In 1966, Look Magazine published an article on US hospital bills, and "why some patients pay too much." Opacity was already an issue, albeit much smaller than now. The 1960s language points to payment and collection issues from "welfare," "indigents," and "deadbeats." According to the director of one CA hospital, the amount needed to overcharge one patient to pay for others, was $6--equal to 6 gallons of 1960s milk. Then there was 1960s paperwork. Blue Cross's reimbursement formulas for ...
The premise is simple. Set it and forget it. Vanguard and others offer this approach for target-date retirement funds. Of two investing extremes, there is an active self-directed retirement account, where you pick individual stocks and strive to have an edge (fewer than 1 in 200 with Vanguard accounts do thisI'm in this group), and there's auto-pilot.Target-date is auto-pilot squared. Target funds invest in index funds and adjust asset allocation from equity leaning, usually 90/10 equity-to-fixe ...
This month's index looks at turnover among the Forbes 400, 401k allocations, healthcare spend skews, bubbles, house sizes, cash flow per hospital bed, hospital returns on capital, the popularity of health and financial search terms, and more. Percentage of listees or heirs from the 1982 Forbes 400 list to be bumped off by 2014: 71%. Percentage of Vanguard 401k accounts invested solely in one target-date fund as of 2007: 8% 2018: 52% 2023 Vanguard estimate: 8 in 10 Ratio of mea ...
They say a great way to lose money is to open a restaurant. Costs, pricing pressures, and low barriers to entry tend to eat into your capital. Dad pun intended. Food, rent and labor inflation are stubborn and every extra dollar counts. All costs matter. Some restaurants make it work and build lasting brands with solid returns on capital, but those are outliers. Healthcare costs are typically a top 3-4 expense but for some industries, they may matter more than others. Costs understandably vary b ...
