The VA’s needs-based pension is a separate benefit from disability pay, for low-income wartime veterans
Many veterans assume that if they never had a service-connected injury, the VA has no monthly check for them. That is wrong. The VA runs a second, entirely separate payment called Veterans Pension, and it is built for exactly the veteran who does not qualify for disability compensation: someone who served during a wartime period, […]
Read MoreThe VA’s needs-based pension is a separate benefit from disability pay, for low-income wartime veterans
Many veterans assume that if they never had a service-connected injury, the VA has no monthly check for them. That is wrong. The VA runs a second, entirely separate payment called Veterans Pension, and it is built for exactly the veteran who does not qualify for disability compensation: someone who served during a wartime period, […]
Read MorePersonal Finance
Insurance & Protection
A long-term-care partnership policy lets you protect extra savings and still qualify for Medicaid
Long-term care is the expense most likely to drain a lifetime of savings, and the usual advice is grim: buy…
Personal Finance
Insurance & Protection
A long-term-care partnership policy lets you protect extra savings and still qualify for Medicaid
Long-term care is the expense most likely to drain a lifetime of savings, and the usual advice is grim: buy…
Markets & Investing
Banking & Credit Cards
Fraud & Scams
Scammers are targeting people who already lost money, demanding an upfront fee to “recover” it, the FTC warns
Federal regulators are warning that con artists have a favorite new list of targets: people who have already been cheated once. A recent consumer alert...
Credit Cards & Rewards
You can dispute a credit-card billing error in writing and force the issuer to investigate
A wrong charge on a credit-card statement is not something a cardholder simply has to absorb. Federal law gives every consumer the right to challenge...
Bank Accounts & Fees
High-yield savings accounts still pay far more than the big banks’ near-zero rates
The gap between what an online high-yield savings account pays and what a big national bank offers has rarely been this wide. As of late...
Fraud & Scams
A courier scam talks seniors into handing cash or gold bars to a fake investigator
The knock at the door is the last step in a scam that can cost a retiree a lifetime of savings. A supposed federal agent,...
Fraud & Scams
Thieves are “washing” checks stolen from mailboxes, so pay bills online or at the counter
A stolen check rarely stays the amount it was written for. Mail thieves lift envelopes from home mailboxes and the blue collection boxes on the...
Fraud & Scams
A flat $80 with no proof is on the table for people caught in the Lucent Health data breach
About 37,000 people notified in the Lucent Health Solutions data breach can now claim a flat $80 with no documentation required, part of a $1.95...
Real Estate
Mortgages & Rates
Mortgage closing costs can run 2% to 5% of the loan, due at signing
The interest rate gets almost all the attention when a person buys or refinances a home, but a second, often-overlooked…
Retirement & Taxes
An income-only trust can qualify a retiree for Medicaid nursing care in states with a hard income cap
A PACE program covers all of a frail senior’s care with no premium for those on both Medicare and Medicaid
Medicaid lets you keep one home, one car and a prepaid burial while qualifying for nursing-home care
A new law raised the state-and-local tax deduction cap to $40,000, easing the bill for many homeowners