How to fix FEMA’s flood buyout program
Flood insurance is meant to cover the cost if your home is damaged by flooding. The vast majority of flood insurance policies are sold through the National Flood Insurance Program, which is run by the […]
The gov’t is letting more homeowners ditch the NFIP for private flood insurance
Homeowners with Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages can now buy private flood insurance to satisfy their loan requirements. It’s a sign of expanding consumer choice in response to a burgeoning private flood insurance market. Previously, […]
Life insurance could get a lot more expensive. Here’s why
Life insurance companies paid a record $100 billion to beneficiaries of life insurance policies in 2021. The amount was a 10.8% increase over 2020, which was itself a record-setting year, when payments rose 15.4% over 2019, […]
Lawmakers want gun owners to get insurance. Could it lower violence?
There were 48,953 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2021, the highest number recorded since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started tracking it in 1981. One way some lawmakers have attempted to […]
Does private health insurance actually protect sick people?
When you pay for insurance, you’re ideally buying financial certainty. When you get into a car accident, car insurance protects you from bearing the full cost on your own. You pay your premium even […]
People sure made a lot of babies during the pandemic!
U.S.-born parents experienced a baby boom in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fertility rates had been dropping since the 2007 Great Recession, but the 2021 “baby bump” reversed that trend, a new study finds. […]
These upgrades can help protect your home from climate change
In less than a year between 2020 and 2021, Lake Charles, Louisiana, faced two hurricanes, then a severe winter storm, followed by more flooding, all in the midst of a pandemic. A team of […]
Are you losing your right to get car repairs wherever you want?
Are drivers losing the ability to decide where to get their cars fixed? That’s what proponents of right to repair legislation believe. They say automakers are making it increasingly difficult for independent repair shops […]
Atmospheric rivers: Why you need to worry about these increasingly powerful storms
While hurricanes cause most flooding damage on the East Coast, atmospheric rivers — massive storms that carry extreme amounts of water from the tropics — have accounted for 84% of total flood damages in […]
Don’t know when you’ll retire? Here’s how to plan for it anyway
Most people, even people who love their jobs, are working toward the day when they can stop working. Saving for retirement is a pillar of any financial plan. But it can be tricky. While […]