Things To Do In SW Florida

Q: My wife and I plan to buy a home early next year. The cost to be paid is roughly half with the money I am receiving in an inheritance and half via a mortgage with my wife. Is there a way to structure the purchases so that the value of my inheritance remains outside of our marital property? — James

A: The question of unequal contribution frequently arises in my practice. I usually see it in one of two contexts. The first variation is like yours, where one of the spouses contributes the down payment using money they inherited or had before the couple married. The other is a situation that usually involves a second or third marriage where each spouse wants to ensure their children from a prior marriage inherit their half of the marital home.

Fortunately, with proper planning, there are several ways to set this up, depending on your circumstances.

For many people, a trust can be a powerful and flexible solution.  A trust agreement is a legal arrangement that allows you to own property and manage it according to terms you agree upon. This flexibility lets you control your financial planning, allowing you to decide, for example, that when the property is sold, you or your heirs get the down payment back, the remaining mortgage gets paid off, and you split the remaining equity with your wife. read more

By STAN CHOE

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rallied Thursday in Wall Street’s latest sharp swerve after a better-than-expected report on unemployment eased worries about the slowing economy.

The S&P 500 jumped 2.3% for its best day since 2022 and shaved off all but 0.5% of its loss from what was a brutal start to the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 683 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.9% as Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks helped lead the way.

Treasury yields also climbed in the bond market in a signal investors are feeling less worried about the economy after a report showed fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. The number was better than economists expected.

It was exactly a week ago that worse-than-expected data on unemployment claims helped enflame worries that the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates at too high of an economy-slowing level for too long in order to beat inflation. That helped send markets reeling, along with a rate hike by the Bank of Japan that sent shockwaves worldwide by scrambling a favorite trade among some hedge funds. read more

Ariana Arghandewal | (TNS) Bankrate

We’re in the height of summer travel season, and that means you’ll likely spend more on booking hotels, airfare and other travel necessities. At the same time, more than one in three people planning a summer vacation in 2024 are considering taking on debt to cover the costs , according to Bankrate’s Summer Travel Survey.

Whether you’re traveling alone or with a group, tracking your vacation spending with one of the best travel budget apps can help you avoid overspending and even split expenses equally between your travel partners.

With so many great travel budget apps on the market, you might be wondering which one to get. It really comes down to your travel style and needs. Are you traveling solo or with a group? Do you need a simple budget tracker or do you want planning tools? There’s something out there for everyone, but here are the best options.

Travel budget apps for work

Expensify

Managing your expenses when you’re traveling for work can be challenging. Expensify lets you track your travel expenses easily. Instead of ransacking your luggage for that missing dinner receipt, just snap a picture of the receipt with the Smart Scan feature, and share it with your accounting team for reimbursement. read more

Bernard J. Wolfson, Phil Galewitz | (TNS) KFF Health News

When Kamala Harris was California’s top prosecutor, she was concerned that mergers among hospitals, physician groups, and health insurers could thwart competition and lead to higher prices for patients. If she wins the presidency in November, she’ll have a wide range of options to blunt monopolistic behavior nationwide.

The Democratic vice president could influence the Federal Trade Commission and instruct the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to prioritize enforcement of antitrust laws and channel resources accordingly. Already, the Biden administration has taken an aggressive stance against mergers and acquisitions. In his first year in office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order intended to intensify antitrust enforcement across multiple industries, including health care.

Under Biden, the FTC and DOJ have fought more mergers than they have in decades, often targeting health care deals.

“What Harris could do is set the tone that she is going to continue this laser focus on competition and health care prices,” said Katie Gudiksen, a senior health policy researcher at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. read more