Should I Buy Travel Insurance for My Next Trip – Pros and Cons to Consider

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Travel insurance is one of those upsell services you see tacked on to your flight and hotel reservations when you book through most online travel sites.

You stop and think about it for a minute, but it can be frustrating.

Is insuring your trip worth the price asked?  What are the odds you need to use travel insurance?  Do you really need this type of insurance or is the travel company just looking to pad their pockets with your hard earned cash?

As is the case with most insurance questions, the answer to whether or not you need trip insurance is maybe.

Here are some pros and cons to consider.

Pros of Buying Travel Insurance

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Facebook Sued Over IPO and Insider Info and Links

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Last week we told you Facebook went public and it went… okay.

At the time, the shares had just stayed about even.  This week did not go so well for Facebook.  Shares dropped to as low as $31.77 in trading — a 16% drop from the IPO price.

If that weren’t bad enough, now Facebook is being sued because it disclosed some information to some of the investment banks warning them that advertising revenues were off significantly.  That kind of information would change an investor’s valuation of the firm, but since it wasn’t publicly available information the banks stood to make a killing by shorting the stock or waiting until the share price dropped.

Whatever happens with the lawsuit, Zuckerburg and his investors came out okay, finally able to trade millions or billions worth of shares that they’ve held for quite some time.

We won’t all get billion dollar payouts, but you can save your way to a healthy retirement. These articles will help you get there:

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Facebook’s Moderate Introduction and Links

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Facebook’s IPO finally hit the market at a raised price of $38 per share.

Some were expecting the shares to “pop” as soon as they start trading.

Instead, shares went up to the $40-41 range, but finished the day at $38.23.

I didn’t get into the action, but many others hopped on to get a slice of Facebook.  I’m still not convinced they should be trading at a Price-Earnings ratio of 122.  In comparison, GE trades at P/E of 15.5, Apple at P/E of 12.93, and Ford at P/E of 2.11 times earnings.

Did you buy shares of Facebook? If they skyrocket, these articles will help you manage the windfall:

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Ally Bank Online Savings Account Review

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It used to be revolutionary to hold your money with a bank that didn’t have any brick and mortar locations for you to visit.

Now high yield online savings accounts are more common and the decision comes down to which online bank you should open an account with.

There are many key factors in that decision — high interest rate, customer service, and account fees — that Ally Bank’s online savings comes out on top if you compare to other accounts.

What is Ally Bank?

Ally Bank Online Savings AccountAlly Bank’s story sounds eerily familiar to the mythical firebird phoenix that is rebirthed out of its own ashes.

That might sound strange for a bank, but Ally Bank is the new edition of GMAC or General Motors Acceptance Corporation.

GMAC was originally founded in 1919 and grew over the course of time, but like many banks a few years ago, got caught up in the financial crisis due to loose mortgage lending standards.  The bank had to take on TARP funding from the government and was rebranded to shed some of the bad image associated with the financial crisis.  A significant portion of the company is still owned by the US government, although the company is actively repaying on the funds it received.  (And a majority of the problems are on the mortgage side of the business, not on the personal banking side that Ally is on.) Continue Reading

Facebook Goes Public This Week and Links

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Facebook is set to have its formal IPO this week and trading will likely begin on Friday.

It is one of the most anticipated initial public offerings in history and will make Mark Zuckerberg quite the wealthy individual.

His employees won’t turn out so bad either — although they’ll likely pay about 45% in tax on the shares they sell.  That’s okay though, since the average tax hit is anticipated to be $1.1 million per employee.  ($1.1 million is 45% of $2.44 million, which would leave the average employee with $1.34 million.  Of course we know how averages work: some employees will have much more, some will have much less.)

One interesting tactic to avoid paying taxes on the IPO?  Renounce your US citizenship.  That’s what one of Facebook’s four co-founders just did.

While most of us won’t have to worry about selling our shares of Facebook at million dollar profits, here are some tactics to help you manage the money you do have:

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What is a Spousal IRA and How Does It Work?

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The rules surrounding your ability to contribute to an IRA generally require you to have earned income in order to contribute at all.

This prevents people trying to exploit loopholes such as parents opening and funding an IRA for a child well before the child earns any income.

However, there is one exception available for married couples that can allow for both individuals to contribute to an IRA even when both do not earn an income.

This exception allows stay at home parents and other non-working spouses the ability to still contribute to an IRA despite not earning an income.

Spousal IRA Contributions

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Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting and Links

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Not every company’s shareholder meeting turns into a type of personal finance carnival, but Warren Buffett’s company is anything but normal.

What is normally a decent sized annual event for shareholders has turned into a festival of sorts where investors and media flock to see what the Oracle of Omaha will say next.

The shareholder meeting is covered heavily in the media, and a classic event is where shareholders get to ask questions to Buffett in a public forum.

The next question on investors’ minds: who will follow Buffett in running the company?

Don’t have time for shareholder meetings? These articles can help you learn more on your own time:

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Apple is Printing Money Around the World and Links

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The infamous tech company Apple is virtually printing money through the explosive sales of its products around the world.

Until this week Apple’s stock had been sliding back a bit — coming off about 13% of its recent high.  Pundits feared that disappointing iPhone sales at AT&T and Verizon would hurt Apple.

Of course Apple came in and hit another home run with its fiscal Q2 numbers in 2012 by selling 35.1 million iPhones around the world.  A significant, but undisclosed, chunk of that amount came from China where the iPhone 4S launched on January 13th.

While Apple figures out what to do with an ever-increasing amount of cash on hand, here are some tips for you to handle your own cash on hand:

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What is FOREX Trading and is it Right for My Portfolio?

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Sometimes sticking to stocks and bonds just isn’t enough for the investor that wants to make his portfolio a little more exotic.

For the aspiring speculator, a wide range of options are available: trading options, trading on margin, owning precious metals, and FOREX trading.

Be forewarned: you should never dedicate more than 5-10% of your nest egg to any kind of speculative trade opportunity whether it be picking individual stocks on your own or doing currency trading.  You can survive losing that small chunk of your portfolio, but not a significant portion of your assets.

What is FOREX Trading?

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Secret Service Scandal and Links

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A new scandal has caused the Secret Service to fire or “encourage” some agents to retire after prostitutes were brought into a facility the President was staying at in Colombia.

One of the prostitutes demanded payment, the agent wouldn’t pay, and the next thing you know embarrassing international headlines are everywhere.  Not only was it an embarrassment, it was also a severe breach of protocol that could have put the President in danger.

Dumb move!

We all make dumb moves — hopefully none as serious as the above — but they can still be costly. Here are some articles to help you avoid making bad financial moves:

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