Money, Money, Money

We covered money from a few different angles here on Money Smart Life last month.  As you’re probably aware, the primary focus was on taxes; however we did touch on some health insurance, retirement, and career topics as well.  Here’s a look at some of the articles from last month and after that I’ll talk a little about what you can expect this month.

Taxes

• Online Tax Software Success
• 2010 Federal Tax Brackets
• Common Income Tax Problems
• How to File Taxes Online
• Tax Credits for 2009
• Turbo Tax Review
• Turbo Tax Free Trial

Health Insurance

Health insurance is a major issue for all Americans because we all get sick or injured at some point and costs of dealing with these issues continue to go up.  We’ve realized this more since we’ve added a few more dependents onto our health insurance plan and I talked about the cost of sick kids. 

I also looked at how high deductible health insurance plans are not for everyone.  If you’re young and healthy you can build up a nice bundle of pre-tax money but if you have a lot of health issues it can really suck your wallet dry.

Retirement

This year brought some new Roth IRA rules that we go int a little more detail on. Mike Piper from Oblivious Investor warned us about IRA mistakes, specifically 9 sneaky ones that you’ll want to avoid.

Career

Referrals are often the best way to get your foot in the door, especially when not many companies are hiring. I shared some tips on how to refer a friend for a job when you don’t know a whole about their qualifications.  I had some changes in my job so I dug into the difference between exempt employees vs non-exempt employees.

Personal Finance

Then there were a few more that span a number of topics such as kids and money, marriage and money, paying for graduate school, and a credit card scare that left my heart racing!

Coming Soon…

Taxes

So what’s next?  Well taxes are due in a little over a month so we’ll touch on more tax topics.  Next week we’ll hear from the people at H&R Block talking about their H&R Block at Home software.  We’ll be giving away a few copies of the software, so be sure to get updates so you can put your name in for one of them.

Health Insurance

I’ll also have a follow up on the high deductible health insurance plan post from last month. A reader named Ted left an interesting comment that I followd up on and he’s going to share his health insurance experiences with us.

I also have a LOT to talk about in terms of health insurance.  I’m still going back and forth between the hospital and our insurance company on bills for our daughter’s birth, almost a year later. Right now, we’ve been stuck with over $11,000 of bills that should have been covered by insurance. 

I’ve been fighting to get the issues resolved and thnink it will be in the next few weeks. I’ll share some tips on how I’ve dealt with being stuck between the insurance company and the hospital.

Have a great weekend!

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

All posts by Ben Edwards