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This article is by staff writer William Cowie.

By some accounts, China’s stock market has been in free fall. In less than a month, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SSEC) — the Chinese equivalent of America’s S&P 500 stock index — saw a 30 percent drop in value.

Media reports have ranged from indifference to breathless comparisons with the great stock market crash of 1929, followed by dire predictions for you and yours. Most recently, Chinese stocks have recovered some lost ground. So why all the bother?

The chart below clearly shows that, despite the huge drop, the Chinese market is still a lot higher than it was a year ago. Some speculate that this may be a bubble bursting — and if it is bursting, they wonder if things are yet to get worse.

This article is by staff writer William Cowie.

Andrew and Amanda Argue were both working for public accounting firms in Miami, Florida, when they met. As young, ambitious professionals, they fell right into the hard-charging lifestyle of certified public accountants — where your rapid ascension to partner is determined by the number of hours you rack up. Managing their career trajectories meant that eating out became the norm because, as Amanda put it …

“There was no way I was going to work 80 hours and then come home to cook.”
Amanda Argue

Andrew brought $55,000 of student loan debt to the marriage, which he never thought twice about. Amanda had no debt, and it was only after they were married that she discovered Andrew had his.

[Editor's correction: Amanda had no debt, and it was only after they were married that she realized what Andrew's student loan debt would mean for their budget."]

This article is by editor Linda Vergon.

Judging from the comments in Kristin Wong’s article “Credit unions vs. banks: Things to consider“ back in January 2014, there was a lot of interest – and a fair amount of skepticism – in what credit unions have to offer.

The sentiments went in a lot of different directions. People were quick to point out that interest rates on deposits at credit unions were usually much higher than at banks and interest rates on loans were generally lower.

A lot of people were very appreciative of the level of service to be found at most credit unions; but quite a few mentioned how difficult it might be to switch from one institution to another, particularly when it came to all their bill-paying information.

This article is by staff writer Honey Smith.

In a recent article, I described what COBRA insurance is and my experiences obtaining it. One of the biggest complaints I had about COBRA was the sign-up process. Signing up for COBRA insurance had to be initiated by my employer, and it was a paper process to boot. This meant there was a lag between when I signed up and when I received proof of insurance.

Unfortunately, after wading through the sign-up process, the rest of my experience with COBRA didn’t get any easier. A paper bill was mailed to me each month and I was supposed to send in my check. I couldn’t find cancellation instructions anywhere on the documentation I received, and it wasn’t possible to initiate the cancellation process online either.