Posts by Brett King

For most of the 20th century, it was common for employers and unions to sponsor health care insurance for retired workers, which helped pay for some or all of Medicare’s cost-sharing requirements and deductibles. However, this trend reversed sharply in the mid-1990s. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that only 19 percent…

Baby boomers have long been the movers and shakers of the real estate market, but millennials are expected to be the biggest buyers in 2019. Millennials are projected to account for 45 percent of mortgages, compared to 37 percent for Generation X and 17 percent for boomers in the new year. This trend is expected…

Where there is internet, is there more prosperity? Generally speaking, yes. It costs much more to lay fiber to outlying communities than it does in larger metropolitan areas, which may contribute to the growing geographical discrepancy between income, education and even health care. Some places, like Indiana, hope to bring rural areas up to speed…

Can having your mind in the right place improve your health? It can’t hurt. We’re living longer, but we aren’t always prepared for what lies ahead. It’s easy to become disillusioned as new aches and pains crop up or our body doesn’t work like it used to. But just as we exercise and eat right…

According to a telecommunications study of 50 billion telephone calls over an 18-month period, nearly four percent of calls in 2017 were fraudulent. In 2018, that number jumped to 29 percent of all calls. At that pace, the number of fraudulent calls is expected to rise to 44 percent of all calls in 2019.1 You…

Good news for retirees: Social Security benefits are scheduled to increase 2.8 percent in 2019, the biggest bump since the 3.6 percent increase in 2012. The average beneficiary – who received about $1,405 a month in 2018 – can expect to see just over $39 more each month, or about $468 more over the course…

Toward the end of 2018, before the midterms, Congress passed a proliferation of bills, many of which were bipartisan. The following is a roundup of recent legislation designed to provide economic stimulus and additional protections heading into 2019. The America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to embark on…

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, up to 10 million Americans lost their homes during the last financial crisis. Now, 10 years later, we’re only slightly above 2016’s low of 63 percent home ownership – at about 64 percent as of June 2018.1 While many metropolitan areas have experienced robust growth in…

When companies face a rough period, they often look to either increase revenues or trim expenses, including reducing overhead costs.   You can do the same thing for your personal budget, where reducing expenses can give you the opportunity to increase your savings rate. Though this sometimes can seem easier said than done.   Costs…

It’s a tough time to be a young adult. Take the housing market, for example. It’s been fairly locked up since the last recession, when many millennials were still in high school. Now that they have jobs and credit history, it turns out millennials struggle to find a house to buy. In many areas, they…