Personal Finance

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By | January 01, 0001

Fighting back

Two cases in federal court here in Massachusetts could help turn the national tide against DOMA
Thanks to a federal law that codifies discrimination against same-sex couples, more than 15,000 legally married couples (and an untold number of children) are being denied basic benefits, such as the right to file their taxes jointly, or Social Security payments and health-insurance subsidies.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 04, 2010

What the health-care bill really means

Reforming the System
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed the new health-care bill into law.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 24, 2010

The Rock Off is on, and other music news

Sibilance
Tone King Andy Argondizza has organized a benefit show for Nick Curran, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and, being a musician, isn’t exactly rocking all-inclusive health insurance.
By PORTLAND PHOENIX MUSIC STAFF | March 03, 2010

Rhode Island’s own stab at health reform

Get Healthy
Health care reform, if it survives the election of Republican Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat, will make insurance accessible and provide a slew of new consumer protections for millions of Americans.
By MARION DAVIS | January 20, 2010

A weed grows in Boston

What's a suburban soccer mom who was once fervently anti-drug doing running a business growing and selling pot?
Even though it's a crisp November day, the flower boxes of Mary Jones's neat little bungalow are overflowing with brightly colored blooms.
By VALERIE VANDE PANNE | December 04, 2009

Fair Share?

Extending Benefits to Domestic Partners
On September 10, Boston City Councilor David Scondras wrote a letter to the city’s group-health-insurance director. “We have a non-discrimination policy in this city which includes people who are gay and lesbian,” wrote the city’s first openly gay city councilor.
By NEIL MILLER | November 19, 2009

Wall Street's death wish

Investing in mortality; plus, getting it right, and wireless, in West Virginia
If you read the front page of the September 6 New York Times , P+J hope you are either dumbfounded, appalled, frightened, or so pissed off that you went and got the Uzi from the attic and looked for the Amtrak schedule for the Northeast Corridor trains running to New York City and Washington, DC. At least it shows you are paying attention.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | September 09, 2009

Freeloading free stater?

Letters to the Boston editor, September 11, 2009
Has anyone else found it ironic that Dr. Sorens works for a state-supported university, and that presumably his salary and benefits, such as health insurance, are paid for by the taxpayers of New York?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | September 09, 2009

Lunch-bucket elite

Letters to the Boston editor, September 4, 2009
Your description of senatorial hopeful Stephen Lynch as a “lunch-bucket pol” is certainly a departure from the accuracy in political portrayal and substance I have grown accustomed to in the Phoenix.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | September 02, 2009

Stay in the black

Graduate without financial ruin
Some of you greenhorns are embarking on your academic careers. And some of you veterans are practically outta here. Remember all that advice about maintaining a good grade-point average? There's another number that might actually be more important: your credit score.
By CLAUDE MORGAN | August 26, 2009

Avoiding the problem

Snowe misses the point of healthcare reform
Over the course of Olympia Snowe's career in the US Senate, companies and workers in the healthcare and insurance industries have been her top donors (except for retirees and retiree political-action committees, which are obviously also concerned with healthcare issues).
By JEFF INGLIS | July 08, 2009

The Loan Groan

Never a borrower or a lender be dept.
Each month, with miserable certitude, the snail-mailboxes of middle-class twenty- and thirtysomethings are stuffed with student-loan bills, from both federal and private lenders. The balance seems to remain stagnant, even as we mail in check after check.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 2009

Loan Groan

A new federal program aims to help overburdened student borrowers
Each month, with miserable certitude, the snail-mailboxes of middle-class twenty- and thirtysomethings are stuffed with student-loan bills, from both federal and private lenders. The balance seems to remain stagnant, even as we mail in check after check.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 08, 2009

Loan Groan

From the mouths of innocents

Modern poverty
It has become an unwelcome reality, living from paycheck to paycheck and worrying about job stability, but what about being born a guiltless young person growing up with a drug-addicted parent, no job skills, and no home?
By SONYA TOMLINSON | May 13, 2009

Public colleges get the shaft

Fewer teachers. Bigger classes. More applicants. Huge tuition hikes. the outlook for Rhode island higher ed is bleak .
When it came time to pick a college, Thomas Ahrens just couldn't pass up the relative affordability of a University of Rhode Island education.
By MEAGHAN WIMS | February 25, 2009

Hope for young homebuyers

The lousy economy — and Obama's stimulus package — has a silver lining
Good news if you're in a sufficiently stable financial situation to think of bailing from greater Portland's rental-housing morass.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 23, 2009

The nature of nesting

The homeowning frontlines
The homeowning frontlines
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 18, 2009

Stuff you really should know about home-buying

(From a guy who learned it the hard way)
(From a guy who learned it the hard way)
By JEFF INGLIS | February 18, 2009

Budgeting your time

For students, part-time jobs mean pocket money, freedom, scheduling conflicts, and stress
There are two possible reasons Friday is the best day of the week for a college student.
By CASSANDRA LANDRY | January 08, 2009

Apologies in advance

A pun-ishing economic climate
As the dominoes have fallen, one after another, in the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and Almost Certainly 2009 and It's a Safe Bet Most of 2010 Too, we've noticed a disturbing and little-discussed undercurrent: many of the major players have names that are basically bad puns.
By MIKE MILIARD | December 24, 2008

The holly and the miser

You're suddenly poor; suck it up and be cheap
Let the current financial tsunami be a lesson to you, arrogant plebeian consumer: greed cometh before a fall.
By KARA BASKIN | December 09, 2008

Obama ’08: Dawn of a new era

Few socks tossed at TV during liberal klatch in Edgewood
Since 1984, every year in which there is a presidential election, the Murphy/Deans of Edgewood in Cranston, have held a small get-together for friends and family.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 05, 2008

Witch way

In honor of Halloween, I run a spell-check
After visualizing “financial security,” I readied for Ed McMahon’s knock. No such luck — but the next morning, tucked in a pocket, I found seven dollars !
By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 22, 2008

Financial fallout

The devastating wall street crisis has a potential silver lining — if you’re a Massachusetts politician looking for a foothold
The current US financial disaster will roil Massachusetts residents in myriad ways.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | October 08, 2008

Journal job cuts: Practical or self-destructive?

As The ProJo Turns
When John Hill sought his first mortgage as a young reporter, his banker told him, “Oh, you’ll be fine — you work at the Journal .”
By IAN DONNIS | October 02, 2008

Bad craziness

Wall Street’s meltdown is more dangerous than realized. McCain is clueless, but does Obama recognize the root of the problem?
The news from Wall Street this week is dire.
By EDITORIAL | September 17, 2008

Get over it

What every freshman should know about going to college in Boston
Okay, you survived the college-application process; you filled out the miserable FAFSA forms; you sweated out the wait for acceptance letters; and cut your best financial-aid deal.
By CLIF GARBODEN | August 21, 2009

The devil in the details

‘Drawn to Detail’ and ‘Laylah Ali’ at the DeCordova, Esteban Pastorino Díaz at the SMFA, and Student Loan Art Program at MIT
It’s hard to imagine stopping to look at drawings that don’t coalesce till you let them pull you in and spin you around a bit.
By RANDI HOPKINS | August 28, 2008