Fur capes, parkas, children’s furniture and Michael Jackson memorabilia: The Washington Post‘s Michelle Singletary writes that you have to shake your head at the list of things that court documents say the former Illinois congressman bought.  Why would a couple risk so much — respect and even their freedom — for furs, furniture and a…

Reverse mortgages, the program designed to help cash-strapped seniors who own their homes outright, may result in the loss of seniors’ biggest asset if they run into deeper financial trouble, Michelle Singletary writes in her Washington Post-Bloomberg column. For many seniors, a reverse mortgage can be a saving grace. But this product isn’t without issues,…

The slow erosion of employer health care benefits means families and individuals need viable backup plans, Michelle Singletary writes in her Washington Post-Bloomberg column. We know most people get their health insurance coverage through their jobs or a family member’s employer. But a report by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute found the percentage of…

Even though the odds of winning were, well, astronomical, Washington Post-Bloomberg financial columnist Michelle Singletary explains why she and her husband gave in to Mega Millions fever and entertained dreams of winning, along with their children. We played. My husband and I decided to do a financially unwise thing and take a chance at winning…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary urges schools to find other strategies to help children get to school on time. She says that forcing families to pay fines for various infractions, such as not getting their children to class on time, is counterproductive and hurts people who can least afford it. Money is not…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary cites a study about identity theft, saying that most thieves can be traced to social networking sites. Crooks use social networking as a tool to garner personal information, including birthdays and pet names, to infiltrate passwords. We’ve become a society that shares too much of our personal information…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary cites various steps that should be taken to prevent another massive housing crisis, including forcing lenders to make good loans by looking at an applicant’s income, major expenses and debt-to-income ratio. During a recent financial workshop I conducted at my church, I met a single mother who couldn’t…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary applauds President Barack Obama’s appointment of Richard Cordray as the new federal consumer watchdog. She says that he should play the role of an older sibling to protect consumers from bullying.  That’s how I see the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: as a protector of consumers from the punches­…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary says that people who are resolved to reduce their debt in 2012 should use the “Debt Dash” plan. The plan involves ruthlessly attacking debt by paying off credit cards with the lowest balance first. There are a number of ways to pay down your debt. One way in…

In her Washington Post/Bloomberg column, Michelle Singletary does a retrospective on personal-finance changes in 2011. She determines that the one good thing that arose during the year was the opening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which writes federal rules to combat unfair, deceptive and abusive financial practices and products, among other things. The bureau,…