This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.
On 02 August 2005, my friend Frank and his partner awoke at 2:45 a.m. to the dog barking and a neighbor knocking on their door. The apartment complex was on fire. They grabbed their dog and whatever they could carry and ran from the building.
“We lost everything,” he says. Later they’d find out that it was arson. A former employee of the apartment complex stole rent checks and set the office on fire. Frank was moving into a new apartment in ten days, and the new complex agreed to let them move in early. “We moved in with a plastic bag of groceries, paid for with a $50 food voucher from the Red Cross,” he says. The other 70 displaced tenants stayed in Red Cross shelters.
To make matters worse, Frank didn’t have renters insurance. “We didn’t think we’d ever need it,” he says. “You don’t see why [...]

This article is by Adam Baker, a new GRS Staff Writer. In addition to writing for Get Rich Slowly, Baker blogs over at Man Vs. Debt, where you can find his personal background story and read more of his writing.
Last week, I adjusted several preferences on my PayPal account. I added and verified a new e-mail address and swapped my linked bank account. Shortly after finalizing the changes, I received a brief e-mail from PayPal stating that I needed to log in order to verify my account.
Nothing seemed suspicious at first. But after closer examination, I noticed that the message was requesting that I log into a client provided within the e-mail itself. ”That’s weird,” I thought. Then it hit me: A well-timed phishing attack had just penetrated my e-mail account’s spam filter. I couldn’t believe how similar it was to the legitimate e-mails I’d received earlier that day confirming my account changes — or how perfect the timing [...]

This is a guest post from Ray at Financial Highway. Earlier today, Ray shared the basics of life insurance.
Insurance is an important part of financial planning — but understanding insurance and buying the right product can be tricky. From whole to term life, riders to convertibility clauses, how do you make sense of all the choices? Most people rely on the expertise of their insurance advisor, broker, or sales representative to help them make the right decision. Yet, for some people, insurance representatives have developed a bad reputation, and many people do not trust the “recommendations” they receive.
From my own experience in the insurance industry, and knowing how representatives are trained, I wouldn’t trust many insurance sales reps either. Here are some steps you can take to ensure you get the right product for the right price:

Understand your needs. No one understands your financial situation better than you. That means you should avoid [...]

Many of you have asked for life insurance information, so Ray from Financial Highway offered to provide this guest post on the subject. This is new info for me, too.
Protecting your family from financial disasters is one of the fundamental components of financial planning. Life insurance should be a core part of that planning process. This article is a basic primer on life insurance, which should introduce you to the concept and give you an idea of how life insurance works.
What is life insurance?
Most people have a basic understanding of insurance. You receive financial compensation when an insured event occurs. Consider auto insurance, for example. If your car is in an accident or stolen, your insurance company provides compensation according to the terms outlined in your insurance policy.
On the surface, life insurance is pretty straightforward. When the insured person dies, the policy pays a prearranged amount to the designated beneficiary. The following parties are [...]

My mother is in the hospital. Her health, which had been deteriorating lately, took a turn for the worse over the weekend. On Tuesday, she was admitted to a local hospital, where she’s likely to remain for a week (or more).
My brothers and I have been sorting through mom’s financial documents, trying to piece together a complete picture. It’s difficult. If she had used Quicken, the job would be relatively easy, but she’s Old School, and does everything by hand.
We’ve begun to realize there are a lot of unanswered questions.

What are mom’s finances like? How much does she owe and to whom? How much has she saved? Fortunately, we’ve been able to answer this to some degree. She does have some savings (though we’re unsure if it will be enough to cover her medical expenses), and she receives regular “passive income” from the box factory.
What is her health insurance like? Mom is covered through the [...]

This is a guest post from Amanda, a Colorado tech writer and an activist for children with congenital heart disease. This article is about Amanda’s personal experience with insurance. It’s not a prescription for other people, but insights into the value of insurance in her own life. It’s her hope that it will get you thinking.
There was a time in my life when the thought of insurance made my eyes glaze over. I’ve never been one to want to read details in insurance contracts, license agreements, etc. I also don’t always enjoy thinking through potential unpleasant situations. So, when it comes to buying and using insurance, I’ve learned some lessons the hard way.
I’ve made some mistakes with my car insurance, for instance. When I bought a second car to drive to grad school several years ago, I thought, “No, I don’t want to pay $3 extra a month for rental car coverage because we [...]