Last month, in a hotel gift shop in Athens, Greece, I started talking with the clerk about how expensive things were for Americans in light of the dollar’s plunge against world currencies. My visit to the corner Starbucks for a latte, bagel, and two morning papers had set me back $23. She remarked in her best English, “It’s so confusing, your currency. The U.S.

Insurance is often described as protection for a rainy day. If you really want to protect yourself against the worst rainstorms, maybe what you need is an umbrella.

Umbrella insurance is personal liability coverage that extends beyond the limits of your homeowner’s and auto insurance policies. A common minimum amount is one million dollars, with amounts up to five or even ten million not that unusual.

I recently scheduled a teleclass with my insurance agent and learned some interesting things about what’s new in personal insurance. According to George Frear of First Western Insurance in Rapid City, South Dakota, here are several things you might want to consider as possible updates to your insurance coverage:

1. Credit rating.

After reviewing a lot of homeowners and auto insurance policies recently and growing concerned that clients are not keeping up to date with their policies, I thought it might be time to bring in an expert on property/casualty insurance for this month’s tele-class. To listen to our guest,George Frear, a property casualty expert with First Western Insurance, 

Recently, a client asked about how ‘safe’ his portfolio was if TD Ameritrade was hit by a natural disaster. Another client wondered what would happen if TD Ameritrade suffered a financial implosion. These are legitimate questions every person should ask of their custodian.

According to The Kiplinger Tax Letter, Congress is on the move to increase government revenues. Senate Democrats have a plan to raise nearly $1 billion more for their 2008 budget. This means you can expect to be paying more in taxes in the near future.

The name of the proposed legislation is the Fair Flat Tax Act. Of course, the name of most legislation is often the opposite of what it says.

Three years. That’s the median length of time employees stay in private-sector jobs. Yet most financial plans implemented today are still based upon traditional employment and retirement patterns. In our 24/7, global, increasingly project-based workplace, we need to make sure our financial plans are based on current work and life realities, not outdated patterns.

What is the life event that is the most likely to leave you broke or at least cause serious damage to your financial security? You might think it would be a business failure, a job loss, or a lawsuit. Nope. It’s a divorce.

There’s a good reason all those multi-married celebrity multi-millionaires protect their fortunes by having prospective spouses sign prenuptial agreements.

As I wrote in a recent column, it’s best to try resolving a dispute through negotiation. This approach can save time, stress, and money. What happens, though, when negotiating doesn’t work? Sometimes it’s necessary to follow through with a lawsuit.

This isn’t something to do lightly. Before you haul your opponent off to court, it’s a good idea to think the matter through carefully and establish your bottom line.

Just as all legislation produces unintended consequences, so do the things we purchase. It is a universal truth you can bank on.

For example, take my new purchase of some Turkish rugs for my office. They are hand woven and died with natural colors. My favorite is the burgundy and gold carpet that is colored with saffron and some type of red beetle juice. Okay, not an appetizing thought, but I’m walking on the carpet, not eating it.