MONEY matters

If your house has gone down in value and you are considering dropping insurance coverage to save a few bucks, you may want to reconsider.  I’m all for tightening the belt and saving money in creative ways during challenging economic times – but lowering your insurance coverage on your home is not a place to cut back on.

Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, at Kiplinger's Personal Finance says you should never lower the amount your house is insured for just because housing prices have dropped. Read her recent article How to Save Money on Homeowners Insurance to find out more.  

This task list is taken from the Financial Planning Association (FPA) website. I've divided the list into four posts, one for each calendar quarter starting with Jan-Feb-March 2011. There is much to do in January, but Feb and March are much lighter task months.

If you’ve made a New Year’s resolution to get control of your finances in 2011, here’s a list of important planning and execution tasks that should be on your money calendar for the year:

If the US debt clock unnerves you, it should. Take action by visiting Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig’s site: fix congress first for political reform we desperately need.

How do other American states compare with other countries? The Economist takes the nearest equivalent country from 2009 data and reveals some surprises.

So, which countries match the GDP and population of America's states?

The best investment you can make this year is an investment in your physical well-being, your health. As life gets busier and more demanding, taking care of your mind, body and spirit often gets put on the back burner. Yet health must always come first. There is absolutely nothing more important or vital than your health.  

Health is wealth.

Out of my many annual rituals that I engage in right after the New Year, one of my all time favorites is listening to the classic Stephen Covey book: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  

In particular, Habit 7 has always been my favorite. Habit 7 is: Sharpening Your Saw. If you haven’t read or listened to the book, here’s a brief summary of what Covey means by this phrase.

So what can you do?