Raise your hand if you actually use every one of the features offered by your banking account. Raise your hand if you even know what extra services your banking account has …
If you’ve ever wanted to pick and choose which features and services your checking account has, then you should know someone was listening. Recently I was able to interview the Senior Vice President of Union Bank about their latest product Banking by Design. Although I do not personally have an account with Union Bank, I wanted to find out what this service was all about and see how it compares to other bank products.
One of the most often over-looked aspects of retirement planning is the burden of elderly care costs. All too often most people assume they will pass on or before the average age of life expectancy. Or sometimes they simply forget that their bodies will be weaker and they will likely require additional funding to cover expenses they don’t deal with currently. Unfortunately, however, the amount of extra money needed for proper elderly care is nothing short of significant.
This may be financial planning treason, but I’m going to suggest it anyways. We’re considering cutting back on the contributions to our 403b plan in favor of using the money to buy more high paying dividend stocks. Why would this move be controversial? Because it would mean contributing less money to a tax sheltered account and diverting it to one where we would pay taxes. Why in the world would I want to do that?
Hostess Brands, the maker of everything I used to love about lunchtime as a kid such as Cup Cakes, Twinkies, and sandwiches made of Wonder Bread, is nearing the end of its existence. Though there are a number of mixed opinions and stories to point blame for the Hostess bankruptcy, most official news reports are citing inability to come to an agreement with the Union. However in contrast, 
Guys, let’s face it. We’re kind of bone-heads when it comes to picking out good presents for the special women in our lives. They do so much for us, and we want really badly to show them how much we appreciate it. And so with the clock ticking on the number of days until the big morning, here’s my list of suggestions of Christmas gift ideas for her. Hopefully something on this list sparks an “ah-ha” moment in your head as something you think she will like. Enjoy!
This article was provided by Mila Ray, a contributor wishing to promote the pros and cons of loan selection.
The following post was provided by a guest contributor. If you are interested in being a guest contributor for My Money Design, please feel free to 
Happy Thanksgiving weekend everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying some time off, taking it easy, and loving big helpings of home cooked meals. Within our family, we host Thanksgiving at our house. So Thursday was a pretty big occasion for us. Mrs MMD out-did herself again and cooked an outstandingly delicious assortment of food. While visiting, we also managed to find a pretty hilarious Thanksgiving song. Someone auto-tuned a remix of the William Shatner Deep Fried Turkey public service announcement from last year (which by itself is also kind of ridiculous in its own way). Enjoy:
One of the things I’ve been looking at for a while are new affordable external hard drives for my computer. Right around the Christmas season, and especially on 
If you are somehow managing to diligently contribute the maximum amount to your 401k and IRA accounts, then there’s good news for you in 2013. The IRS contribution limits for the major U.S. retirement accounts will be increased next year!
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