By Michelle Chapman & Alex Veiga; The Associated Press ~ Mar 09, 2015

The three big credit reporting agencies are making changes that could help steer some consumers clear of the credit dog house.

Data collected by the agencies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion on hundreds of millions of people are used to create credit scores. Those scores can determine who gets a loan and how much interest is paid on it.

The move stems from months of negotiations between the companies and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, one of several state attorneys general who have placed the credit reporting industry under increased scrutiny.

From Beth Baker; Forbes ~ Mar 09, 2015

Deborah Stern, 58, a labor lawyer-turned-teacher, has a clear vision of her future. She and her husband, Earl Dotter, 72, are actively seeking a condominium development in which to move in downtown Silver Spring, Md. They’ll be able to walk to restaurants, movies and shops, which they can’t do from their single family home in a suburban neighborhood nearby.

Downsizing is not unusual. But Stern and her husband have added a twist. They will be joined by several long-time friends. “I would like a situation where we are basically under the same roof, but in separate residences,” she says.

By Tomi Kilgore; MarketWatch ~ Mar 06, 2015

Every stock booted from the Dow in September 2013 has outperformed its replacement

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Don’t cry for AT&T Inc. investors because the telecom giant’s stock is being booted from the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average—it could end up being a blessing in disguise.

Many believe a stock is likely to perform better when it enters a major market index, because investors who attempt to track those indexes would need to buy the new entrants to match the indexes’ performance.

By Howard Gleckman ; Forbes ~ Mar 06, 2015

We spend more on our health care as we age. No news there. But you may be surprised to learn that all health spending is not created equal. For most of us, as long as we can stay out of the hospital or a nursing home, our costs are relatively modest–and steady–even as we grow older.

But that can change if we have a severe, acute medical episode that lands us in a hospital bed or a skilled nursing facility, or if our functional or cognitive limitations get so severe that we need home health care or even must move to a nursing home. While we use those services infrequently, we are more likely to do so as we age. Because they are extremely expensive and often not paid for by Medicare, our out-of-pocket costs for those services can go through the roof.

From Howard Gleckman; Forbes ~ Mar 04, 2015

The siren song of retirement income free of state taxes continues to seduce politicians. No matter that there is little evidence that high taxes on pension income drive away seniors, or that few older people move from one state to another for any reason at all. No matter that tax-free retirement income benefits the rich at the expense of low- and moderate-income households. No matter that many states talking about doing this are facing serious budget shortfalls.

In sum, excluding retirement income from state tax gives money that states don’t have to people who don’t need it to discourage them from doing something that, by and large, they are not doing.

By Jeffry Bartash; MarketWatch ~ Mar 04, 2015

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The percentage of money U.S. consumers spend on health care rose in 2014 for the third straight year to another record high, according to one government measure.

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Some 20.6% of total consumer spending in 2014 was devoted to health care, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, annual figures from the Commerce Department report on personal expenditures show. That’s up from 20.4% in 2013.

By Alexander Bolton; The Hill ~ Mar 04, 2015

Senate and House Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a package of tax cuts aimed at helping the middle class as part of a new political offensive against Republicans.

Three members of the Senate Democratic leadership, Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Patty Murray (Wash.) are leading the effort “to challenge Republicans to join them in cutting taxes for working families, not just the wealthiest Americans,” according to a Democratic aide.

Murray, the ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has authored two of the proposals, the 21st Century Worker Tax Cut Act and the Helping Working Families Afford Child Care Act.

From Chris Taylor; Reuters ~ Feb 26, 2015

NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Wanda Simpson reached retirement a couple of years ago, the Cleveland mom had an unwelcome companion: Around $25,000 in debt.

Despite a longtime job as a municipal administrator, Simpson wrestled with a combination of a second mortgage and credit-card bills that she racked up thanks to health problems and a generous tendency to help out family members.

“I was very worried, and there were a lot of sleepless nights,” remembers Simpson, 68. “I didn’t want to be a burden on my children, or pass away and leave a lot of debt behind.”

By Paul Blumenthal and Ryan Grim, Huffington Post – Feb 26, 2015

When Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cast the deciding vote to gut a century of campaign finance law, he assured the public that the unlimited corporate spending he was ushering in would “not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” Because those authorized to give and spend unlimited amounts were legally required to remain independent of the politicians themselves, Kennedy reasoned, there was no cause for concern.

Just five years later, in a development that may be surprising only to Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision is reshaping how, how much and to whom money flows in Washington.