Are CT Scans a Rip Off?

The N.Y. Times posted an interesting article yesterday about whether CT scans, the costly high tech imaging machines that let Dr's see inside your body, are worth the money -- and the risks.

As a disclaimer: I'm sure that the scans offer real benefits in certain circumstances, but I thought it was interesting to see a major daily start a discussion about their merits.

As a quick summary, the story says that more than 150,000 were given last year grossing over $100 mln for for doctors and hospitals. The problem it seems is two fold: 1) many doctors and doctor's groups are investing $1 mln dollars or more in the machines, and 2) the doctors then have a direct incentive to pay down the debt that the machine has created. The Times story also says that the tests run anywhere from $500-$1,000, don't necessarily offer any benefits over old tests, and subject the patient to large doses of radiation.

Maybe this isn't interesting to anyone else out there, but it just goes to show you have to be ready to ask questions when you go into the hospital -- something that isn't always well received depending on what level of care you are getting.

What Are You Doing To Beat Inflation?

Energy prices are skyrocketing, food prices are through the roof, seems like everything is costing more these days -- and the thing is -- you're right. Most of us have been effected in one way or another by the rising energy costs, but what about your nest egg. What approaches are you taking to make sure that inflation isn't eating away at your savings and still mitigating some of the risk in your portfolio?

Since most people underestimate the real rate of inflation (and the U.S. Government claims inflation is now at approximately 2%), this doesn't garner much attention - but it's a real concern. I typically steer clear of any type of investment advice here on this site, but want to open it up for discussion since it's something I've been thinking about lately.

Among the many options - Treasury Inflation Protected Bond Funds have become trendy of late [see ETF's: TIP, IPE ; MUTFunds: VIPSX, DIPSX, FINPX), and so have dividend weighted ETF's [see ETF's: PEY, DLS]

What do you think? Are inflation protected bonds the way to go? Dividend paying stocks? Cash?

New Grad Career Cheat Sheet

One of the great things about the internet (and Google), is that it makes it exceedingly easy to quickly find information on just about anything. The downside of this technology is that there is a lot of crummy information to sort through before you find the good stuff.

Well, if you are a new grad or know a new grad who is getting ready attack the real world the NY Times recently ran an article that you should pass along. The article entitled "A Primer for Young People Starting Their First Job" is really applicable to everyone. Let's face it - most Americans don't pay enough attention to personal finance and that's why the average savings rate is negative.

While I strongly encourage you to take a look at the article, I'll provide a quick summary below. The article does a quick and dirty summary of health benefit, tax, and retirement plan considerations for new grads. There's not a great deal of deep analysis on any of the topics, but the article serves it's purpose. It gives new grads a very bare bones outline of each and points them in the right direction and gives them the types of questions they should be asking. I think that's a noble goal in itself. You can only lead people so far after all.

If you have any good resources for new grads heading out into the world please leave them in the comments.

Number of Millionares in World Increases 600k

Recent reports now say that the world now is home to over 10 million millionaires. (note: this millionaire club doesn't include real estate worth in its calculation). The year over year total grew 600k (about 6%) from 2006 to 2007. You might say, who cares? There are oh, 6.6 billion people on the planet -- so in the grand scheme of things its still tiny (somewhere around 1/5th of 1% of the population). The interesting thing about these new statistics is what has driven the increase in millionaires.

According to the report a steady combination of inflation and booming emerging economies has fueled the boom. The millionaire club has, unsurprisingly grown fastest in India and China. Those of us in America be warned. The United States is still home to 1 out of 3 millionaires, but it remains to be seen if the emerging markets around the world will be able to spread their new found wealth around enough to change those figures when the 2008 stats come out.

Image: Justin Vining