overlooked by students, parents, and high school guidance counselors during the college search,” says a senior policy analyst at the College Board.
How To Not Get Scammed At Live Auctions
By 11.15.07
Should you ever venture into a live auction, you know, gavel, real chairs that you sit in, etc, Consumerama has some tips on auctioneer scams to watch out for. Let’s say the price drops to $300, and three hands shoot up. By law, he’s supposed to just accept one bid at $300 and move on, but:
Where To Get Your Real Credit Score
By 11.14.07
Finding your credit score can be hard if you’ve never done it before. There’s scam sites, conflicting information, and the credit bureaus offering their own version of the credit score. But if you want your FICO, the real score looked at by lenders to determine your credit-worthiness and interest rates, here’s where you can go:
How To Hire A Home Cleaning Service
By 11.13.07
Reader MecuryPDX left a detailed comment about how to hire a home cleaning service that was so good we thought it would make a great front-page article.
Protect Yourself From Being Bumped Off A Flight
By 11.12.07
Kiplinger’s “Win the Bumping Game” offers some advice on how to minimize the chances you’ll get left behind when your airline overbooks a flight. The main thing you can do is arrive early—it’s the last-minute arrivals, or worse, those who buy their tickets a half hour before departure, who are most likely to get bumped. The other thing you can do is avoid Delta, Comair, or Atlantic Southeast, which have the worst records of bumping passengers, and stick with JetBlue, which has the best. And make sure you have a seat assignment if at all possible.
Don't Let Your Gift Card Scam You
By 11.12.07
Consumer Reports will take a full-page ad in the New York Times tomorrow to warn consumers about the pitfalls of giving and using gift cards. Their telephone survey found 27% of all gift cards go unused, and retailers took in an extra $8 billion because of unused, lost, and expired gift cards. Here’s their tips for making the most of the plastic:
- Register it Some cards must be registered with the issuer, especially if the card is used for purchases online or by phone.
- Spend it quickly Use the card as soon as possible, especially if it expires or has a monthly maintenance fee.
- Spend it to the last penny If the card balance gets so low that there’s nothing to buy, ask a merchant to do a split-tender transaction. That involves using the remaining card balance for part of the transaction and another form of payment for the rest.
- Hold on to it. Don’t throw out the card when the balance is zero. Some merchants require it for returns.
Watch Out For Fees With Gift Cards
By 11.12.07
Like candy canes and drunken family dinners, gift cards have become a Christmas staple. Bankrate has reviewed a wide number of them and published the results to help you pick the best one for your needs. To avoid fees, you should stick with “closed-loop” cards—that is, a card issued by a specific retailer for use only with that retailer. Almost all retailers now offer cards that don’t expire and don’t charge maintenance fees, with the notable exceptions of Macy’s and Bloomingdales, whose cards both expire two years after purchase. However, several retailers—CVS, for example—still charge “dormancy” fees on cards that have been inactive for anywhere from 6 to 24 months, so be sure to check the fine print to see how this is addressed.
Where To Get Help When Your Gadget Breaks Down
By 11.9.07
When your iPod, Zune, CueCat, HP printer, DVD player, or game console goes on the fritz, you no longer have to put it in that closet where you store all the stuff that doesn’t work but that you don’t think you should throw away. There’s now a whole world of self-help forums and repair advice websites online where you can trade tips with other owners of consumer electronics—weird things companies would never tell you, like using a piece of folded paper as a shim to get a failed hard drive working again in your iPod.
Make Your Own Toy Kitchen
By 11.9.07
It’s your kid—you should get to decide what kinds of choking and lead poisoning hazards make up its playthings. One woman clearly didn’t need any Fisher-Price plastic toy kitchen ruining her white-on-white aesthetic, so she made her own entirely out of found corrugated cardboard, contact paper, and a few household items. And if you don’t feel you have the skills to replicate it by looking at the photographs, then she’ll sell you a copy of the plans for $7.
How To Search Our Archive
By 11.8.07
Here’s some of the methods we editors use to find older posts on our site:
How To Pick A Good Doctor
By 11.8.07
“Most people spend more time picking out a can of beans than a new doctor,” says one expert in a Chicago Tribune article about how to find a properly licensed doctor that you’ll get along with. He and other experts recommend you arrange for a “first date” sort of interview, so you can ask general questions and get an overall feel for both the doctor and the practice, before the time comes when you need a doctor and don’t have the luxury of shopping around.
Complain Like A Pro In 10 Easy Steps
By 11.7.07
MSNBC has 10 ways to be a more effective complainer. We’ve added some twists of our own and linked back to relevant posts on making them happen.
3 Ways To Take Advantage Of The Fed Rate Cut
By 11.7.07
Bankrate shares three ways consumers can take advantage of the recent federal interest rate cut.
How To Freeze Your Credit Report
By 11.6.07
Red Tape Chronicles has a good guide for how to set up a credit report freeze at each of the three major credit bureaus.
