• The US median listing price for a home soared to $392,000 in February.
• That's a double-digit annual pace of 12.9%. 
• Americans are losing their purchasing power as income levels remain lackluster. 

Some employers are considering denying life insurance death benefits to unvaccinated employees. For now, this impacts group accidental death & dismemberment (AD&D) insurance. AD&D is not traditional life insurance and only covers certain deaths. It's important to have individual life insurance. See Insider's guide to the best life insurance companies. As more contagious variants of COVID emerge, countries are seeking to curb a resurgence in cases.

After getting the coronavirus vaccine, it's common to experience mild side effects like soreness at the site of injection, muscle pain, headaches. Some proactive folks have sought to help prevent those discomforts by popping over-the-counter pain medications, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen (sold in the US as Tylenol), before their appointment. 

But experts are now warning against taking pain meds pre-vaccine, since it's unclear how they may interfere with the shot's efficacy. It's possible they dull it by tamping down the immune response that both trains the body to fight off the coronavirus and gives rise to side effects.

Retiring abroad is a goal of many soon-to-be retirees, but there's a lot to consider before doing it. 

Luckily, it can be quite affordable to retire abroad — sometimes even cheaper than it would be in the US. There's a lot to consider before making the leap to another country and leaving your life here. You'll have to navigate every part of daily life in another country, from the grocery stores to the healthcare system. 

When it comes to choosing a health insurance plan, the options with the highest deductibles can seem like obvious bad choices. This might be especially true if you know someone or you yourself have dealt with overwhelming medical bills in the past.

Better to get an insurance plan that will kick in sooner with a lower deductible and leave you paying less, right?

My wife and I got married pretty young (I was 22 and she was 21). My wife worked a full-time job while I finished up my bachelor's degree. She was nine months pregnant on the day of my college graduation, and when our daughter was born, we decided that she would stay at home while I worked to support our family.

Personal Finance Insider writes about products, strategies, and tips to help you make smart decisions with your money. We may receive a small commission from our partners, like American Express, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective. At the beginning of the year, I had over $35,000 of debt and $749.99 in my savings account. Six months later, I have $20,000 in savings — and not because I was frugal or found a great savings strategy.

• As COVID-19 spread through the northeast, my financial planning clients called with many questions about how to spend, save, and manage their money.
• Many wanted to know if they should pull their money out of the market, or if they should make their rent/mortgage and bill payments.
• Given the current climate, I've focused on doing three things with my clients: building cash reserves fast, shoring up insurance coverage, and ensuring estate planning is in order.

US retail sales fell a record 16.4% in April as the coronavirus outbreak spurred a economic lockdown and froze spending nationwide.
The decline was more stark than economists expected. The median estimate compiled by Bloomberg expected a 12% drop.
It marks the measure's second straight record contraction, after it fell 8.3% in March. At the time, that was the worst drop in the series, which began in 1992. 

Learn how to contact the IRS if you haven't received your refund, because there could be an error.  In most cases, you'll get your tax refund automatically within 21 days of submitting an electronic tax return. In some cases, however, it can take longer. You'll have to contact the IRS if you haven't received your refund, which requires some web browsing and possibly a phone call.

CVS Health on Wednesday its deal to acquire the health insurer Aetna has officially been completed. The deal, announced in December 2017, forms a new kind of healthcare company that includes the largest retail pharmacy in the US as well as one of the largest insurance companies. The combined company is already shaping to change the healthcare system as we know it. Almost a year after it was announced, CVS Health has officially on its deal to acquire the health insurer Aetna.

David Cordani, CEO of Cigna, told Business Insider in an interview last week that the central reason why these costs have skyrocketed is because the country focuses more on intervention after a person gets sick rather than illness prevention. 

"We spend the majority of our money and resources addressing people once they're sick. We need to spend some more of our resources keeping people healthy in the first case, and identifying people who are at risk of health events and lowering those health risks," he said.

California just became the first state in the country to require all new homes to be built with rooftop solar panels. The California Energy Commission hearing room was packed full on Wednesday as the commission voted unanimously in favor of the proposed rule.

Starting on January 1, 2020 any new home that's three stories tall or shorter, be it a single-family dwelling, apartment building, or condo, will need to include energy-harvesting solar panels on top.

California is no paragon of affordability, particularly when it comes to housing.

In five California metro areas — including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego — the salary needed to qualify for a mortgage to buy a median-priced home is over $100,000 a year.

How direct primary care works Dustin and Lauren Clark, who operate Black Bag Family Healthcare. Courtesy Lauren Clark For Brent Long and his family, paying for healthcare is now like paying a cellphone bill. Since they joined Black Bag Family Healthcare in Johnson City, Tennessee, about two years ago, the family has paid about $150 a month to belong to the practice.

The wildfires that ravaged Northern California wine country two months ago have generated $9 billion in insurance claims, far more than the single costliest fire in U.S. history, officials said Wednesday.

The figure is not likely to increase much more, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said. It represents residential, commercial, automobile and other property claims filed with 260 insurers by Dec. 1.

Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who on Thursday returned for his first full day of work in the House since being wounded in a shooting this summer, said the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday had only "fortified" his position on gun control.

Scalise, however, remained adamant that legislation favoring gun control would not be beneficial and instead would infringe upon the rights of many Americans.

The hyperbolic stereotypes that surround millennials – that they are entitled, pampered, narcissistic and suspicious of anyone besides other millennials – fall apart once you listen to them and do your investment homework.

Then you realize that practically from day one of adulthood, a great many millennials have been shoved up against a financial wall.

Medicare and Medicaid may sound alike, but these government health insurance programs are dramatically different from one another.
Here’s a brief overview.

The video opens with a close-up shot of a great white shark swimming in a turquoise ocean. But when it zooms out, the camera reveals the bustling coast of a Southern California beach.

'You are paddleboarding next to approximately 15 great white sharks,' says a voice. 'The sharks are as close as the surf line.'