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AXA PPP Healthcare, one of the UKs biggest health insurance providers, has joined Aviva in removing all limits on its cover for licensed cancer drugs on its standard policies for individuals and small and medium enterprise’s (SMEs), with immediate effect.

Previously, the insurer covered “prolonged cancer drug treatment” for up to one year or for the period of the drug license, whichever was shorter. Those who took out “Cover 1” had up to three years of cover.

These limits have now been dropped meaning patients will be covered for the duration of their treatment. The insur

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If you’ve been watching the news the past few days, you’ve probably seen the infamous video of the FedEx deliveryman who just tosses a computer monitor delivery over a fence. Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it:

As I write this, FedEx has said that they’ve merely “disciplined” the driver, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he didn’t have a job come January.

So why am I mentioning this on here?

I want you to step back for a moment and put yourself in this guy’s shoes. Right now, it’s Christmas, so his working conditions are pretty miserable at the moment.

He has a ton

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Fewer Americans filed for their first week of unemployment benefits last week. So few in fact, that initial claims were at their lowest level since May 2008.

About 366,000 people filed initial jobless claims in the week ended Dec. 10, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was a decrease of 19,000 from the prior week, and far better than the bigger influx of claims that economists were expecting.

Last week marked the lowest level of initial unemployment claims since May 31, 2008, a welcome sign that hiring may have picked up further in December. Economists often look for the weekly tally to stay below 400,000 to signal that job growth is strong enough to lower the unemployment rate, which is currently at 8.6%. Read Full Post…

With year-end rapidly approaching, it’s time to consider making some moves that will cut your tax bill.

Before acting on our recommendations, be sure to gauge your 2012 income expectations. Moves you make this year may affect next year’s taxes, detailed in the table below.

With that in mind, here is the first installment of our two-part series on year-end tax planning ideas for individuals.

Game the Standard Deduction

If your total annual itemized deductions are usually close to the standard deduction amount, consider the strategy of bunching together expenditures for itemized deduction items every other year, starting with this year.

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MINNEAPOLIS – Doctors are more stressed out than ever before says a new study by Physician Wellness Services (PWS) and Cejka Search and the impact of that increased stress is underestimated to the detriment of all.

“The survey found that stress among physicians is a) at a higher level than previous studies have found and b) that it is growing for the majority of physicians,” said Alan Rosenstein, MD, medical director, PWS. “The implications of this are serious, both for individual physicians and for healthcare organizations, especially at a time when there is a significant physician shortage that will remain in effect for the foreseeable future.”

PWS’ and Cejka’s survey results are based on 2,069 completed surveys. Among the fin

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While the rest of Europe is experiencing dire financial straits, Britain’s 25 – 30 year old ‘foundation generation’ are more financially savvy than ever, budgeting well and planning for the future, an Aviva study has shown.

The findings from the research show a financially aware generation that is combatting today’s tough economic environment by developing their careers, managing their debt and budgeting their day to day lives.

Aviva’s director of Workplace Savings, Paul Goodwin, said action now will make all the difference for this generation in retirement.

“With so much concern about people not saving enough for their retirement, its really good that this younger group of men and women seem to be actively managing their finances and planning for their future.

“This generation has the ability to make a real difference to their standard of living right up to and through retirement, if they put money aside now for the long-term.”

Goodwin also said the idea that saving is not a priority for young people was wrong, and it is good to see evidence of this.

While there is a natural tendency to think that the younger generation will put off saving for retirement to fund their lifestyle now, this research shows that they do actively want to balance their spending with long-term saving.

“What we need to see is that this desire to save translates into more people actively putting money aside for the future as soon as they start their working lives.”

The Figures

Financially responsible:

Money is being used wisely with 89 per cent of the foundation generation holding a savings account, 38 per cent having some form of work pension, 12 per cent having a private personal pension, 41 per cent investing in a cash ISA and 34 per cent receiving protection from life insurance.

The main reasons people in this age group dont pay into a pension provided via their employer is that they either cannot afford to pay into it (20%) or they work for an employer which does not offer one (19%).

Employers supporting saving:

When asked about their preferences in the next five years for saving for retirement, 26% said they would prefer to save into a workplace pension, 22% into a private personal pension, and 18% through a savings option other than a pension, such as property. Asked specifically ab

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Each week, I’ll present a low-cost meal (or a meal that demonstrates a lot of options for cutting costs) that my family eats for dinner and enjoys. Many of the recipes will be vegan or vegetarian, with options to add other ingredients for non-vegetarians.

Our garden is producing a few last-minute things – well, mostly onions at this point. Along with that, we have our ongoing crusade to use up all of the things in our pantry and freezer, including such items as cans of diced tomatoes and premade pizza crust (as I mentioned before, I’d rather make my own crust, but Sarah found an amazing sale on several cans of it and picked them up).

What to do… what to do… how about we mix all of these things together and make something of a ratatouille casserole? Sounds li

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