Sticking with your Medicare plan this open enrollment season? You could pay a hefty price.

Even Medicare beneficiaries happy with their plans should take the opportunity this open enrollment season to comparison shop — and review their current coverage.  Medicare’s annual open enrollment pe...

Weekend reads: How the Fed’s punishing policy can set you up for massive gains in the stock market

During a long bear market, investors’ moods can be so bleak and muddy that they cannot envision better times. But they always come. Warren Buffett has shown repeatedly over the decades how to enhance ...

Flood Insurance Fell in Florida Before Hurricane Ian Struck

SANFORD, Fla.—Florida homeowners had reduced their flood insurance coverage in the years before Hurricane Ian dumped up to 15 inches of rain on the state, inundating coastal and inland areas. Only a s...

Hurricane Ian May Hurt Florida Properties, and Actually Help Insurers

When Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida on the morning of Aug. 24, 1992, insurance stocks opened down. But by noon they’d recovered and the sector closed up that day, recalls MKM Partners analyst Harr...

Dividend yields on preferred stocks have soared. This is how to pick the best ones for your portfolio.

This year nearly every type of security has declined — bad news if you look at your portfolio’s value each day and have difficulty sleeping at night. On the other hand, it’s good news if you’re lookin...

Medicare premiums are decreasing in 2023 – this is how much older Americans will save if they’re on Part B

Medicare beneficiaries will see their Part B premiums go down for the first time in more than a decade, President Biden said during a White House event on Tuesday.  Monthly Part B premiums, which are ...

Humana, CVS Circle Cano Health as Potential Buyers

Humana and CVS Health are circling Cano Health according to people familiar with the situation, as healthcare heavyweights scramble to snap up primary-care providers. The talks are serious and a deal ...

Nursing homes suing caregivers for debts they don’t owe, regulator says

Nursing homes and debt collectors are billing and suing long-term-care residents’ family members and friends, demanding payments for debts these individuals don’t legally owe, consumer attorneys and f...

Where Is the Stock Market Going? It Could Have a Messy Fall.

If 2022 were to end tomorrow, or the day after, it would enter the books as a dismal one for investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 13% year to date, the S&P 500 index is off 17%, and...

CVS Is in Advanced Talks to Buy Signify Health for Around $8 Billion

CVS Health is in advanced talks to acquire the home-healthcare company Signify Health for around $8 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. CVS appears to have beat out other heavy hitt...

Celebrity Medicare Sales Pitches Are Toned Down After Scrutiny

If it’s football season, you can count on seeing Joe Namath on television, along with William Shatner and Jimmie “J J” Walker. They are the most prominent pitchmen for what has become an annual fall s...

Bank of America draws mixed reviews for zero-down-payment mortgages aimed at boosting Black and Hispanic home ownership

Bank of America Corp. is drawing a mixed reaction in social media to a zero-down-payment mortgage program aimed at bringing first-time home ownership within closer reach of more African American and H...

These dividend stocks can protect you as the Federal Reserve slows the economy

With Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell set to deliver an important speech Friday, investors may finally begin to take him at his word: The central bank is going to maintain a hawkish stance to co...

Only 5 S&P 500 stocks ended higher after Powell’s sobering Jackson Hole speech

It took only a 10-minute speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday to clarify that monetary policy would be relentlessly tightened in the months ahead. Investors dumped stocks, send...

9 ways the Inflation Reduction Act affects Medicare coverage, and what it means for you

Major changes to prescription drug affordability for more than 50 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Part D are likely on the way because of a new law. The Inflation Reduction Act “finally del...

Amazon Among Bidders for Signify Health

Amazon.com Inc. is among the bidders for healthcare company Signify Health Inc., joining other heavy hitters vying in an auction for the home-health services provider, according to people familiar wit...

Having a Long-Term Care Plan Is Crucial. Here, 2 Hybrid Policy Types to Consider

For millions of baby boomers, Gen-Xers, and millennials who have no long-term care strategy, the pandemic has sent a message: Act now or it will cost you later.  It’s a sobering task no matter your fi...

Opinion: Why the Inflation Reduction Act is a very big deal for Americans

NEW YORK—Senate Democrats’ compromise bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, addresses not just inflation but also several key longstanding problems facing our economy and society. There is ...

Here’s what’s in, and out, of Democrats’ $739 billion inflation-fighting package

WASHINGTON — What started as a $4 trillion effort during President Joe Biden’s first months in office to rebuild America’s public infrastructure and family support systems has ended up a much slimmer,...

Retirees, here’s how returning to work may affect Social Security, Medicare, pensions and taxes

Amid rising inflation and a volatile stock market, many retirees are heading back to work. In April, Hiring Lab, the economic research arm of the job board Indeed.com, reported that as of March 2022, ...

How Amazon’s $3.9 billion wager on primary care could change your Prime membership

Amazon’s AMZN, +1.52% $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical ONEM, +69.45% is the e-commerce giant’s biggest bet on healthcare to date, and it hints at a future in which primary care and streaming op...

UnitedHealth to Drop Copays on Some Widely Used Drugs

UnitedHealth Group Inc. said it would eliminate copayments and other out-of-pocket charges for patients on some widely used drugs in certain plans next year, including insulin and the anti-overdose tr...

The 15 housing markets in America that are now actually more affordable than they were in 2005

“Worsening affordability appears to be having an impact on demand, which could lead to prices plateauing or even correcting modestly in some markets,” one pro told MarketWatch Picks. Getty Images/iSto...

6 Apartment Stocks That Get a Rise Out of High Home Prices

Illustration by Naomi Elliott Text size Skyrocketing home prices and mortgage rates make this a tough time to buy a house. But it’s an opportunity for bargain hunters to invest in apartment real estat...

California Truckers Struggle to Comply With New Employment Law

Trucking companies and truck owner-operators are scrambling to figure out how to operate under a new California law that toughens definitions of nonemployee drivers, upending decadeslong practices tha...

I’m the chief economist for a $5 billion real estate data and title company. Here are 5 things you need to know about the housing market now

Mark Fleming Housing has become increasingly unaffordable to millions of Americans — with home prices and mortgage rates continuing to rise (see the lowest rates you may qualify for now here). So – as...

Opinion: Medicare is broken — and not in the way you might think

For nearly every retiring American, Medicare is both universal and universally complex. Yet, Medicare is broken – and not in the way most people think.  Every few years, news organizations raise the a...

Biden Administration Weighs Move to Trim Mortgage Costs as Home Prices Rise

WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is weighing a move to trim mortgage costs for first-time and lower-income buyers, a bid to boost affordability when average home prices are at an all-time high. Pre...

The Best Income Investments Now

Income-oriented investors, it’s time to celebrate. There are suddenly many more opportunities—in areas ranging from junk bonds to real estate investment trusts—after the bear markets in stocks and bon...

This dividend fund is down 3% vs. S&P’s 20% drop. Here are its top stock picks

By now even the most ardent tech and growth-stock enthusiasts realize the bull market is over. John Kornitzer’s approach to selecting high-quality stocks for the Buffalo Flexible Income Fund is one th...

Buying From Mark Cuban’s Pharmacy Could Save Medicare Billions, Study Says

Medicare’s prescription-drug program could save billions of dollars annually if it purchased generic acid-reflux, cancer and other drugs from a new pharmacy backed by investor Mark Cuban, according to...

The cost of retiree healthcare is climbing— here’s what you should expect to spend

Healthcare costs continue to rise — Americans planning to retire should prepare ahead of time.  The average 65-year-old couple retiring in 2022 can expect to spend $315,000 in retirement on healthcare...